I've read a couple of semi-horror stories about this. Well this morning, second day of my vacation, I decided to get up at the crack of dawn, drive the 308 to Yosemite and poke around before the crowds got there. It was a great idea and the car ran absolutely splendid and I made it 178 miles from home to Glacier Point and then my ignition key snapped clean off in the switch. There were a few moments of panic while I tried to use the snapped off nub crammed into the switch slot in a vain attempt to turn it to START. It wouldn't budge. Finally my wits came back and I realized that I needed to go back to off to release the safety. Did that and all was well, got it started. All well except I had to refuel once with the engine running because I didn't want to take a chance on switching it off. When I got home I was able to extract the broken key's carcass from the switch with a pair of good tweezers. Anyway, isn't there a thread about new key blanks somewhere? I have a spare but it's not a "spare" anymore
Glad to hear you made it home OK. Hopefully you were able to relax and enjoy the trip home. On a positive note.. no more searching for the key to the car!
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/private.php?do=newpm&u=39072 Send a PM to Jim Bath here on the board. He offers the Neiman blanks (reproduction). I believe he is i-velocita here. Attempt to the PM link at the start of my reply. Also, someone reproduced the later folding key blank. I think TRutlands was offering those ultimately. Might check with Daniel at Ricambi as well.
I'll just add that despite the momentary trauma the trip itself was awesome. I'm a relatively new 308 owner (less than a year) and I've only recently fully acclimated to the car but we seem to have formed a very close bond. Four hundred miles and eleven hours with the car and to be honest when I got close to home I still didn't want it to end. I love my 308! As for the key, I still have the original so really all I'm looking for is a spare (which would become the primary) so I don't care what it says on the face so long as it starts the engine.
Was the key already bent or damaged in any way prior to it breaking off in the ignition? I am trying to envision how this happend?
There's a little bit of a snag in my switch going from OFF to ON which I think stresses the key if you rush it and over a period of this occurring hundreds and hundreds of times it appears to have developed radial cracks in the upper and lower channels so that when I snapped it off only the center portion of the shank was intact. I can see this by looking at the broken pieces and only a small portion in the center appears to be a fresh break. It didn't feel as though I had put excessive force on it when it broke either, just snapped right off clean as a whistle. This was not an original key in fact it says Peugeot/Renault on the face so I'm not sure of the quality but I think a look at any key at the base of the shank with a magnifying glass might reveal if such initial cracks exist and warrant replacing it to avoid an experience such as I had.
If you have your key codes, or even just a photo of a key that works, you can order a set of keys from Keys 4 Classics for Ferrari 208, 308, Dino etc. Silca blanks from Italy I got a couple sets of keys and the key codes for my 328 from them. Good service, the keys fit great and they guarantee their work.
Today is our last dry day forecast for several days so I did the final clean of the block with my pressure washer and modified brass BBQ brush. Almost nothing came out of the galleries which is a pleasant change from the gunge I've often seen hiding in some other old engines I've rebuilt. I also rolled the body out of the garage and gave the engine bay a good degrease and blast. There are a couple of chips in the paint on the frame so I will clean and paint them to avoid future corrosion. The chips are probably from bumps by tools or parts of the engine on the way out. I'll also pull the left fuel tank and put silicone heater hose up to the front while it's easy to get in there. My suspension bushes are shot so I'll order some new ones and do those while access is easy. Anything else while I'm in there? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sorry about this stray post or thread-bomb. I must having been reading this thread, came back later and posted. Thanks for the link Hal, I have no spare so will order a blank.
