what to do?

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mekon

Active Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
131
Location
Somewhere in deepest norfolk
Car
BMW 318is Coupé, Honda VFR 400 NC24, Honda magna 700
due to the underside of my 300D having no under body protection due to someone ripping it off long before i bought the car the underside has rotted leaving me with a 106K mile 6 cylinder diesel engine and autobox that work brilliantly but the body is shot so im selling the car as spares repair, i dont have the time or energy to buy a doner body to swap the engine into.

Anyways the above explains why i was looking on auto trader, found a lovely looking '94 E220 coupe and talked the dealer down to a very good price, snag being the car was other side of the country, but with the body looking very clean and seeing thanks to the VIN that when it left the factory it had paintwork preservation i thought i would risk it, so i put a deposit down let the days pass until i had a day off from work so i could go down and fetch the car.
Deposit placed on tuesday.
Saturday rolls around, its about half 4, im on break at work so i give dealer a quick call to double check his opening times for the next day.
"Thank christ you called! we cant get the ignition key to turn" car is now unmovable, he couldnt get a mechanic out until monday... so that weekend was a right off, next day off is the following saturday, call up monday no joy mechanic didnt turn up... wednesday afternoon two mechanics for a different job turn up and he tells them that he needs the merc done so they play with it for hours, no joy. Call up and he says they are going to fit a new barrel in tomorrow. Call up the next day at lunch and they are still waiting on the barrel but the mechanic says it will be a "piece of P" to do.....

Tomorrow is my day off (and sunday off) it has now been a week and a half... i have nearly been killed on my bike due to finding a half mile stretch of sheet ice on the main road, oh and if the sale falls through i will be down about 50 quid cos i transferred my insurance for the day i was supposed to be collecting the car and the premium is higher than my diesel...... anyone got any advice? anyone live in the caerphilly area able to go over in person and either rip out the old barrel so i can do some screwdriver starting or kick up a fuss for me?
 
I know this a well documented problem with Mercedes ignition barrels - although you should turn the ket to position '1' to access the slots for removal ( can't be done when it won't turn ) there is a work round : pry off the black ring surrounding the key slot and the holes will be visible - a couple of stiff bits of wire ( coat hanger ) will release it .

I had a similar problem last week with my 190E , which had not been started since before Christmas and had previously given no trouble in this department - went out to car , key would not turn - spent about 10 minutes 'jiggling' with no luck , then out of desperation heated the key with a cigarette lighter - after 2 or 3 goes the lock freed off and then proceeded to work fine again . I don't think it was frozen as the cold weather had long since departed , but perhaps lubricant had dried up and application of heat was just enough to separate seized surfaces in the tumblers ? Anyway , worth a try as it costs nothing ?
 
well, unfortunately i was not able to have a go at the car in person due to it being a long way away, the mechanics told the seller that they needed some part or other it wasnt just the ignition barrel that had gone, at which point it would have been another week without a car for me, its too cold to be out on my bike for more than a few miles at the minute, im risking frostbite, so i got a refund on my deposit and went to view another car locally... talked the seller down to 500... came with two front wings and door, plus four extra wheels 3 of which have near new tyres...... you will note i have not said what the car is......*dons fireproof suit* its a bmw...
 

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