I had the same breakdown. The pin snapped and the spring was broken in three places, I could not find a replacement barrel and if I did I would have to negotiate extra keys and change the transponder chip. Desperate to get the car going I decided to cut the pin a millimetre above the spring catch mark. I drilled an hole in the centre of the pin with a 4.5 mm drill approximately 120 mm deep and tapered a 5mm bold in the hole to the same length of the original pin. I them manually filed down the head of the bold to the same size and orientation of the slot on the right hand side. Made a spring replacement and assembled all. All is working well. Thanking you kindly for the above video.
Awesome, Damsel was in distress here! I couldn't find a mobile mechanic to come out soon, just as well. I managed to take it all apart step by step as you instructed and thankfully I have the same problem as you!!! What is not so easy is finding the correct parts online, even with the part numbers! Thanks for your amazing vid, you saved me sooo much money!
Nick! You legend! Let no one tell you otherwise! Wife managed to snap the igntion barrel, and we thought we'd be out a fortune. Thanks to this video and some confidence, not so... Appreciate your help.
Mark Keenan thanks Mark! I just found it frustrating how there was no info out there on how to replace it, so I figured it put it out there myself! Glad it helped!
Thanks for making and uploading this vid Nick. Today it was my turn to replace a snapped off ignition barrel and I could get it all done, even getting the car started to go buy the new part, without breaking anything thanks to this vid! Cheers!
Was a great help, the only thing I would say is you NEED to disconnect the battery first. I picked up one from a breaker (you must get the key with it) took out the key barrel and and swapped the pins inside. That way you can use you original key, no need to get anything programmed.
Good video, and very helpful, but you forgot to mention the part where you push thru the hole the barrel leaves to push the broken part into the ignition switch so that it will separate from the steering column.
Jago1252 glad to have helped! It was very frustrating not having any instructions doing it myself so I figured a video may be of use to someone out there!
Thank you for an excellent video! I am from South Africa and here the car is called an Opel Meriva and not a Vaxhaul. I did everything you said but have another problem...the car will not start! The starter motor does turn the engine but that is all. I did replace the transponder with my own but still no success with starting the car. I must mention that I had to disconnect the battery and it stood like that for two days before I could find a replacement part. Can someone give me advice on how to get this sorted out?
thanks...i too broke the ignition cylinder tip....following ur instruction I could remove the ignition cylinder. In my meriva, I think i can replace the key groove from the old cylinder into the new one instead of exchanging the transponder. The problem is I m not finding an ignition key cylinder with a immobiliser key
great video, very helpful... except that i have the problem that my steering wheel lock is on and i can't turn my key in the ignition to get it off ... tips or ideas?
I removed the ignition barrel from my vehicle some time ago and am just trying to put everything back together now but I cant remember how the release mechanism for the steering wheel height fits together. It looks like the car here has a fixed steering column? I had to remove the parts to remove the lower cover segment.
Hello. Sorry, I'm not a mechanic, this is just my experience. You could try holding the key in position 2 while you poke something down the hole at the top to release the barrel. That should then release it.
Last night I tried to start my opel corsa and the the engine would not start at all. I removed the key but the speedo lights were still on. I even tried disconnecting the battery but after reconnecting, the speedo lights would turn on even though the key was removed. The central locking wont work as well. The mechanic has asked for around 300 euros to get it fixed. The key in the ignition behaves in the exact way as in this video. Should I try his process or there may be some other problems too?
turbot turbot not sure. Make sure you disconnect your battery before you do anything since you can’t turn the ignition. If you can push the little button through the hole (1:48) then the ignition might just pop out like it should do.
i have a broken keypiece inside an opel astra ignition ,ihave removed the ignition off the steering my challange is to open the ignition barrel and remove the broken piece
2:29 im stuck on this part. When i press down it just comes back up. Got any advice? It seems like its stuck on position 1 and the steering wheel lock is on
My only suggestion is to try & keep moving the steering wheel side to side while you do it. Like you would to get it off lock. Unfortunately I’m not a mechanic, this is just my experience.
my astra key has snapped the same as yours, looks to be basically the same unit. i have the barrel out but the switch wont separate for some reason, any ideas
For anyone who might still come across this problem: You need to remove the cylinder as described in the video and then with long-nose pliers extract the broken off piece from the switch part in order to remove the switch by unlocking the clips and pulling down.
