Had quite an irritating event last night. Finished our gig at a place in town at 1am and I went out to start loading my gear up. Put the key in the door lock, it turned about 15 degrees and locked up solid. This car has had the ignition lock changed, so there are two keys. Not unusual at all in the dark to put the wrong key in first time, but usually it just doesn't work. This time it turned and locked up. Couldn't unlock the door, couldn't turn back to the vertical position to remove the key. Can you say screwed? I thought you could.


This was the ignition key that was hung. I have no spare, so I was just flat hosed. Had to leave the car in the parking lot overnight with the key still in the door. Thankfully, a high dollar part of town, so nobody is going to mess with a 30yr old station wagon.


Went back this morning and removed the door lock. Super fast process, surprisingly. Messed with it a few minutes and then decided to just bring it home, where I have a full machine shop at my disposal. My main concern was NOT damaging that key, as I have already fought an ignition lock with no key on the parts car.


Called a couple of locksmiths, none of whom really knew a lot about it. Only guy that seemed to have a clue wasn't going to mess with it until tomorrow afternoon. Was afraid they would tow my car if it sat in the shopping center parking lot another night. Decided to have a go at it.


I tried everything I could think of in terms of tapping with a plastic hammer, working a wire into the key slot, etc... no luck. In the end, I decided to drill out the two tiny roll pins holding the chromed door mount assembly to the lock itself. Tapped the inside end of the lock tumbler and it came apart! From there, just a matter of using a pick and depressing the tumblers one at a time on both sides of the key until the lock turned back to vertical. My key was OUT!!


I put the lock out of my parts car in the door temporarily, just to keep the door handle from falling out, but I have no key for that one. I'm taking the original lock to work tomorrow. Instead of blind roll pins, I'm going to try to drill and tap for two tiny setscrews to make this chore easier if it ever happens again.


If that is successful I am also going to try to get into the parts car door lock and see if I can get it apart the same way without a key. If that works, I will be able to take it apart and remove the tumblers. If the tumblers can be removed, it should be possible to re-key the door locks to match the ignition locks and vice versa, if I can make up the required number of tumblers from the bits of the parts car and the original locks. I read a thread on a guy that was re-keying w123 locks this way and supposedly there are only 4 different tumblers numbered 1 through 4. He was just collecting junk yard locks and making up whatever he needed. Will report back.

Interested in the "super fast process" to remove the door lock from a car to which you do not have interior access.

Had interior access. Was the ignition key that was stuck. Door key was in hand, but could not use it in the drivers door because of the stuck ignition key. Passenger door opened and then pulling lock plunger activated the vac pump and unlocked everything. You have to get the door open to access the set screw that holds the lock.

Oh, and update on the lock fix... a number 36 drill will take out the two blind roll pins to allow the lock to come apart. That's also a tap drill for a 6-32 thread, so a 3/16" long setscrew can be installed in place of the pin to make the lock easily servicable.

Lock put back together with the setscrews and blue locktite so they don't work loose. Bit of a panic at first. Got the lock in, everything went smooth, then tried to lock the door and it wouldn't move! About three times of taking it out and putting it back in before I remembered... you can't lock the driver's door unless it is closed. duh. Shut the door and it works perfectly.