Help! ****ing key will not work on Daytona

OK deep breath!

I have had a lock failure like this...but FIRST.....do some trouble shooting.

IF the steering wheel is turned off center, it imposes a stress on the lock rod, that runs between the switch and the column!
So, go back, and while GENTLY pressuring the wheel back and forth, see if one direction or the other will unbind the rod and allow the switch to turn.

This lock rod/column switch thing is long NLA, so be GENTLE with everything!

More to follow....

 

Maybe turn steering while wiggling key?

 

Second possibility:

Based upon the wear of the key, and the related "rooftop" pins that ride in the lock assembly, in four or five little vertical cylinders, on springs...it's possible one of them decided to go walkabout, and has left the vertical bore and is lodged loose against the key in another spot, jamming the whole thing and not allowing the switch to turn, as all of these pins, of various lengths, align nested into the key cut, and allow the switch to turn.

That's how the lock works.

This is also indicated if you cannot retract the key. Jiggle the key shank vertically up and down, forcing it to turn is no good and eventually the key will break off fluch in the lock, as my Body Shop was kind enough to do, in my car.

 

So, from where you sit, out in the lawn, IF nothing works as above, to get the wheel lock to unbind, or release the immobile key from the ignition switch, it's time for some heavy lifting.

Lying on your back under the dash, you will have to remove the lock/switch/rod, as an assembly, because that's how the part comes out.

Once the rod is out of the column, the steering wheel will unlock, you can move the car around by hand.

A Safe and Lock guy, a good one, will drive a hidden pin out of the lock, freeing the inner assembly of rooftop pins, springs, and sh*t will fly all OVER the counter top. Then it's necessary to inspect the vertical bores, that tend to wear enlarged, especially at the shorter rooftop pins. You may need a new part, at this point.

But, in my case, he decided that if he used longer rooftop pins, that nested deeper into the bores, the old part could be reused.
After doing that, and rearranging them into a Best Case scenario, he then cut a set of new keys, which of course are far different from those older ones.

Put it all back together, throw all your old key sets away, and your original Factory Codes, if you have them, are meaningless.

If you have to get to this final step, it's because one of the short rooftop pins has broken out of the bore, and there's not any way to avoid the repairs described above.

 

..and put some antibiotic ointment and BandAid on that finger.

 

Ooops, I did not see your post before mine. Sorry. You explained it much better.

 

Looking at that upper key that quit working compared to the lower one, you can se my point.

That upper key has the Codes it's the OEM key from the factory, and it's worn as smooth as a pork rib bone, after I knaw it down!!
Far better a new key cut than the procedure I described above, which takes at best, three days!!

 

I have scars on my back from this procedure!!
Thanks

PS Not really, as it was JRV on his back, under the dash on my misadventure.
"They say" you are not supposed to lube a lock, but I use a dry graphite into mine......
Who cares what they say!!

 

I'm glad it came to a good ending regardless. Don't worry...we all push the panic button occasionally.

 

Does Julie know you are out fooling with her Daytona? She will now

 

I am starting to worry about you David......

 

Well... It seems the end result is worth it. Great shots.

 

Note that I haven't said a thing.....Malcolm

 

David, I miss seeing you and Julie. Hope you fly over the top of the house sometime. I did meet a lady in Highlands a few weeks, she saw the Ferrari and said do I know you and Julie. I said "of course not", didn't want to do myself in before I heard the rest. I assumed you had done something in Highlands that is still talked about to this day.... wasn't sure. But her husband is the pilot that lands in your Lake during the Ferrari Fest we use to have at your house. By the way, are you back in the house.
Best,
John

 

Starting????

Have you ever been a passenger in a car David was driving? Or tried to follow him? I once kept 10 Ferraris in an orderly fashion to exit I40 on our way to lunch. David broke from the back of the pack blew by me and nearly missed the turn.

I have known David for a long time. I am still and probably always will be worried !

 

There are repro blanks you can buy. Any qualified locksmith can cut it for you. I have a real original Niemann blank. I will trade a week with the F40 for the blank.