Embarrassing, or what?

Called in to my local ASDA today to fill up with LPG - big grin in place at ridiculously low cost - and decided to top off the petrol tank too. All okay so far ... then "Houston we have a problem"

The key won't turn in the ignition! Can't undo the steering lock, can't start the engine ... stuck!

Two hours later the local recovery guy turns up to take me to my tame mechanic's place. Can't line the recovery truck up with the Discovery because of the layout of the pumps ... scratches head ... how we gonna get it on the flatbed? In desperation he squirts some gunk into the ignition barrel and hey presto we have ignition :-)

Not wanting to tempt fate Big Blue is still at the garage to have a new barrel fitted tomorow.

You do feel (even more of) a pratt siitting at a petrol pump for two hours whilst people look at you and wonder, hasn't he got any money?

I can see the funny side of it now ... but only just :-)

Regards Steve G

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Reply to
SteveG
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Embarassing, YES! You should try it when you are 5000 miles from home and see how funny it is.

Pete

wouldn't trade the fun for anything :)

Reply to
Peter

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, SteveG at snipped-for-privacy@blueyonder.nospam.co.uk wrote on 4/9/03 12:06 am:

Hardy har har........

Been there , seen it, done it. Lost wallet.

Reply to
Rory Manton

They all do that Sir....

LR will try to stiff you over a ton for a barrel with matching key set. My locksmith rebuilt the lock for 20 notes and it's been as good as gold ever since. Refitting the lock is a DIY job and no more than

30 minutes work at that.

Good luck!

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

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Reply to
Tim Hobbs

I thought I was the only one - having to hammer the key in with the heel of a shoe!

Dave

Reply to
Dave Wheatley

In my case it would go in, but not turn. It would be very easy to snap the key (mine had to be slightly repaired with a hammer) in frustration.

In general maintenance WD40 only makes matters worse - it carries the crap deeper into the barrel and holds in the crud. Whilst at the locksmith it is worth getting some proper graphite lube which is dry and thus doesn't clog things up. But once it's jammed you may as well try squirting anything you can think of in there!

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

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Reply to
Tim Hobbs

I lent mine to somebody and they managed to break a key. I think they were using the door key in the ignition.

But the ignition key on mine will actually turn the driver's door lock enough to trigger the central locking and unlock all the other doors. So much so that I just had to check to make sure it's not just as easy with a screwdriver. (It's not.) Guess the locks aren't all that accurate, given that the keys are quite different.

Glad I have a disklok!

David

Reply to
David French

I have a recurring dream that the Discovery is stolen, but I always find it a few streets away! Can't be doing with diskloks and handbrake levers - I can't ever be bothered. Hopefully the immobiliser will do its thing should it ever be required to.

But it was educational to see how easy it is to slip the switch off the back of the ignition barrel and simply turn it on with a pen top.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

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Reply to
Tim Hobbs

I'm so pleased to see that I'm not alone with this problem :-)

Regards Steve G

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Reply to
SteveG

Run a pencil along the edge a couple of times a year

for trouble free use.

Works for padlocks and house keys by the way .

Reply to
sluff

I'll echo that. As a lad I was once entrusted with "the" keys to the valuable equipment cabinet at work. The 'condition' was to draw a line on each side of the key before use. Took me a while to work out why at the time, I thought it was some wierd security thing :-)

Reply to
Mother

Just been to see how work is progressing and all should be well again by this evening.

When my mechanic took the lock out it fell to pieces. The body was cracked almost all the way around - possibly as a result of my heavy handed abuse yesterday - and lifting it off the steering column did the rest. Hey Ho ... new complete lock being fitted this afternoon.

You can get them to match your original key ... just have to wait 5 weeks for it! I'll just have to remember which key is the doors and which one the ignition - d'oh!

Regards Steve G

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Reply to
SteveG

Could be worse - I have one key for ignition, one for drivers door, and one for the rear door. If the passenger door needed a key, odds are that it would be different from the others as well.

Andrew

Reply to
Andrew Harton

Andrew, you've brightened my day up no end. Thank you!

LOL Steve G

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Reply to
SteveG

In article , Andrew Harton writes

Reminds me of my old Rover SD1, the passenger door had a much later lock mechanism with a different key (which I didn't have). The rear door interior lock switches didn't do much either. The central-locking sequence was goosed and changed every time it was operated.

To get all the doors unlocked (or locked) together took a varying number of goes, depending where abouts in the sequence it was (like trying to do a Rubik's cube). Once I'd got my head round it it wasn't too bad, until I lost the plot at the MOT station and left with a fail and 'rear doors inoperative' scribbled in the comment section.

Reply to
John Halliwell

Had a very similar problem with the Discovery ingnition. It started sticking on occassions, but always managed top get it started. Took it to our local locksmith after a particularly bad experience where I really didn't think it was going to turn. After a quick look, he took my existing ignition key and cut a new one from it. When he went back outside he couldn't get the original one to turn the barrel, so he used the new one. Turned first time with out even a wiggle. Five times in a row he did it and five times he tried the old key which just wouldn't work. So I had another ignition key cut and the whole thing was sorted in 20 minutes and cost me £10 for the keys he'd replaced.

Reply to
Nikki

B$%^ard, you now owe me a new keyboard as I have spilt my coffee in this one :-)).

AP

Reply to
andy.pevy

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