Broken Key in Door Lock

[emerydc8]

This may be a contender for idiot-of-the-year award, but I broke a key off in my driver's side door and now I can't get it out, nor can I get it to turn 60 degrees to remove the tumbler.

A few years back my wife broke this key while accidentally (negligently) slamming it in the door and, although I got new keys, I thought I would glue this one back together just in case of an emergency where I had no keys left I could carefully unlock the door. Well, fast forward a few years and I see this key in the drawer and I'm wondering which car it goes to. Well, I found out!

I tried drilling it, but the surface area of the key is so small that I can't do it. Also tried superglue-ing the head of the key back on but it won't hold. I took it to a locksmith today and he couldn't even get it out with his extraction tools. Of course, I tried ordering this lock for my other car last month and discovered that they are NLA. In the mean time I can unlock it via the trunk or passenger side, but now it's on my to-do (to-fix) list.

Question: If I take the door panel off, can I get this lock out without turning it 60-degrees? I think if I can get to the tumbler without having to go through the door handle I will be able to extract it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Harv]

A ridiculously strong magnet can't pull it out? The key should be magnetic, so maybe it can pull it.

 

[emerydc8]

There's limited space to fit it through the vertical key slot so you are 1/4" away from the key itself.

 

[Jlaa]

Dang that sucks big time. Maybe try another locksmith? I mean the worst that could happen if you tried another locksmith is that you get no further?

 

[emerydc8]

I may do that. If I could get the lock off by taking the inside door panel out I'll try it, but I don't want to risk breaking any of those hooks off if it can't be done from the inside anyway. I think I had to glue that triangular window panel in last time I had the door panel off. Mercedes keys don't easily lend themselves to extraction by the rakes they use for conventional keys.

 

[Stevester 500E]

I was recently able to remove a 190e lock mechanism without having the key.
I didn't think it was possible, but I did it. Maybe it is possible on a W124.

I may do that. If I could get the lock off by taking the inside door panel out I'll try it, but I don't want to risk breaking any of those hooks off if it can't be done from the inside anyway. I think I had to glue that triangular window panel in last time I had the door panel off. Mercedes keys don't easily lend themselves to extraction by the rakes they use for conventional keys.

 

[emerydc8]

I was recently able to remove a 190e lock mechanism without having the key.
I didn't think it was possible, but I did it. Maybe it is possible on a W124.

Did you have to take the inside door panel off to do it?

 

[Stevester 500E]

Yes.
Door panel has to come off.
I took out the tumbler, then the lock mechanism with the door lock actuator vacuum element.

 

[emerydc8]

Thanks. I guess I'll have to give this a try. It was 105 here today so it's not going to be fun.

 

[Stevester 500E]

I am surprised that the locksmith couldn't get the broken key out.
If there was a way to adhere a thin magnetic wire to the top of the key and the bottom of the key, then insert in and hope it attracts the broken piece inside.

 

[emerydc8]

He couldn't get enough traction on the sides of the key with his extraction tools to overcome the tumbler spring tension. Plus it was hot outside, so I don't think he was interested in spending more than fifteen minutes on it.

 

[Stevester 500E]

buy an inexpensive key extractor kit and give it a shot.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bro...865&bih=386&dpr=1.58#spd=14640908319229909971

 

[emerydc8]

Already on order, just to have in my toolbox if nothing else. As a last-ditch effort, I just put a drop of JB Weld on the tip of the key head hoping that it will attach to the stuck half of the key. By tomorrow it should be dry. With my luck it will probably weld up the entire tumbler and make it more difficult to remove without breaking the whole thing.

 

[Ntrepid]

You may want to lubricate around the key to facilitate ease of removal. Of course over lubricating may work against using tools to pull it out. BTW, I do have a Neodymium N52 magnet which I would be happy to donate to the cause. Let me know.


Robert

 

[speedy300dturbo]

It is possible to remove the endpiece from the door without the key. Copy and pasted from an MB mailing list:

"Can't remember precisely what was involved, but iirc the issue is that to remove it normally, with the key, turning the key for cylinder removal both disengages the lock cylinder from the handle itself and from the lever that's inside the door that you actually pull with the tailpiece on the end of the cylinder in order to operate the door latch mechanism. Following the procedure in the fsm it is possible to loosen and maybe even completely remove the 3 screws that secure the handle to the bearing bracket without first removing the cylinder. Because you can't turn the key, it's necessary to rotate the door latch operating mechanism from the inside in order to disengage the tailpiece from the mechanism's operating lever, so obviously you've got to remove the liner and detach the mechanism from the inside. What isn't shown clearly in 72-250 in the fsm is the little electrical pigtail that I think is part of the alarm system - the wire that Sixto mentioned having broken. As I recall that thing tends to tangle things up somehow as you try to rotate the mechanism such that I had to remove the end of the pigtail completely from it's plug in the door and finagle it some to free things up. That's about all that I can recall. If you can determine that the pigtail isn't needed I suppose you could just cut it intentionally, but for some reason that I don't remember I either didn't want to do that or the possibility didn't occur to me at the time. I just remember that it was a bit of a struggle to get it out of the way"​

Once you have the endpiece removed, I suggest doing one of the following:

Option A (easy): Install a "keyhole delete" piece on the front passenger door, and swap that endpiece over to the driver's door.

Option B (harder): Remove the cylinder from the endpiece and have it rekeyed with a donor part. I'd leave this to a skilled locksmith, because getting the wafers in place and lined up can be a real chore.

 

[emerydc8]

BTW, I do have a Neodymium N52 magnet which I would be happy to donate to the cause. Let me know.

Thanks, Robert. The JB Weld didn't work so it looks like I'll have to go in. Thanks for the post, Speedy.

 

[nocfn]

Sorry it didn't work.

 

[emerydc8]

I went to three locksmiths. None of these $12/hour kids wants to spend more than 10 minutes trying to get it out in the hot sun. I ended up ordering a new lock set and I'll just drill the old one out when I get back in town.

 

[speedy300dturbo]

Jon, any update on removing the door tumbler?

 

[emerydc8]

Thanks for asking. I took the easy way out and drilled the door lock by starting with a small bit and working up to a 1/2" bit. I replaced the lock with a used lock from ebay. I talked to a locksmith about having it re-keyed to match the original locks, but the locksmith didn't have the tumbler kit in stock. He said the master kit number is an A-21-100/HU39-P.

I plan to have it re-keyed, but haven't had the time to do it. The replacement lock came with only one key. Unfortunately, I don't have the VIN for the replacement lock and, even if I did, I don't think MB would make additional keys. I did have a locksmith make several extra keys for the replacement lock.