So the keys / locks that came with my 81 300sd w126 are starting to fail in the door locks - I have to be extremely careful with them to lock / unlock the doors. The ignition and trunk lock seem to be ok for now - however given the age of the car I think I should look at replacing. How / where is the best way to update all of the locks /ignition / trunk so they are all matching? Better to get an entire new set or have them re-keyed?


Thanks in advance!

This is a bit of a sticky problem.

The dealership offers the best way to get original keys but if the locks are nearly dead then it is probably best to find a complete new set on ebay. Perhaps the site sponsors have an offering?

Be warned the quality of the new keys is not as good as the originals (and they are not well known for outstanding long service) - this has been reported for both "dealership" keys and from other places...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Yup, the dealership is the best place for new vin matched keys. HOWEVER, if you need all new locks, it's going to cost a fortune! Well over $1K in lock tumblers, and SD door locks are a royal pain to replace...

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Otis i repaired both my front doors .Its wear on tumblers ,as the wear they will stick up from the barrel. See pictures you can remove them and seat the tumblers in the barrel just file them up so they are flush with the holder as you fit it .Sorry as i have uploaded this before the site wont let me do it again .Funny.

Crazy prices

Once you've uploaded a picture the system does its best to make sure you don't make duplicates (it is possible but not really worth your time). Go to the "User CP" part of your account and where it says "Attachments" on the left hand side just above the gallery (last section) you can often find what you uploaded before. If like me, however you have over three thousand attachments uploaded it gets harder to track things down!

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

yup, if you need to use the same image in another thread, you just need to link to the first pic. instead of using manage, just find the image, and save the image url, then use the insert pic button at the top of each message window.
(the little yellow square with the landscape in it)

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I did a photo page on rebuilding ignition cylinders, which may help. This was for my 190, but all older Mercedes ignition cylinders are similar:

Lock190

I have found that steel taper pins for clocks work best for reassembly. Cut to size before you insert them, and then tap them home. You can buy them here:

Horolovar Steel Taper Pins .075" - .045" - The Horolovar Company

Door locks are even easier, I am still working on a web page for those.

After years of pulling ignition cylinders with homemade tools, I finally treated myself to a factory made puller on EBay. Its a pleasure to work with good tools.

I wouldn't buy new door lock cylinders. I had the same issue as you. What I did was take out the door lock cylinder and take it apart and clean the internal gates. Each cylinder has a number of gates that are individually numbered in an order to match your key. You can get extra gates from other door lock cylinders at the junkyard. Just make sure you write down the number of each gate when you remove them from your door lock cylinder. That is the master number code for your original key.
Also, make sure your using the dealer/factory steel key and not the aftermarket zinc coated brass ones that look like steel. The aftermarket ones wear down and in time your door lock cylinder won't work as crisp due to the key not having the new edges to engage the internal gates correctly.

Annnnnd remember that MB has tightened up their policy on keys and locks. Even for a W123 they will not sell a lock or key sight unseen, you have to bring the car to a dealer with proof of ownership and your ID that matches or no key for you. I think even the Classic Center now has to abide by this. In the past they would bend the rules for old cars if you faxed them a copy of your license and registration but I thought I heard Corporate shut that down.

Normally not a big deal on a 123/124/126/201 where you can remove the key switch cylinder and stick a screwdriver in to start the car.

But on a 210 or newer with DAS that car isn't moving on its own unless the key and lock do the happy dance. At least the advantage there is that the interface is all electronic so there is not the wear and filling up with shavings issues that mechanical keys have. If you have a 210 or newer and you only have 1 key, I would get to a dealer and have a spare made. If not and something happens to your key, you are looking at a tow to the dealer.

For this reason if both my wife and I are going somewhere together especially out of town, I always make sure we are both carrying a key.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Mxfronk thank you ,and this is the same idea the tumblers stick uo and stops the barrel from turning .Best job i did on mine .

Well the nice thing is I have a locksmith that works mainly in automotive side that can help! It sounds like the best thing to do is fix the current set rather than replacement. I do need spare keys and it sounds like the only real path for those will be the MB dealer (which I try to avoid as much as possible lol).

Since you are in LA reach out to the Classic Center in Irivne. They seem to be much more helpful than the dealer.

Tom Hanson
Supervisor, Parts Operations
Mercedes-Benz Classic Center USA
MBUSA, LLC
thomas.hanson@mbusa.com
949 598-4842 direct.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Question regarding SD door locks. I removed the entire handle from my parts car per the FSM. No problem getting the handle out. I read where the roll pins that don't go all of the way through needed to be drilled out to disassemble the handle and remove the cylinder. The key is fully inserted and is stuck in the lock and the lock is stuck in the handle. The cylinder turns freely with the key like it is supposed to.

How does the cylinder come out of the handle? What could be holding the key in the cylinder?

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

I've not seen an SD door lock, but it can't be too different from other MB locks of the era. With 190/124 locks, the lock assembly is made in two sections, held together with roll pins. If you drive out the roll pins (they don't have to be drilled in this case), the two sections come apart. Then you just have to rotate the cylinder 180 degrees and pull. Post some photos of the handle and I may be able to tell you more. I'll be posting a page on my 190 locks shortly, I just haven't had time to work on it.