Broken ignition lock cylinder

Last weekend it was -20 degrees here in central Ohio, I managed to break my ignition but I'm going to just go ahead and blame it on the cold. I was trying to lock my tailgate before going into a restaurant but it was frozen. I managed to thaw it out enough to turn the key and lock it, but I had to turn the key a little harder than I would have liked to, but it worked. When I left, I went to start the truck and the key would turn over to accessory but would not make the final turn to start the engine. I realized the key was slightly bent or "twisted". I tried to straighten it best I could on the side of the road but was unsuccessful. The key still worked fine in all the locks except the ignition. A buddy of mine took me to my house to get a spare, we got back to my truck thinking it would start for sure but this time it would still not turn far enough to start the truck, but now the key won't come back out. It's now 2AM and I had to get the truck towed to my house a few miles away.
I made a few calls the next day and my local dealership wanted a crazy amount of money to install a new ignition lock cylinder, and now I would of course have a new key. And if I want all my locks keyed the same I would have to put 4 new locks in the truck, no thanks. Its really easy to remove the lock cylinder from the truck. The lower dash panel underneath the steering wheel has to be removed along with the instrument cluster bezel. The light-up bezel around the ignition itself had to be slipped off and with the key turned to accessory, a pin on the bottom of the lock cylinder can be depressed and the ignition removed.
I took the lock cylinder to Golden Bear Lock & Safe in Plain City, Ohio. They repaired it for $30 and cut me a new key. She said there was a broken wafer inside caused by the ever so slightly warped key. She said it is just a bad design and has a lot of fragile internal parts. They had the lock for 3 days to repair it (I'm sure they could've done it faster if they didn't have other things going on). If you are in a situation like I was where I needed a vehicle within those 3 days for work and suuuuch. I took an Uber to AutoZone and got an ignition for the truck for $80, made in Taiwan but seemed like a good part, came with two keys that look just like the Toyota keys. Napa had a similar part for $100. I drove around with the aftermarket ignition for a few days and returned it after I got my factory one back from my locksmith.
So if this happens to you, I'm sure I'm not the only one! Don't freak out and think you're going to have to drop tons of money at the dealership like I thought I was going to. It's a very simple and straightforward repair. I've seen on the interwebs that these ignition lock cylinders can occasionally be broken beyond repair but most of the time they can easily be repaired, and for cheap. And if yours is completely broken beyond repair, you can get a China special at AutoZone or Napa for a decent price.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Good write up.

Might I add for everyone to put a couple drops of oil on your key and insert it into all your lock cylinders. Keeps things lubed and helps prevent freezing water from locking up the metal internals.

 

You can also take a replacement lock apart, and move around the tumblers to make it work with the original key. Basically the same thing the locksmith did. At the worse, you use a few less tumblers. But in the end, your replacement lock takes the old key and you don't have to carry two keys.