Hello,
I'm hoping someone can help me out,
I've had my Y plate Mondeo for approx' 6 years now,
and i've only ever had the one key for it,
and being the knobhead that i am, i never bothered getting a spare cut, well, at least up until last year when i had 2 cut, but neither work,
i've been told that it's probably because the key that i have is so worn, it's difficult to identify the "cuts" on the blade, or that the barrel itself is worn,

now, i'm experiencing trouble turning my original key in the ignition, and was told by the AA that i will need a new barrel and key,
i'm no expert on cars, but i've read up and watched a few vids on utube, and swapping out the barrel for a new one seems quite straightforward,
would anyone here disagree ? i've had a couple of quotes of around £70 to recondition my current barrel and for a couple of new keys which doesn't seem bad i guess,
i also rang Remoco (Ford spare parts shop) to see if they could help, but they don't stock MK3 ignition barrels,

Is bringing in the experts and paying £70 or so worth it ?
or could someone suggest an alternative that could save me money ?

Is there anyway to find out the code for the key ? will it be stamped onto the barrel or anything ? i presume i could then go get a key cut exactly as it should be !?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Neil.

 

my mate [ex ford ] can pick up a tibbie key and read the numbers out from it there are mobile key cutters these days that can come to u cut and code the key

 

Thanks, i did exactly that on sunday,
I rang a mobile auto locksmith, and explained the problem i was having, he straightaway disagreed with the man from the AA i spoke to and said that 8 times out of 10, a new key would suffice and that would cost me £25,
so i went round to his (even though he's mobile, he was 10 mins away, so i wasn't bothered),
he used some kind of tool to gauge the cuts he'd need from the drivers door lock (not the ignition), he then cut a new key for me which worked perfectly,
and on top of that, he found that my fob wasn't working remotely (it hadn't for 4 months or so - i thought it was a problem with the circuitry as i had replaced the battery to no avail) and reprogrammed it and now that works perfectly too
he didn't charge me for that, but i gave him £30 instead of the £25 he wanted and he was happy with that.

 

Just make sure that you get a spare key and it starts the car as they need to be programmed with the correct chip in them for the PATS
There was a guy at ford fair last year doing keys for £35 for normal keys and £70 for remote ones so if you can wait it may be well worth the saving as my local guy wanted £165 for a remote key

 

I can believe that, i was quoted £180 from one of the first people i rang up,

the fella who did my key, cut a blade with the "horseshoe" so it replaced my current key, but i kept my old fob.

Thanks for that.