Ignition Repair in Santa Clara
Ignitions that will not turn, or turn and do nothing, rebuilt or replaced, $169 to $429.
$169–$429
Typical price
21 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
Ignition faults look alike from the seat and are not alike underneath. A key that will not seat in a 2009 Civic outside an apartment court in Bowers Park. A key that turns and produces silence in a driveway near Central Park. A key that will not come back out in the Caltrain lot. Worn wafers, a bent key tip, a failed electrical switch behind the cylinder, and a steering lock under tension all feel the same to the hand. Wafer Lock & Key diagnoses and repairs ignitions where the car is parked, which is a shorter afternoon than a tow.
Cheap causes are eliminated in order. A key worn round at the shoulders so the wafers no longer reach the shear line. A steering wheel leaning on the lock pawl because the front wheels are turned. A flat fob battery on a push-button car. Only then is the cylinder blamed. When it is, it comes out of the column and is rebuilt with new wafers and springs or replaced, then keyed to your door key so you keep carrying one key. On an immobilizer car the transponder ring on the new cylinder is matched to the vehicle. The job ends with several starts, a check that the column lock releases each time, and a check that the key comes out only in the off position. Push-button EVs have no cylinder at all; for those the fault is a fob, a start button or a brake switch, and the technician says which before anything is ordered.
Ignition work runs $169 to $429. A rebuild of a worn cylinder on a common Honda, Toyota or Ford is $169. Replacing the cylinder together with the electrical switch behind it, or freeing a seized column lock, reaches $429. The $89 visit is inside the figure. Anything found once the column shroud is off is explained and priced before it is touched. Evening work carries $45 and overnight $80.
Describe: 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. Agree: the figure on the call. Fit: diagnosis, rebuild or replacement, keying to the door key, test starts, receipt by email. Card or tap once the engine is running.
“Townhome off Rivermark Plaza, door pulled shut behind me with the keys and the baby monitor both inside. Quoted $149 on the call, text with the technician's name two minutes later, van in eighteen. He picked the deadbolt in about three minutes and the keypad on the garage stayed exactly as it was. $149 on the card and the receipt in my inbox before I had the stroller back in.”
Every job is priced from the list below. One figure is agreed on the call; nothing is revised at the door, and the receipt repeats it.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$45
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$80
FAQ
Ignition Repair: quick answers
The key will not come out of the ignition. Can it be freed without breaking it?+
Usually. A stuck key is either a worn cylinder or a column lock loaded by the front wheels against a curb, and easing the wheel while drawing the key back releases most of them. If not, the cylinder is at fault and is freed properly. Pliers are how key tips end up broken inside a cylinder, so it is worth waiting.
Does a new cylinder mean a second key on the ring?+
No. The rebuilt or replacement cylinder is keyed to your existing door key, so one key runs everything. If the door locks are worn to a similar degree, they can be rekeyed in the same visit at a figure quoted separately before the work.
It is a push-button hybrid and nothing happens when I press start.+
There is no ignition cylinder in that car. The likely causes are a flat fob battery, a brake-pedal switch that is not registering, or a start button that has failed. The first two are checked in a minute. If the button is dead, that is a parts item and it is quoted before anything comes apart.
Related
More automotive services
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure, nothing revised at the door
Calls answered 24/7 across Santa Clara and the neighbouring cities. The $89 service call, the labour and the parts are inside the number you agree to, and the receipt repeats it line for line.