Ignition Repair in San Mateo
Ignitions that will not turn, or turn and do nothing, rebuilt or replaced, $172 to $435.
$172–$435
Typical price
23 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
From the driver's seat every ignition fault feels the same. A key that will not seat in a 2008 Accord parked on a North Central street. A key that turns and produces nothing in a Laurelwood driveway. A key that will not come back out in the Hayward Park lot. Worn tumblers, a bent key tip, a failed switch behind the cylinder and a steering lock under load all present identically to the hand. Hillsdale Lock & Key diagnoses and repairs ignitions where the car is parked, which is a shorter afternoon than a tow to a dealer.
The inexpensive explanations are ruled out first. A key worn round at the shoulders that no longer lifts the tumblers to the shear line. A steering wheel leaning on the column lock because the car was parked with the wheels turned into the curb on a Baywood hill. A dead fob battery in a push-button car. The cylinder is blamed only after those are cleared. When it is, it comes out of the column and is rebuilt with new tumblers and springs, or replaced, and then keyed to your door key so one key still runs the car. On an immobilizer car the transponder ring on the new cylinder is matched to the vehicle. The work ends with several starts, a check that the column lock frees each time, and a check that the key comes out only in the off position. Push-button hybrids and EVs have no cylinder at all; there the fault is a fob, a start button or a brake switch, and the technician names which before any part is ordered.
Ignition work is written at $172 to $435. A rebuild of a worn cylinder on a common Honda, Toyota or Ford is $172. Replacing the cylinder together with the electrical switch behind it, or freeing a seized column lock, reaches $435. The $89 service call is inside the figure. Anything found once the column shroud is off is explained and written down before it is touched. Evening work adds $45 and overnight $75.
Describe the fault: whether the key goes in, whether it turns, and whether anything happens when it does. Those three answers decide which parts ride on the van. It is written down: the figure on the work order on the call. The van pulls out: the name and the window by text. Fit: diagnosis, rebuild or replacement, keying to the door key, test starts. The receipt matches, card or tap once the engine is running.
“The ignition on our workshop pickup near the marina would take the key and then refuse to turn, and the truck had to move that day. $318 written down for a rebuilt ignition cylinder keyed to the existing key. The technician did it in the yard in about an hour, explained the worn wafers as he went, and the number on the card was the number from the work order.”
Every job is priced from the list below. The figure is written down on the call, before the van pulls out, and the receipt matches it line for line.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$45
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$75
FAQ
Ignition Repair: quick answers
The key is stuck in the ignition. Can it come out without breaking?+
Nearly always. If the front wheels are turned into a curb, the column lock is under load and grips the key; rocking the wheel while drawing the key out frees most of them. If that fails, the cylinder itself is worn and is released from inside the column. Pliers are the usual reason a key tip ends up broken off inside, so it is worth the twenty-three minutes.
Does a new cylinder put a second key on my ring?+
No. The rebuilt or new cylinder is pinned to the key that already opens your doors. If the door locks turn out to be as worn as the ignition was, they can be done in the same visit, at a figure written separately so you can decline it.
It is a push-button hybrid and pressing start does nothing.+
That car has no cylinder to repair. The suspects are a flat fob battery, a brake-pedal switch the car is not seeing, and the start button itself. The first two take a minute to check at the curb. A dead button is a parts item, and the figure for it is written before any trim comes off.
Related
More automotive services
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure on the work order, the same figure on the receipt
Calls answered 24/7 across San Mateo and the towns beside it. The $89 service call, the labor and the parts are inside the number written down on the call, and the receipt matches it line for line.