308 Ignition key turning problem

my 308 had this as a problem when i bought it. the only way it would fully turn was to turn the key hard and fast. i insisted that the dealer i bought the car from (not a ferrari dealer) have the ignition rebuilt at no charge to me. the happily agreed and in a day i had the car back with a perfectly working ignition. i think if you call around you can find a place that will rebuild your ignition for you. im sure you can replace it but at 10X the price of rebuilding it.

 

Right after I bought my 308 I had 2 duplicate keys made for it. Last Christmas I went shopping and when I returned to my car and put the key in and turned it, it broke off in the lock. After I hot wired it and got it home I then toar the ignition apart to get the piece of key out. The second duplicate key, about a month later, bent after turning to start it. I think that the lock gets dirty and needs to be cleaned or lubricated periodically because after spraying some silicone into the lock it turned a lot easier.

 

buy a tube of graphite powder for locks and occasionally work some into the lock by coating the key with the powder and slipping it into the lock and also put some powder directly into the lock. its a messy job, so put some towels around. i would not use any liquid lubricant such as silicone or wd40 as the greasey substances seem to bind over time, and/or may freeze with cold weather.
john

 

I agree with cavallo_nero, don't put any WD-40 in there. It is only a water displacement oil and gets really sticky in the cold. The graphite works well.

I have also had good luck with Remington Gun Oil (Rem-Oil) as it is a very fine weight lubricant, and is the only oil that keeps my trusty Model 1100 working properly in the cold weather.

I had this problem with one of the extra keys that I had made as spares. I ended up touching up that key with a small set of needle files, and it has been fine ever since. I would carefully try one of your other keys, and see if it works differently before taking apart the car. If one key works better, then try more closely matching that key.

Kind Regards, Chris

 

had a similar problem with spares. they wouldn't turn all the way unless I turned it all the way immediately. the original works fine. the spares are a bit different at the tip.

 

I had the exact same problem with my 85 Euro 308. Fortunately I was in my garage and couldn't start the car to leave. I contacted Martin at Cavallino Motors and after spraying the lock with lock lube & graphite and working the key in and out of the ignition for several minutes it worked and I never had a problem after that.