Absolute Noob Fixes Honda Civic Ignition Lock Cylinder EASILY

NO NEW PARTS.
My 2004 01-05 Honda Civic key won't turn. So I start taking it apart to try to fix it myself. This video documents the process so you can see exactly how I fixed this problem.
No need to buy a new ignition assembly - this is easy to repair yourself.

Just remove the Ignition Lock Cylinder - this takes some work.. I had to drill next to the roll pin to pry it out. There's a specific tool set to do this non-destructively, but who knows where to find one?!

Once I took out the cylinder, I show how I removed the broken lock wafer.
This is a split wafer lock design - which makes it challenging to pick. But also, this design is prone to failure after about 15 years. After the repair, we just gotta hope another wafer doesn't get jammed. When it does, we can just take it all apart & repair the problem again.

I hope you find this helpful - although it's more of a 'watch me do' rather than a 'how to' video.

[hewittmcelroy]

You tackled a daunting task, did your research, pulled the trigger and succeeded. Way to go, man, you nailed it. Do not be discouraged by the negative comments. As far as the suggestions go regarding replacing all of the wafers, one can certainly inspect the rest for wear and simply remove them as well. Cheers!

[nikhilf]

Thank you so much for this. I replaced the cylinder entirely with one from Amazon. Took me 20 mins and $20. Dealer quoted me $1100 for this 🤯

[cartdog]

I'm a locksmith in Australia and just charged AUD$700 to attend site, diagnose, take the lock apart, remove the broken wafer, reassemble and make a new key since the customer's existing key was worn. Great work getting it done yourself, it's amazing what you can find online to DIY.

[kyussman]

I watched atleast 20 videos of this and yours is by far the most straight forward and easiest to understand.. from one noob to another, thank you so much!!! Locksmith quoted me $550 and i would have us to wait 3 weeks. Fixed in under 2 hours!!

[powerthoughtsontools]

Im so glad that you were able to pull out your cylinder and pull out the tiny pins for full seperation of the internals. It makes me so glad when, through youtube, people learn from each other about knowledge they can gather to empower themselves, and stave off the high, unnecssary bills of a shop overpricing a person.

[Jon-jkvd]

Thank you for making this video, it saved me. This is the best vid and a precise solution. This problem all started when I accidently inserted a Nissan key into my ignition, since then it took 5-10 minutes of fiddling to get the key to turn, and it grew worse each time.
After a successful start, as long as I didn't remove the key from the ignition, the key could continue to be turned, so I just left the key in the ignition like this and locked the car door with the second key for about a week. The FOB wouldn't work with the key in the ignition.
This fix took me about 2 hours, although it could be done much faster on a second attempt. I spent most of the time fiddling with drilling the hole and removing the pins. I had to drill both directions like you said at 1:28. There are other videos with closer detail on drilling the holes.
At 4:21, drill this hole; I was able to jimmy out the pin without drilling, but next time around I will drill it so you can slide a punch through it and punch out the pin and save a lot of time messing around.
Remove that brass arm clip over a table, there will be a tiny spring and pin that will fly out and can become easily lost.
When you finally pull out the tumbler, the bad wafer will be sticking up with the key in it. Keep the key in to prevent losing the wafers as you said.
*To remove the bad wafer* - With the key in the tumbler, I wrapped the tumbler with electrical tape to keep all the tumblers in place and left the bad one exposed, I then removed the key and pulled the bad one out with needle nose pliers. I did this because I felt it would be too difficult and risky to lose control of the wafers. Also take pictures as you move along to help with orientation. Also when removing the one difficult brass screw near the beginning, I had a cheap #2 Phillips with a 90 degree bend laying around. When also removing the top cover, the tabs will likely break, I am currently attempting to superglue them.

[robingram]

Thanks for the video, I was able to do this start to finish in about two hours, if you plan for a four hour window you can probably knock it out. I went ahead and pulled all the wafers and springs out so I won't have to worry about it again :) Thanks, drilling the hole right along side the roll pin was the saving grace for me, just started picking at it and in about 5 min the ignition came loose and then it was non-stop until I finished it.

[JonathanGarcia-yl]

Brooo!!! IT WORKED!! THANK YOU! it took me three hours total and I did it all in one Sunday afternoon lol I had to watch three other videos including yours to cross reference everything but I did the research and everything came out great!!

[libinm]

Thanks bro. Great help for me. I just did it. It was tough to repair the lock and did it with the help of some other videos. You saved me a lot of time and money.

[hanjikidda]

Thanks for your help brother
I fixed mine 2010 honda civic
Saved alots of money thanks

[ViliBogdan]

Just used this video to fix the ignition on my 2004 Civic. Thanks for the video!

[sergeb.]

On my 2007 accord, when removing the cylinder, it seizes the whole part and I think it's done on purpose.
I put the cylinder back, but it wasn't turning.
When you pull that cylinder out, it hooks and brings the inside part a tiny bit forward and it's no longer turning after this.
Have to remove the whole assembly to have access to depress the steering wheel locking part and then the internal lever can be pushed back slightly. It clicks and starts operating as normal. It's super sensitive on mine, I played around and not able to remove cylinder without it locking it.
Guess the idea is - if somone rips this cylinder out, they still need to go through the tamper screws.

[jeffwest]

👏 Nice job. I may be trying this on an 07 civic. Same problem.

[sergiuszciskowski]

There you go 😊 now I can start ignition with an ice cream stick

[diamonddetails]

Not all heroes wear a blue and red cape...
Thank you for your help Sir

[JonathanGarcia-yl]

I just had my car try being broken into, so I replaced the front drivers side door lock cylinder.. I bought the new kit at auto zone for like 45$ bucks and the kit included 1 door lock and 1 non-transponder key (spare key).... it took me a couple hours to get my door apart and to install the new door lock and reassemble door... install came out great! but now i have 2 keys on my ring.. later that day i went to the grocery store and unlocked my car and was in a hurry to get home.. I accidently put the wrong key inside the ignition and jammed / wore the wafers inside and now my car won't turn over / start.. the ignition has seized.. I've done a lotta research so far to figure out what i need to do as far as repair my car and basic repairs of ordering parts and getting a locksmith to reprogram new keys runs any where to 850 to 1100 US dollars.. SO with that said, I am glad to have run into this video and I will be giving this a shot because the risk is worth giving it a try myself, just to remove the wafers that are worn. Worst case scenario, I send the ignition cylinder/ Barrel into a locksmith and get the wafers rebuilt with the original key.. THANK YOU for the vid!!!

[rcarioca]

some important steps missing : the hard ones in removing switch. Take photos of which holes are keyed on the cylinder . Don't remove key yet. Once the key is removed, the pins and springs will all pop out and fly everywhere and you will lose track of what goes where. Thus, carefully and slowly remove key while holding down on the spring loaded keys on both sides of cylinder with the fingers. Orientate the cylinder with pins up and finger on reverse holding the pins on the bottom. Slowly remove the top fingers. Now you can remove the pins noting position and number because if you mess up, at least you know how to put it back together.

[charlestaylor]

I had a Honda Civic with a stick shift, that was a fun car. Same thing happen to it and now to my current Honda.

[broccolihart]

I just went waferless myself on my 03 element....saved a buttload of money.

[estebanego]

Great video, it helped me a lot when doing it. I also decided to try to fix this after watching Lockpickinglawyer, in my case I had to buy new pins due to the old ones being bent. Luckily for me I didn't need to drill anything.