Lock drama / re-keying door locks possible?

[ebelements]

Not unlike a good amount of you, my locking system is far from perfect. Up until a couple days ago, my only issue was that the passenger side lock will lock the door but not unlock it. Not a huge deal, the car is 20 years old, right? Right. So the other day I'm getting ready to leave for work, I stick the key in, nothing. Driver's lock is apparently frozen(it was like 15 out). Try the trunk, nothing. You whore. I get some WD 40, try that, which worked the only other time my locks froze. Nada. Tried warming the key with a candle. Nothing. In one of my frantic attempts, I managed to turn the driver's door lock past "close" to what I then figured was "no man's land" but has now been described by others as "deadbolt mode." Long story a little less long - called locksmith, paid 55 bucks, got another key, and learned how to get in with 2 keys. Yeah, gaysauce for sure. Especially since I'm 100% sure now that if I didn't force it, that after the lock warmed up, it probably would have worked fine. Now, it's in semi-permanent "deadbolt super fucking ultra locked" mode and won't let me move the key completely vertical and back to normal working mode. It's looking like new lock time.

So here's the question. Will I have to get a new/used lock with key, or can the dealer or a locksmith re-key a used lock? I really hope I don't have to have 2 sets of keys for the same car. This isn't an 80s GM.

Thanks in advance, people.

eb

[MarkH]

BMW sells a kit to replace the lock core. The part number is 51219061343. It comes with all the parts needed to completely rebuild a door lock that is wearing out. The instructions suck, but the best way to go about this is to take the old lock out and carefully remove the tumblers and note which ones are in your lock and their locations. Or you can use the trial and error method of finding the correct combination of tumblers.

http://bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=view&ID=00137&Section=01