Hello,

I’m writing in the hope that someone out there may have experienced a problem similar to the one that faces me.

I have owned a 1987 300SEL for about six years and the car has been nigh on faultless. However, when I got in it to leave work a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the key felt very stiff in the ignition barrel and wouldn’t turn. I sprayed a bit of WD40 on it, and eventually got it going and got the car home and into the garage, and shut the engine off, whereupon the key snapped clean off.
I curse myself because key and barrel are both obviously terminally worn, and had I had the foresight to replace it sooner, this nightmare would have been avoided. I’ve had a locksmith look at it, and he couldn’t extract the broken piece.

I have bought a NOS barrel and keys, and all I need to do is extract the old one; easier said than done with the broken key in place.

Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, JW

Car is a 1987 W126 300SEL

 

This is not the work of a locksmith, that's the reason he's not able to extract the broken piece.

 

Before hiring any locksmith expert for getting the new key i suggest to call dealership once, they probably have better solution for you.

 

You need to take out the broken piece from the lock and made a new key to work with the ignition and a locksmith can do this job well.