# Key/Cylinder replacement cost?



## sporkme (Jul 15, 2007)

Howdy,

Hope I'm in the right place, as this is probably a very general question... Today I had a crappy day. Me, the wife, and two dogs at the dog park. Got back to the car and the key literally would not fit in the ignition. After much fiddling about, I gave up and called Geico for my "roadside service". They offered that a tow to a dealer was about the only option, as the lockout people basically only deal with getting you past the door locks, not the ignition.

Thankfully we had an awesome tow truck driver who let us bring the dogs in the cab and also gave us a lift home from the dealer (service department was closed when we got there).

So 2007 Golf - I have very little leverage, Paul Miller VW is where the car is and it's not going anywhere, but can anyone give me a ballpark figure on what the costs involved are if the lock's cylinder needs to be replaced? And I assume new keys are necessary? If that's it and it's not something stupid and obvious I missed, I'm thinking probably $200 for each replacement key, $300+ for the cylinder and at least $200 in labor. Am I in the ballpark here?

Such a bummer - I love this car. Very cheap to buy and maintain, only had to have the alternator replaced so far and it's got around 77K miles on it. But I suspect this seemingly "minor" issue is going to be big bucks. I'd just like to see if anyone has had the same thing replaced and at what cost.


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## sporkme (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks for the info, that's helpful.

One thing I wonder about is whether this might just be the "dust cover" problem I keep seeing when I google. Apparently there's a small cover a bit inside the cylinder that normally swings out of the way when you insert the key. But sometimes it gets stuck and a simple pry with a screwdriver unsticks it. Add some lube and you have a nearly $0 repair. I can't find a good picture online of what the ignition lock looks like in its normal state to compare it to what I saw with mine yesterday, so I have no idea whether that's my issue or not. Going to see if I can peek at my neighbor's '07 Jetta wagon later and compare.

That said, no call from Paul Miller yet. I called them and was told their "service specialist" was busy and they'd call back. That was about an hour ago.

If it was less urgent would have gone to Douglas VW in Summit, but I don't think Geico would tow me that far.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

sporkme said:


> Thanks for the info, that's helpful.
> 
> One thing I wonder about is whether this might just be the "dust cover" problem I keep seeing when I google. Apparently there's a small cover a bit inside the cylinder that normally swings out of the way when you insert the key. But sometimes it gets stuck and a simple pry with a screwdriver unsticks it. Add some lube and you have a nearly $0 repair. I can't find a good picture online of what the ignition lock looks like in its normal state to compare it to what I saw with mine yesterday, so I have no idea whether that's my issue or not. Going to see if I can peek at my neighbor's '07 Jetta wagon later and compare.
> 
> ...


There wouldn't be a shield on the ignition, as it is inside the car, not outside. You likely have a stuck "tumbler". Lube may help with some key wiggling.


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## sporkme (Jul 15, 2007)

So this should be interesting. Stopped by the dealer today to fetch my garage door opener and ez-pass. Service rep lead me to my car, which, based on where it was appeared to have been driven to a spot. Pulled my spare key out, it totally went into the ignition and started the car (in front of service rep). Hopefully this makes a very expensive repair kind of infeasible. I can't suss out what the real fix is for the known issue where the little guard in front of the ignition lock gets stuck - amateur fix is a screwdriver and lube. I'd actually not mind paying for parts/install if it can be fixed without tossing the whole lock cylinder.


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