Greetings,

I did look into existing posts on this seemingly rather common occurrence, but I have a twist that I cannot find the answer to anywhere. Without any real notice my key refused to move from the 0 position yesterday. Tried moving the steering wheel, jiggle, different keys, a gentle massage with palm sander, then reverted to some force, which appeared to be yielding some movement, but which ultimately left the cut portion of my key inside the cylinder.

At that time however, while the key/cylinder did remain in something less that the No.1 position (steering still locked), the face of the tumbler - right where the key is inserted, did rotate, and can be rotated to the No.1 position. Furthermore, I can insert 2mm rods well into the two small holes on that face portion. I did try to release the tumbler without success.

From all I've read, the necessity of having the key in the No.1 position is to be able to align the holes with the grooves and "unlock" the tumbler. Given that I can align those parts, should I be able, with more patience, to remove the tumbler? Or on the contrary, is there something more that's holding it in when the entire tumbler is not in the No.1 position?

I did read up a lot on this, including some pretty exhaustingly detailed descriptions of removing a good part of the ignition and steering wheel locking mechanism (with hacking on the locking pin involved) If my first option is a "no-go", why would it not be possible to trim the face off of the black security housing, remove the now-floating tumbler face, and grind out the innards, removing all the bits.

With any other lock I've dealt with, once the locking leaves are removed, there is no longer any locking to be done - it's a shell (with the exterior components of the tumbler still able to perform their normal functions). Shouldn't I then be able to turn the tumbler to that No.1 position? While not a pretty task, not too tough.

I suspect there is some things I must not be aware of, and your inputs would be greatly appreciated. ScotzBenz