Ford Transit Mk8 Ignition Barrel Repair & Spare Key – Southsea PO5

Recent and separate Auto Locksmith jobs on Ford Transit MK8 vans

1. Key Won’t turn in the ignition – local garage
2. Emergency Key Assistance – Keys won’t unlock the central locking – local builder

1 – Key Won’t Turn in The Ignition of a Ford Transit MK8

Master Auto Locksmith attended a local garage in Southsea PO5 with a MK8 Transit customer experiencing ignition barrel and starting issues. The customer had complained about the key becoming difficult to turn in the ignition, and then not being able to turn at all. The key would insert into the ignition, but it would not turn to position 1 or further. These Transit Mk8 ignition barrels are a common failure.

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The garage had removed the MK8 Transit ignition housing complete with the ignition barrel/cylinder. Some time was spend with the key and the Transit ignition barrel in order to get it to turn, but it soon became evident that more drastic action was required. Master Auto Locksmith set about drilling out the ignition barrel. This is a slow and careful process – so as not to damage the ignition lock housing. Eventually the old ignition barrel was removed from the steering lock. The housing was thoroughly cleaned and inspected, to be sure all the swarf was out of the mechanism. A new ignition barrel was installed into the housing, we installed a spare ignition switch to test operation and everything worked as it should.

The steering lock and ignition barrel assembly was installed back into the Mk8 Transit, everything connected up and the vehicle started and the ignition barrel operation was free.

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Intermittent Ford Transit Key Reader and Spare Key Needed

The customer had complained about intermittent starting, with the immobiliser message appearing on the dash, so we carried out a few tests on the system. Turning the key upside down in the ignition did produce this fault once, and turning the key 180 degrees solved the problem. We suspected the ignition key reader was beginning to fail. The signal was tested on key reader which was positive, but the signal was weak. The key was tested and a full diagnostic test was performed via the OBD port, which reported brake faults but nothing relating to the immobiliser. We checked wiring and found nothing amiss.

Ford Transit Mk8 Spare Key

The customer wanted a spare key anyway, so this gave an opportunity to see if the immobiliser would allow another key to be programmed, which it did.

Conclusion

We could not replicate the non-starting fault a second time, but still suspected the key reader may be on the way out, so recommended that the customer replace this in addition to the other work.

The Ford Transit Mk8 was back up and running with a new ignition barrel and new key.

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2 – Emergency Key Assistance – 2014 Ford Transit

Emergency key assistance was provided to a local builder in Portsmouth PO4, with a 2014 Ford MK8 Transit. The customer had key & remote issues. We solved the problems. Here is an account of our auto locksmith call out.

Upon arrival, the owner of the MK8 Transit explained that his remote had recently become intermittently unresponsive. Another problem had occurred that morning, in that the vehicle wouldn’t start with the ignition key once he had arrived at his job. Lastly, the vehicle had a recent attempted break in and the door lock had been broken with a chisel or screwdriver and was not working. So the customer was in a precarious position.

The starting problem on the Transit was isolated to a lose connection into the key transponder receiver on the ignition. The ignition and key operation was scanned. This was temporarily solved but the customer was given an advisory to replace this component. The vehicle was starting again.

Next was to solve the Transit remote issues. 

2014 Ford MK8 Transit Key Supplied to a Customer in PO4

The customer’s original MK8 Transit key was not in good condition. The internal rechargeable battery was becoming weak, the key blade was sloppy in the flip remote, and the case was worn out. Since the door lock was broken on the driver’s door, the customer sensibly decided to have 2 new keys for his van.

The original Ford key was scanned and decoded, which is a quick way of working out the key code from an existing key blade. Two genuine replacement Ford MK8 Transit remotes were prepared, and they keys were cut. These worked first time in the ignition but required programming.

2 transponders were pre-coded and placed into the remotes.

At this point the keys were cycled into the ignition, to start the vehicle. We used an Autel programmer to program the keys into the Ford Transit’s immobiliser.

• The remotes were added in separately, as a manual process.
• The keys were tested. Both worked in the ignition, started the vehicle and operated the central locking.
• Our Ford Transit customer was back on the road.