Messages (Become)

So in conclusion, the fuel pump wiring was backwards and all rigged up. Majority of all hoses were replaced, as well as the fuel filter, water pump, thermostat, tie rod ends, and slave cylinder. Car is running like brand new, shifts like a beauty.

Awesome! Glad to hear it.

Unfortunately on my lunch break a couple of days ago, I went to unlock the door and the key snapped on me and it's stuck deep in there. Places are charging me up to $200 just to remove the broken piece from inside the lock, even had my insurance locksmith come and he couldn't get the job done.

I've done read ups on how to rebuild the lock cylinder and what not but as of right now I'm just a little confused as to which route I want to take. I work over 50 hours a week so it's kinda hard keeping up with all this stuff especially when you're at work and can't really do anything.

BMW makes replacement OEM keys for $95 and it takes up to 3 days, so let's see what i'll do tomorrow.. Any suggestions??

First, go tell BMW that they can go f*** themselves over that little bit of extortion/incompetence. $95 to cut a key with a three day wait? I've owned ten BMWs but I've been in a dealer twice in the last thirty years (I meet my buddy there sometimes after work, he's a BMW Master Tech). Someone has to pay for that nice big building with the pretty receptionist, overpaid sales staff and free latte...don't be that person. BMW does NOT want to work on anything less than ten years old, and most certainly does NOT deserve your patronage. I appreciate their efforts to keep old parts in production, but their dealers are virtually useless for owners like us.

You can fix the lock if it isn't too bad, but you have to take the inner panel off the door. The way that I'd do it, is to drill a hole in the center rear of the cylinder, then use a small drift to push the broken key out of the cylinder. Once you have the two pieces of the key, see if your local locksmith can help you out. It might be possible for him to use just the broken part to cut a few copies.

Yea boss thanks again for all the help and tips and what not, much appreciated from down here in Florida!

I dropped the whole lock cylinder and took it apart and finally yanked out the other piece of the key with small little knife sticks with teeth to pull it out. Took me a good 15 minutes playing with it but finally got it. Took it over to ACE hardware and they were not able to get any grip on the teeth of the old key (it was fairly worn and dull). So I took the route of BMW and man for $69 they shipped me just the bare metal stick with no top, barely ant grip to handle or anything. They said that the top plastic attachment with the light at the tip was an extra $65 if I wanted it hahahaha i've seen the full thing on ebay with the light on it for $30 so I may just order another blank copy with it and call it a day with BMW all they do is TAX PEOPLE it's wrong, but hey I really had no other choice, it is what it is today I finally drove the car to work today and she felt great.


I will keep this post updated whenever I have the chance and what not, I do have a couple of plans for the vehicle so let's see what comes next!