Ignition Repair in Redwood City
Ignition cylinders that jam, spin or refuse the key, repaired or replaced in the driveway, $175 to $439.
$175–$439
Typical price
21 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
From the driver's seat every ignition fault feels the same, and underneath they are all different. A key that will not go in on a 2009 Civic outside an apartment court in Roosevelt. A key that turns and produces nothing in a Woodside Plaza driveway. A key that will not come back out in the Sequoia Station lot. Worn tumblers, a bent key tip, a failed electrical switch behind the cylinder and a steering lock under load all present the same way to the hand. Sequoia Lock & Key diagnoses and repairs ignitions where the car is parked, which is a shorter afternoon than a tow.
The inexpensive causes are ruled out first, in order. A key worn round at the shoulders so the tumblers no longer reach the shear line. A steering wheel resting on the lock pawl because the front wheels were left turned against the curb. A dead fob battery on a push-button car. Only after those is the cylinder held responsible. When it is, it comes out of the column and is either rebuilt with fresh tumblers and springs or exchanged, then keyed to match your door key so you go on carrying a single key. On a car with an immobilizer, the transponder ring on the new cylinder is matched to the vehicle. The job finishes with several starts, a check that the column lock frees itself each time, and a check that the key comes out only in the off position. Push-button EVs have no cylinder at all; there the fault is the fob, the start button or the brake switch, and you hear which before any part is ordered.
Ignition work runs $175 to $439. A rebuild of a worn cylinder on a common Honda, Toyota or Ford is $175. Replacing the cylinder together with the electrical switch behind it, or freeing a seized column lock, reaches $439. The $89 service call is inside the figure. Anything found once the column shroud is off is explained and priced before it is touched. Evening work carries $50 and overnight $85.
Tell us the car and the symptom: 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. Hear the figure read back on the call. Watch it fitted: diagnosis, rebuild or replacement, keying to the door key, test starts. Pay what was read, card or tap, once the engine is running, receipt by email.
“Our 1926 house has the original mortise lock and I managed to shut the door with the only working key on the kitchen table. The call gave me $139 and a text with a name arrived while I was still standing on the porch. The technician had the door open in a few minutes with the brass untouched, then showed me how the old key was worn and why it had started sticking. $139 on the card, receipt in my email before he reached the van.”
Every job is priced from the list below. The figure is settled on the call, before the van turns its own key, and the receipt shows the same figure.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$50
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$85
FAQ
Ignition Repair: quick answers
I parked on a slope in Emerald Hills and now the key is stuck in the ignition. Can it come out in one piece?+
Almost always. Either the cylinder is worn or the column lock is loaded by the front wheels against the curb, and rocking the wheel while drawing the key back frees most of them. When that fails, the cylinder is the problem and is dealt with properly. Do not use pliers; that is how a key tip ends up snapped off inside the cylinder.
If the cylinder is replaced, will I be carrying one key for the doors and another for the ignition?+
No. The cylinder that goes back in is keyed to the door key you already have, so one key still does everything. If the door locks are worn to the same degree, they can be rekeyed in the same visit at a figure read back before the work.
My hybrid has a start button, not a key. I press it in the Kaiser lot and get nothing. Is that an ignition job?+
That car has no ignition cylinder. The likely culprits are a dead fob battery, a brake-pedal switch that is not registering, or a failed start button. The first two are checked in a minute. A dead button is a part, and it is quoted before anything comes apart.
Related
More automotive services
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure, settled before the van turns the key
Calls answered 24/7 for Redwood City and the towns beside it. One figure for the visit, the labor and the parts, with the $89 service call inside it, and a receipt that matches it line for line.