GM Ignition Tip

As a locksmith technician key origination level of difficulties tend to vary a lot from vehicle to vehicle. Most of the time the ignition cylinder would need to be access and removed in order to look at the code that will allow to originate a new key. However, I found out that on some mid 90's GM vehicles, having a working door key can make the job much easier. From my experience I can confirm the above is true for 95-00 Oldsmobile Aurora models. It seemed to me that the bittings for the door key are the same as for the ignition key. The only different is that the door key is usually being cut using a standard GM 10 cut blank and the ignition key is a VATS 10 cut blank key.

With the information I got from GM, that model intended to have the key fits all models. According to GM, there is a reason that there are two keys being used for the vehicle(one for the door and one for the ignition). The reason would be since they couldn't figure out how to make the VATS ignition key to open the door because the VATS chip seem to interfere with insertion of the key inside the lock. Because of that, GM decided to use two different keys that would work using the same bittings. This may work on mid to late 90's various Buick models.

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How To Handle GM Lock Retainer

Many automotive locksmith technicians who had the chance to work with a lot of GM door locks, probably found loose, broken or distorted wafer spring retainer. Many of them probably had to do call backs regarding those vehicles on cylinders that were serviced where the retainer dislodged from the plug even after staking. I have found a solution to the problem that will prevent technicians form the hassle of going back to the same job for support.

I use a second retainer leg, that was modified by me and installed alongside the loose end of the first retainer. To make this second retainer leg work, I used a grinder to grind the leg of the retainer to a knife edge. Next, I inserted the modified retainer leg alongside the loose retainer and slowly tap it down all the way. That will effectively wedges the loose retainer in place. If required, I sometimes use one of my modified retainer legs on both ends of the first wafer retainer. Then I will break off the rest of the retainer flush with the plug.

Sometimes it would be necessary to file or grind the leg down in order to get it even with the top of the plug. Once the broken edges were smoothed out of the retainer and its easy to tell they are even with the edge of the plug, the key and the plug would need to be inserted into the cylinder making sure the plug rotates without binding, or hanging up. If it does, reassemble the lock and re-install it in the vehicle.

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