on my '87 124 wagon, the driver's door lock recently failed. so this door will not open with the key. have 2 original keys, both look OK, neither work.

so the key stopped opening the door without any warning. it didn't get sticky or difficult to use over time, just stopped a few days ago. this is a bummer because there is a keyless entry / alarm system installed also, that has worked perfectly for about 7 years, and about 2 months ago that failed, burned component on the board, so we had to go back to using the key to open and lock the doors. now the only way to get in the car is the passenger door, the hatch lock doesn't work either. it's a mess :-( this is otherwise a car a car that's in really good condition and well maintained.

the ignition lock did the same thing a few years ago, however the ignition cylinder, in retrospect, probably gave some warning before it fail however i didn't recognize the signs 'til it was too late. now i have to get the bad cylinder out and replace it, have searched on doing it and it looks like by taking the door apart and loosening the latch i should be able to remove the cylinder without the key being able to turn it.

i am wondering what people's theories are as to what makes the lock cylinders fail.

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punkinfair

Wear and tear? I dunno, it's 25 years old. Most other vehicles would have already gone to the junkyard due to engine failure.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

When I removed the ignition lock cylinder from my 1991 300CE, it came out in 2 pieces. The brass parts were pretty robust and didn't appear to have any problems. IIRC it was the hollow aluminum cylinder housing with various slots milled into it that was the weak point. Some of the milled slots were such that there were only very thin spots that held it in one piece. The collar of the cylinder broke away from the cylinder body.

not sure if this is for real but my wife was just quoted $965.00 for a replacement door lock cylinder. that's retarded. prices on this kind of part are way higher in canada than in the USA, haven't understood why, but this seems ridiculous.

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punkinfair

I had to replace mine, I do not remember exactly, but I think it was $350ish just for the part.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

i might pay $350 for the driver's cylinder. still looking into how my wife could have been quoted $965 for this part...

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punkinfair

does the cylinder come attached to a new car?

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Easy answer here...replace the $50 keyless entry unit and move on with more important things.

Good luck!

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You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need.