Attempted Break In - Lock Damage

[sanguinious]

I had a nice surprise this morning when I went to put my key in the lock only to find that someone had got there before me with a screwdriver.

The police were already there as they had broken in to 7 other cars, but had smashed the windows to get in and take stuff they had on display.

I thought I was better off as they had not smashed the window, and I had nothing on display, as I never do, but it turns out I'm not.

If they had smashed the window I would pay £50 window excess and job done, as there was nothing of value in the car as the stereo doesn’t always work all the time anyway.

But after ringing to decide if it is worth getting the work done out of insurance I rang Fiat, and have been quoted £330ish, as they will need to replace all locks and code them. They also said that only Fiat garages can code the keys so I can't go else where, I confirmed this by ring the garage across the road who won't touch it.

If I go through insurance, I should only pay £100 excess as it is down as attempted theft, but then will loose my no claims, so my premium will be allot higher over the next few years, so I would have thought that I could recoup the £330 over that length of time.

Does it sound like a lot of money for the work? I don't really want to do it on the cheap and have two keys or anything like that, would rather just get it done, and not affect the value of the car.

 

[dan-the-man]

have they shoved the screwdriver into the lock itself or at the side of the lock? what car is it?

 

[Xen]

Sounds like lock itself from what hes saying... look in punto guides section from the top navigation bar... theres 2 guides there on lock repair from donor locks. One you just grind the pins down, the other you use your barrel in a new lock cylinder to be sure it looks as new and just as secure as before.

 

[Andy Monty]

should be no need for a whole new set of locks as the others have said get them to rebuild the tumbler

 

[T14086]

what car is it

 

[Focus Owner]

Sanguinious - 04 1.2 active sport 3dr yellow

 

[sanguinious]

Thats the one.

They have just gone for the lock. It looks as if it is just the font of the lock, so I would have though that the barrel is ok.

I have had a look at the guides, think I will try to do this myself! How hard it is to remove the lock from the door though, will I need to take all the interior trim off the door?

Cheers.

 

[jug]

yes you need to take door card off, but dont worry its easy, and so is modifying a lock barrel to fit your key.

if you have a dremel that is the perfect tool for the job. it takes 5 mins to grind the barrel's tumblers down to fit your key.

 

[sanguinious]

cool, will try and give it a go this weekend.

 

[sanguinious]

Well, I had a go sorting it out this weekend, and it didn't go too bad.

Getting the door interior trim off all in one piece was harder than i thought it would be! Only broke one bit though.

I couldn't use my existing barrel as there was too much damage to it, but saved the last three pins, and after moving the others, from the new barrel, around it all fitted perfectly without any modification.

The only problem I have is that it is no longer spring loaded as I could not see how the spring goes in. It must have to push against something while under tension in order to spring back, but I couldn't work it out.

When I pulled the barrel out it was just sitting in the bottom of the plastic cover, but if I just drop it in the barrel wont fit, so something isn't right.

Anyone know how the spring fits?

Cheers.