Ignition Locked up solid.... HELP

[Coop101]

Hi Guys,

What the hell is up with my ignition barrel ??

The Key slides in fyne and smooth but wont turn at all.
The alarm works fyne, pressing the button locks the doors and flashes the hazards, unlocks fyne, but the key wont turn.

It is an e36 316i 97 with the transponder key.

Any ideas please guys ? Need my wheels ?

Is it a alarm/immobiliser problem that has locked the barrel or has the barrel just physicaly failed suddenly ??

Cheers
Steve

[kyleabaker]

sounds to me like it is just physically failing. is it a new key? if so it may be cut just barely inaccurately. if it is a old key that once worked, it maybe slightly bent or danmaged in another way, you could take it by the bmw place and have them check it out to see if the transponder is fine.

best of luck, cheers,

[Coop101]

Cheers for the reply !

Have taken it to the Stealership, the service manager there said that is is the same as the spinning key problem... apparently there is a pin that fails and it either fall out the way and the key spins or it jams like in my case.

My baby will be fitted with a new coded barrel and all will hopefully be well... now to convince my maintenance plan guys to pay for it

while i was there i asked the guy what a new key would cost, as myne is getting a bit dirty and old.... wait for it... the key alone costs as much as the entire bill for fitting the new barrel including labour ...cough, choke

maybe next time...

Cheers dude

[kyleabaker]

yeah, the keys are expensive, better hold on to it and take good care of it when you get a new one, haha. congratz on finding a fix!

cheers

[Coop101]

Man its lonely without your wheels...

It is a flipping public holiday today which delays getting my car back another day...

Just got a reply from another mate and he tell sme he only paid $80 Canadian for his master... i did a quick conversion and i am being quoted well over US$250 for myne. That sucks !!!

Think i will spend the day at a mates house and do some downloading... Sucks not having wheels... my other beemer is in the hands of my mother... i know dont say a word...just pray for me...

cheers dude

[kyleabaker]

lol, i'll be praying for you, your bimmer at the shop, and the one your mother is driving, haha. good luck with the downloading don't get caught

would love to hear back about the car!
cheers

[Coop101]

Kyle, Kyle, Kyle....

You obviously were not praying hard enough dude !!

As u recall my mother needed to use my other beemer... some swyne bastard decided he needed the badge off the back of my car
I think he was trying to steal the "is" part and ended up screwing the whole badge up!

I called a mate who has the same car and who also had to replace the badge...The agents here want like US$40 for the badge... insane...

Do you have any idea what a 318is badge costs on your side of the world ???? I am not paying that for a badge

Anyway, that being said... i would rather the badge got broken than the car... all things considered i probably got off lightly since it was mum driving the car

Should hear from the agents today as to my ignition situation ?!?! Lets cross our fingers

Cheers dude

[kyleabaker]

lol, sorry man, i'll try to pray harder tonight. some idiot on this side of the world hit my car in the parking lot a month ago and left and the next day i found it with a big dent in the front left fender. oh well.

i have my car debadged. its the "cool" thing to do over here, lol. just kidding, i just like the was it look debadged tho. my brother travels alot and he said in germany most of the bmw's are debadged. since i'm not driving a m3 or anything like that i don't feel too bad about removing it

i'll get right to the praying thing, haha. best of luck.

cheers

[Coop101]

Cheers dude,

Have been seriously considering the debadge thing... more so since finding out what a new badge costs, but strangely enough the debadge thing is less popular here among beemer drivers. I guess it may be more north hemisphere related ?? who knows... what a shite world it would be if we all had the same taste !!!

Anyway... called the stealership now... the service managers phone just rings... good sign i think not... my luck he's trying to find the courage to tell me that a freak comet hit my car last night or something weird... Slot in an extra prayer session there for me Kyle my man !!

Anyway, off to town now... bloody metings... might build up the courage to pop into the dealer and see whats up...

Cheers dude