Key Stuck In Door Lock

9606 Views 18 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Brine, Jul 20, 2018

Brine

Discussion Starter · Jul 12, 2018

First time post - Figured I'd go big.

New to me 95' E320. Ignition and door locks use different keys. I put the ignition key in the door lock, it turned about 45 degrees and is now stuck. Naturally, it's my only ignition key. The key moves from about 35 to 45 degrees. Searched the site for a remedy and as recommended:

1. Tried WD40 - Fail
2. Tried tried vibrating my hand as fast as an electric toothbrush... :| because I don't have an electric toothbrush - Fail
3. Tried removing cylinder - Fail
4. Took off door panel to continue to trying to remove cylinder - Fail

The cylinder is loose but won't come out. Is the key position preventing the lock from coming out?

Luckily the car is parked on black asphalt in a parking lot with no shade and it was only 92* today :flamg:

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boyd waugh

· #2 · Jul 13, 2018

Look in the edge of the door check and you will see a small black plastic cap. Remove cap and insert correct size of allen key and slacken the grub screw to remove that section of the lock. Then do what you need to do on the bench.

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plinker17722

· #3 · Jul 13, 2018

Wow check the job out first on how to do the job . you dont just jump in and hope for the best look on to youtube and check the videos for the right way to go about this . With the allen screw locked in it will never come out. Only remove the screw a few turns then give it a try .

Brine

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 13, 2018

boyd waugh said:
Look in the edge of the door check and you will see a small black plastic cap. Remove cap and insert correct size of allen key and slacken the grub screw to remove that section of the lock. Then do what you need to do on the bench.

Yep - Did that to get it to this point. It's a #3 torx

Brine

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 13, 2018

panzernacker said:
Wow check the job out first on how to do the job . you dont just jump in and hope for the best look on to youtube and check the videos for the right way to go about this . With the allen screw locked in it will never come out. Only remove the screw a few turns then give it a try .

Yes - spent a couple hours in the morning watching videos and scouring the web for how-to's. It's not an allen screw, it's a #3 torx. It was accessed and backed out to get me to the point of the pictures yesterday. I also have a service manual. Unfortunately, it doesn't explain how to remove the key for my scenario. I was able to find one person who had their key stuck in the door at a 45* angle and his solution was to tap it with a screwdriver.

It's coming out today - one way or the other. :thumbsup:

tuttebenne

· #6 · Jul 13, 2018 (Edited)

Do you have an electric sander or shaver? These will create a good vibration to work with if the human electric toothbrush didn't work. As you may have figured out, Mercedes has designed this removal to only be accomplished neatly with the correct key in the lock cylinder. Anything else will most likely be a messy job. If it were me, I would grab the key with a pair of pliers and put some force into it to return the cylinder to its home position to get it out. You have little to lose since the only way to get it out will be to do some serious mangling if the key can't come out.

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Brine

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 13, 2018

Lock is out! - I went out early this morning, simply repeated the same jiggling/pulling and it came out. I think turning the lock to get the key position from 45 to 60 degrees may have been the solution. Yesterday, I was not thinking of this which I had read somewhere - that or drop in temperature (outside air this morning and/or my internal temp gauge) factored in.

Next issue is removing these roll pins. I saw a write up on this, and the last person simply hammered them out. Mine can only be accessed from one side. I'm guessing they are screwed in, but I can't figure out what kind of tool is needed. It would be a micro allen or torx bit that I don't have.

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sbaert

· #8 · Jul 13, 2018

You need genuine MB keys and locks, not this aftermarket Silca bullcrap. Only genuine MB uses hardened steel parts, and only genuine MB can get you matched keys to your vin# eliminating the need for different keys for keys between ignition and door locks.

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Brine

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 13, 2018

sbaert said:
You need genuine MB keys and locks, not this aftermarket Silca bullcrap. Only genuine MB uses hardened steel parts, and only genuine MB can get you matched keys to your vin# eliminating the need for different keys for keys between ignition and door locks.

Previous owner changed out ignition; hence the different key. I'm guessing the key that works all the locks are genuine MB. New ignition or have mine re-keyed plus the price of an additional key (which I need). Haven't looked at pricing for any of that.

sbaert

· #10 · Jul 14, 2018

IF your door locks aren't worn out, then all you should need is a new ignition tumbler from the dealer, which comes supplied with 1 key based on your vin#.

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Brine

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jul 16, 2018

Roll Pins are out. Turned out these were press-in pins. Apparently, they are 1 time use pins that must be drilled out to remove them. Once those were out, I noticed a total of 3 of the wafers were sitting proud not allowing the key to turn back to home position. 2 of the 3 were able to be pressed into place manually, but the 3rd (almost dead center of the barell) was stuck. Like so stuck a soaking of WD40 and the torque of a small flat head screwdriver would not release it, I opted to drill out the wafer (repeatedly) until it was deformed close enough to flush to allow the key to turn back home which as guessed... allowed the key to come out. I ended up inspecting each wafer, and they all showed signs of wear/nicks. I'm assuming at some point, a piece of metal was floating around inside the lock for an extended period. That said, I'll either be taking it to someone to put new wafers, or buying a new tumbler. With the wafers out, any key will now turn the lock, but i wanted to install it back into the car just so I could remove the blue tape I had covered the hole with prior to the rain storms last week. The reinstall went easy - turned the key to 60 degrees and the lock went straight in. Plugged back in the security switch, turned the key and opened the door, and...... the alarm goes off.

Naturally, now that my entire zip code knows (twice) that I'm working on the car, I started reading more and get to answers such as - disabling the alarm, removing the instrument panel, jumping relays.... Who engineered this car? THE DEVIL???

In the meantime, I'm only guessing that during the repeated tries to vibrate the key loose, maybe I damaged the security switch?

I'm really hoping someone has been through this and can offer me up another reason as to why the alarm would now be going off??? And what the next step should be.

TIA

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plinker17722

· #12 · Jul 17, 2018

With key in the barrel any wafers as you call them are sticking up need filing down ,, or even just remove it. I had to remove 2 in my barrel on passengers lock . That was 4 years ago now and still works fine to-day.

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plinker17722

· #13 · Jul 17, 2018

lock

This is a little more info on your lock .

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Brine

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jul 19, 2018

So I'd like to silence the alarm while I try to work on the vehicle (keeping the battery hooked up). Besides disabling the alarm, can someone point me to where the siren is located and whether or not it can simply be unplugged? I've looked in the forum and could not locate it. I thought the alarm was coming form the horns, but that's apparently not where it's coming from since I unhooked them and the tornado-warning-volume-type alarm still remains.

Jayare

· #15 · Jul 19, 2018

The alarm horn should be located behind the right headlight assembly.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

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plinker17722

· #16 · Jul 19, 2018

or if not at the rear of the front wheel arch liner..

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Brine

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 19, 2018

Jayare said:
The alarm horn should be located behind the right headlight assembly.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

Praise Jesus - Thank you. I was expecting an answer like - You have to remove the engine to get to it.

So tornado siren is now disabled, but I still can't figure out what is triggering the alarm. A few things I do know.

1. The door lock has been reinstalled (without any tumblers/wafers) so any key will lock/unlock the door. Is there a chance that the switch for the alarm is somehow reliant on one of the tumblers/wafers as a contact???
2. The door locks and unlocks from the outside with a key, but it appears that the lock knob on the inside of the door isn't moving. It feels like it's stuck, but I haven't been able to determine why it's stuck. I didn't have a problem with the lock not working before removing the lock. As far as I can tell, the only parts I touched that are involved with the lock knob is somewhere between the lock tang (attached to the lock itself which requires you to rotate to around a 60 degree angle when installing the lock for it to go in) and some linkage that I didn't have to touch to uninstall/install the lock to affect the function of the lock knob.

Today, I unhooked the siren. Got in the car, and tried to start the car, the alarm went off (just lights blinking this time thanks to Jayare) so the engine won't turn over. I opened/closed the driver door, turned the key in the drivers door to lock/unlock, and tried to unlock/lock the door by hand (which seems stuck now), while repeatedly trying to start the car.

and it doesn't want to move up or down yet if I take the key and use it on the outside of the door, the door will lock and unlock.

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Jayare

· #18 · Jul 19, 2018

Try locking and unlocking from the passenger side or trunk, then see if the car will fire off.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

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Brine

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jul 20, 2018

Unlocking the trunk did it :thumbsup:

Now on to figuring out what's wrong with the door lock actuator/linkage, but at least I'm on the road again!

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