DIY: Removing the lock cylinder from ignition housing.

[s-rocc]

This is something that seems to come up fairly regularly,and the response is always "get a bentley" or "search." And, if you search, all the results say "get a bentley."

Well, I have a Bentley, and frankly their description on how to do this sucks. It gives basic info and a very vaguely drawn "technical" drawing that you are instructed to follow. A rare miss as far as the manual is concerned.

Anyway, I am currently swapping a 1987 gti to ce2 wiring, and thus have to swap the ignition housing to use the ce2 style turn signal stalks, but wanted to keep the same key. So, it was necessary to get the original lock tumbler out of the ce1 ignition housing and put it in the ce2 one that I got from the yard.

Tools needed:
-Drill
-1/8" drill bit
-Meauring device
-Awl, or some sort of pointy device to push the retaining spring down
-Vice is pretty useful

First get the ignition housing out of your car, if you have trouble doing that, you may not want to attempt the rest of this Now pull off the black plastic surround by the key hole. It'll probably break, or, at least, mine did.

Looking at the top of the housing (the top has two mounting screw holes for the turn signal stalks), find the end of the collar that goes halfway around the housing. Now, look for a seam line from where the piece was molded together.

(picture was taken after I had the tumbler out)
You want to find the point that is exactly half way between these two landmarks and draw or scribe a line here. This is going to be one of the dimensions you need to find out where to drill your hole.

Now, you need to find the next dimension. This one is a bit easier, because it is about ~1/2" in from the edge of the housing. Measure from the edge of the housing, not the edge of the lock tumbler (it sticks out beyond the housing).

(again, lock tumbler is already out in this pic., red dot is where you want to drill, ignore my scribed line, I estimated wrong on my first try )

Now that you have your point marked, it's time to drill a hole. Use a 1/8" bit and go slowly. The metal you are drilling through is only about 1/8" thick and drills very easily (aluminum maybe?). If you drill too far, you will destroy your lock cylinder.

When you feel the drill break through, stop and look in. You should be able to see a piece of steel inside the hole, this is the retaining clip.

This clip fits into a small recessed area insde the ignition housing.

Once you've spotted the retaining clip inside the hole, get your awl or whatever pointly implement you are going to use and push in the hole against the retaining clip. As you are doing this, pull out on the tumbler. With any luck, it will pull out of the housing while you hold down the clip.

This took me two tries to get right. The first housing I used got destroyed. I then used a cutoff wheel to disect it and figure out how to do it so I wouldn't ruin my good lock cylinder. I'm not responsible if you mess up your car of hurt yourself in the process. Good luck.
fixed some typos


Modified by s-rocc at 10:42 AM 3-5-2009

[Mr. Knappy]

[skidplate]

Nice write up.

[8V Fury]

This should be a sticky.

[cyclops594]

nice! this question does pop up a bit.
good work man.

[Meke007]

Sorry for my bad english, but I hope that you fill me in with the missing words..

Anyhow, some idiots decided to break in to my car, destroy the "wheel lock"? and drive it like 250 yards..
So, they've also destroyed the plastic around it(no big deal) and the steering rack is a bit "skew", or out of place a bit.
So, if I do this, and take the lock cylinder out, and get me another ignition housing, is it possible to remount my old lock cylinder, and will the "wheel lock" also be fixed?

As it's now, I'm kinda scared to drive around like this, because the steering rack feels kinda loose, and the "wheel lock"(please what's the right name?) are broken, but makes clicky sounds when I drive...

Asking because I've never done this before...
Oh, I have a manual too, but the only thing I understood is where I should drill that hole..
Thanks for help!

[s-rocc]

i believe the word you are looking for is "column lock," but i knew what you meant. the piece that actually locks the column in place is part of the ignition housing. it is locked and unlocked by turning the key.

in your case, it sounds like you need to replace the entire housing. as long as they didn't destroy your lock cylinder you can use these directions to swap your cylinder into a new housing.

not sure if that would solve your problems or no without knowing exactly what damage they did to your car.

[s-rocc]

did it again with my new (used) ce2 housing, and dropped my lock tumbler in it. i'm getting good at this now.

[fakeDE98]

Quote, originally posted by s-rocc »

did it again with my new (used) ce2 housing, and dropped my lock tumbler in it. i'm getting good at this now.

You still smell like cheese, but at least you cut your hair

[Das Kraut]

Thanks for the write-up, been looking at this for a few days...lost my key a week ago and steering was locked, tried taking off ignition housing without breaking it, no go. Bentley has the illustration as well, which is what i used for measuring. Took me all of 5 minutes to get it out, .

[Tip-C]

This really came in handy. I busted my head for a while trying to figure out how to get this thing out. Thanks!

[Capt.Dreadz]

I used this thread to do mine a few months ago.

[Joel Goodson]

Quote, originally posted by fakeDE98 »

You still smell like cheese, but at least you cut your hair

What the hell do you know....

[Breadfan5968]

Subscribing to this one, cause I'll need it tomorrow.

Thanks for the DIY!

Note to self: http://www.4130-products.com/step/ign/index.htm

[MOTA BOY]

Great! Right on it!

[mr.kyle.henderson]

good thread but quite frankly this whole procedure is bullsh*t
what the hell was vw thinking when they made these ignition cylinders.

At least they could have drilled the damn hole!



good thread tho.
best instruction so far.

[L33t A2]

Ive done this more times than i'd like to admit due to lost/mismatched keys...
Never had to remove it from the car, i've always just removed the steering wheel an clamshell and had at it

[A2brb]

Ive done this more times than i'd like to admit due to lost/mismatched keys...
Never had to remove it from the car, i've always just removed the steering wheel an clamshell and had at it

My ignition tumblers are starting to fail as well. Sometimes it works and then other times I have to sit there and jiggle the key for 30 minutes. Like the aforementioned, I don't see why one has to remove the lock cylinder housing to remove the lock cylinder. There is enough clearance to drill the hole after the stalks and plastic column shell is removed.

Thanks for making this threadn s-rocc. Much easier with the pictures you took the time to post.

[The Janitor]

Or you could use a thin strip of metal, and unlock the cylinder through the feed lip that's connected the retainer groove... just saying.

[A2brb]

I found these videos helpful on YouTube. For a Vanagon but same concept.

Part 1 - Drilling the release access hole: How to remove the lock cylinder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpoLrbNFSl4&feature=plcp

Part 2 - Removing the Lock Cylinder Housing: How to remove the lock cylinder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APAn9s1CdSM&feature=plcp

Part 3 - Removing the Lock Cylinder: How to remove the lock cylinder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWG5rclBHcw&feature=plcp