I am having random issues with my ignition where the car occassionly will not start or it just turns off. Someone suggested I try a different key. I have been rotating through the three keys I have and managed to lock all three in the car. I can even see them! Same day the kids are playing basketball and there goes the windshield. I thought great, now when they take out the windshield, I can just reach in and grab the keys. But nooooo, they have to remove the windshield from the inside. I am down to my last 3 coathangers, any suggestions?

 

I used a metal coat hanger to break into my tl when i shut my keys in the trunk.

 

I once opened my car with a metal ruler. You have to bend it in a way towards the window instead of the interior and hit the rods with it. There is a plastic piece on the inside of the panel which connects the rods together from the key hole to the lock button, if you hook that with the ruler it should pop the door lock.

 

Call the local police.
Find someone with a Slmjim

 

AAA (American Automobile Association)

 

i had to call a lock smith for my car and he had something that went down into the door, bunt around the window and came back up on the inside. Then there was a little hook at the end and he hit the door lock switch on the inside. The thing basically looked like a big check mark with a little hook at the end. You will probably need something more stiff than a coat hanger though.

 

I just hooked the tip of the coat hanger and stuck it into the top of the door jam and pulled up on the unlock switch. It took me 5 mins.

 

Yeah, oddly enough i just did that too. Had a locksmith come. He couldn't get it through the window with a coat hanger type thing, so he had a tool to pull the top of the door away (non-marring) and was able to pull up the lock with a flexible gripping type tool. (no idea what it's called)

 

Pay a locksmith $50 to get it opened. They won't damage your car (i.e. dook locking mechanism - I've seen it done) and you'll get it opened quickly.

 

$70.00 to the locksmith. He tried the giant s shaped coat hanger, but that didn't work. He went the way of the wedge at the top of the door and then used the giant check mark and just clicked the door look. I don't mean to be so techinical. Now on to the windshield. Already quoted $275.00, plus another $95 if it needs mouldings replaced. I told them it won't. She didn't laugh.

 

Been there done that. I had to break into my old Accord with a wire coat hanger. Tore the shit out of the weather stripping. So everytime it rained I had to break out my Gordon's fisherman raingear or else get wet! OK, so it wasn't that bad. Well going through an automated car wash it was!

Sorry about it anways... It sucks.

BTW, tj, are you from Medford OR or Medford MA?

 

Where do you live? In FL your insurance will replace the windshield with no deductible.

Oh - and your car randomly turning off doesn't sound like a key issue. I had a '96 Altima that would shut off randomly while driving. It turned out to be the camshaft position sensor. The can't see the security system shutting off the ignition if the engine is already running. That sounds like a huge safety issue.

 

You might also consider moving the basketball backboard!

 

Medford, NJ. The other other one.

As far as the ignition goes, I have been using the valet key with out any problems for the past couple of weeks. The other keys may have worn out. With almost 270,000 the car has been started a few times.

Someone also mentioned I might want to check the ground, but that seems to be in order (plus I have no idea what I am looking at). Basing this on the observation that the battery has a ground going to the frame.

It's wierd. Sometimes I go to start the car and nothing, not even a click. Then a couple of trys later starts right up. But I have to enter the radio code. (but not the navi code)

Sometimes when I get out of the car and push down the door lock (the one that sticks up not the chrome one) and only that door will lock, but none of the others and again I will need to reset the radio code.

The car runs great other than this random annoyance. I just replaced the OS last week, but that was because of a check engine light.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this.

 

really sounds like you have a bad wire. Also make sure the terminal isn't corroded bad. With that many miles i could see the battery terminals needing some cleaning. Just use some baking soda and water and give them a good scrub.

And the insurance covering the windshield thing... that depends on who you get your coverage from. Some companies see having a bad windshield as a risk for you to get in an accident. Some companies let you replace your windshield once a year just to help keep you out of an accident. Check with your company.

 

I live in Jersey. We have the highest property taxes AND the highest auto insurance. We don't get shit for either.