Keys again...

[tobytoolbag]

Apologies if this has already been covered :Oops:, but I started to lose the will to live reading through the fifteenth page of key problems thrown up by the search function!!

I have a W210 W-reg 2000 E320 CDI Avantgarde Estate, which was bought second hand from a non-Merc dealer back in February. It came with two two-button keys, both of which will open the central locking.

However, one doesn't seem to 'bind' with the ignition (there's no faint 'click' when you put the key into the ignition) to allow me to turn the key to any position other than '0'.

I've changed the batteries, verified that the IR is working using a digital camera, and tried a number of remote keypress options thrown up by my slightly less-than-exhaustive search as to how I might cure the problem. But I still can't turn the key.

Please tell me that I won't have to fork out £150 to get a Merc dealer (my nearest one is a three-hour ferry ride plus about an hour and a half of driving away!) to reprogramme what I was told was the spare key for the car and assumed would work as well as the other one that I was given.

 

[television]

When the key is in the ignition it is powered from the car, do make sure that the red window is clean on the end, and try leaving it in the igntion switch for up to 90 mins

 

[tobytoolbag]

When the key is in the ignition it is powered from the car, do make sure that the red window is clean on the end, and try leaving it in the igntion switch for up to 90 mins

Nope - still not working. Am I missing something, like keeping the door open whilst it's in the ignition or something like that? (Thankfully, crime up here is extremely low, so I can leave the car unlocked with the key in the ignition and it's highly unlikely to get nicked!)

 

[mikestrivens]

Looks like all the scum bags will holidaying in the Hebrides this year

 

[tobytoolbag]

Looks like all the scum bags will holidaying in the Hebrides this year

They'll have a job getting their ill-gotten gains off the island - there aren't that many ferries each day, and it's like shooting fish in a barrel for 'the plod' to pick 'em up at the ferry port trying to make a getaway!

 

[television]

Then if the key has been dropped, a coil can fall off on some keys

 

[tobytoolbag]

Then if the key has been dropped, a coil can fall off on some keys

I haven't dropped it, but it may have been before I took ownership of the car. It does rattle if you shake it - how do you get the circuit board out without breaking it?

 

[television]

The white nylon strip that its under the PCB has a catch on it, you slide a thin bladed knife in and then along to release the catch and it all slides out

 

[tobytoolbag]

The white nylon strip that its under the PCB has a catch on it, you slide a thin bladed knife in and then along to release the catch and it all slides out

Managed to break the catch getting it out, but have managed to slide the PCB out, and you're perfectly correct in your diagnosis - the coil's broken loose.

Not sure how I go about fixing it - if it's at all possible. The coil assembly seems to have snapped near the base and little wires from the coil to the solder joint are also severed. Is it terminal? ('scuse the pun!)

 

[television]

you could buy one from Ebay and transfer the coil over, later keys have a more robust fitting for the coil