Ignition Repair in Cupertino
$189 to $469. A cylinder that will not turn, or turns and leaves the dash dead, rebuilt or swapped at the curb and pinned to the door key you already carry wherever the make allows it.
$189–$469
Typical price
17 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
Three complaints arrive under this heading and from the driver's seat they feel like one fault. The key goes in and will not turn. The key turns and nothing happens. The key will not come back out. Between them they have a dozen causes, and the cylinder is the last suspect rather than the first.
The cheap causes get ruled out in order. A key worn round at the shoulders no longer lifts the wafers far enough, and a fresh key cut to code fixes that for a fraction of a rebuild. A steering wheel left turned hard against a curb loads the column lock and pinches the key, and unloading the wheel with one hand while drawing the key with the other frees it. Do not reach for pliers, because that is how most stubs end up inside the cylinder. On a push-button car with a flat fob cell, holding the fob against the start button gets it going.
Only when those are ruled out does the cylinder come out of the column. It is rebuilt with new wafers and springs where there is life in it, and replaced where there is not. Either way it is keyed to the key that already opens your doors, so you are not left carrying one key for the doors and another for the ignition. Most people do not know that is possible and are pleased to hear it. On an immobilizer vehicle the transponder ring on the new cylinder is matched to the car.
The line worth knowing is between the lock and the electrics. A cylinder that will not turn is ours. A cylinder that turns cleanly while the dash stays dead is usually the ignition switch behind it, and that is auto electrics and belongs to a garage. Both are diagnosed at the vehicle and you are told which one you have before any work is agreed, because paying a locksmith to discover it is a garage job serves nobody.
Ignition work is $189 to $469 with the $89 visit inside. Rebuilding a worn cylinder on a common model is $189. Replacing the cylinder together with the switch behind it, or freeing a column lock that has seized, reaches $469. A worn key gets renewed at the same time when the key is what has been chewing the cylinder, because a new cylinder turned by an old key wears out early. The job finishes with a run of starts and the column lock released each time.
All sixteen jobs are printed here, fourteen with ranges and two quoted once the doors have been counted on site. What moves a figure inside its range is the door, not the lock: a leaf that still hangs true takes the low end, a leaf that has dropped on its hinges or carries a narrower old bore takes the high one. Describe the door on the call and the range closes to one figure.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$55
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$95
FAQ
Ignition Repair: quick answers
The key turns and the dash stays dead. Whose job is that?+
A garage, most likely. A cylinder that turns freely while nothing wakes up points at the ignition switch behind it, which is auto electrics. It gets checked at the vehicle, you are told plainly, and you are not charged for a lock repair that would not have fixed it.
The key is stuck and will not come out.+
Leave the pliers alone. Nine times in ten the wheel is the cause: parked with the wheels turned into the curb, the column lock sits under load and pinches the key. Rock the wheel gently with one hand while drawing the key with the other. The tenth time the cylinder has worn, and that is released from inside the column where the car stands.
If the cylinder is replaced, do I end up carrying two keys?+
Not usually. Whatever goes into the column is keyed to the key that already opens your doors, so the ring stays as it was. If the door locks turn out to be as tired as the ignition, doing them in the same visit is offered as its own figure and declining it is fine.
Related
More automotive services
Open 24 hours, 7 days
Say the year the house was built, and the rest of the call is short
Cupertino and the west valley, every hour of the day. The age of the door decides the work and the work decides the figure, so the number comes back on the call with the $89 service call and the hour already inside it, and it is the number on the receipt. Ninety days on the labor, in writing.