Key wouldn't turn...

[Slalomguy]

NVD members:

Went to take the car out today--key went in cylinder ok, but I couldn't turn it.. Jiggled the steering wheel, while trying to turn the key, but as the wheel had "locked", I only had so much play. Tried it for 2 or 3 minutes, to no avail. My wife came out to the garage, and after fiddling with it for a minute, got it to turn. Now it works like it always has--it has only done this once before, that I can remember..

Does the key cylinder need some kind of lubricant, like graphite or something??? Or does this mean my cylinder is wearing out?? My wife was told that too many things on your key ring puts too much weight on the key cylinder, and that is what my problem is. I have reduced the amount of stuff on my key ring, but still have a mini mag light, keys, and some misc. stuff on it. Ideas??

Thanks for your input!!

[FlyBoy]

Re: Key wouldn't turn...

I would bet it was just the steering wheel lock. There has been a few times where it took a good tug to unlock mine while turning the key. If it happened all the time then I would worry about it.

[R_Ethug]

Re: Key wouldn't turn...

haha people at work know me as the big nerd to keep in touch with and the nutso car guy cuz everyone loves my jetta..

anyways once a women in sales phoned me during lunch and was out and said .. 'ryan my key wont' turn.. ack my car is f'd what do i do!!!'

i said uhh turn the steering wheel a bit both ways while you try to turn the key and it will work..

course it starts and shes like damn you know your cars!!

i was laughing pretty hard at it that its never happened to her before.. i was told you should always put the steering lock on.

[Khyron]

Re: Key wouldn't turn...

She is correct about the weight thing - it causes damage over time.

I keep my my VW fob separate from all my keys, knock on wood no problem yet.

Khyron

[Stonewall]

Re: Key wouldn't turn...

I have reduced the amount of stuff on my key ring, but still have a mini mag light, keys, and some misc. stuff on it. Ideas?

Move all those to a secondary key ring. You can even have them attached with one of those removable pieces if you like. Personally I keep my car key by itself with a little VW keychain, then the rest of my keys on there own keyring.

[zero10]

Re: Key wouldn't turn...

My car keys are all 'singles', as in they are not even on a key ring. They are just loose in my pocket. It's true that heavy key chains will wear out both the ignition tumbler, and switch. I've seen it happen more than once, however it is most unlikely that this caused your key not to turn. Usually this causes you to be able to pull your key out while the key is turned.

It's quite possible that one of the pins got stuck while you inserted the key. If you're certain it wasn't the steering wheel lock, then this was most likely it. As a rule, I spray some graphite into all of my locks yearly, except on the 951, then it's about every 2 months or they start to act up. Graphite is nice because it's a dry lube. It won't work as well as lock de-icer or something like that, but it keeps things moving nicely. On a side note, lock de-icer makes a nice lube for locks, but it attracts dust, like all oils do.