My father broke the key inside the ignition.. what to do?

[David04]

Hello guys,
We have an old 1989 Toyota Corolla (Still runs amazingly excellent after all these years, given its salvaged title.) Well anyways, my dad somehow accidently broke half of the key inside the ignition. The car still starts by sticking the other half inside and jiggling it around a bit.

We took it to a shop and they want $500 to fix it... seems a waste given the car is worth less than $1000. What do you guys suggest?


Thanks

[HL2k]

new ignition + locks

or try to fiddle with the ignition, take it apart, I've never done this but I'm assuming you can pry it out that way

related posts:
http://toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146987

[4Aaron GE]

Call a locksmith.

[diver9000]

I would put a new ignition switch on it or have a locksmith get it out. Whichever one of the two is cheaper. If you do it yourself will need to purchase the ignition switch and drill out the old one. Its a little time consuming and you need a good drill bit but its not difficult. If the locksmith can do it for you I would do that first. Its a good car regardless of what the book value is. And besides that its better than having to walk everywhere.

[tashirosgt]

On my '90 I was able to use curved needle to pick out the broken piece of the key. It's worth a try. See if you can get theneedle slightly along the side of the broken part of the key. The try to prise the broken part out. A locksmith can make a new key from the pattern of the two broken parts.

[fistofmeat]

best bet is to pull out the old lock cylinder and get a new one. can get one off of ebay here

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1991-...QQcmdZViewItem

starting bid is 5 bucks and there are no other bids right now. to replace the cylinder, u'll have to unbolt the bottom cover beneath the seaing wheel. then insert the rest of the key into the ignition and turn it to the acc position and push a pen or small screwdriver or something into the lock pin that holds the cylinder in place, the pin is on the bottom side of the cylinder, then it should slide out. to install the new one, put the new key in the new cylinder, turn it to acc, then slide it into the hole, pushing the lock pin up slightly and ur set. don't forget to swap off the little plastic ring around the cylinder to fill in the space around it.

[silkydraws]

as long as the ign. lock turns on you can just remove the cyl. (under dash is a pin that you push when ign. is "on") bring to locksmith and he makes new key from old pieces. Probly 20 bucks.

[diver9000]

If he knows his key code he can get one from the dealer cheaper than $20.00 Seems his problem is getting the key out of the ignition.

[96_9c1]

Try a locksmith first. They have a tool called a key extractor Shouldnt take more than a couple minutes.

If its your only key, they maybe able to make a key using both pieces