Don’t assume the ignition key will unlock the doors, or you may be locked out.

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Bought a nice '99 Taurus at auction and locked it up by pressing down the knobs in each door. The battery was dead so the remote wouldn't work. When I come back to pick it up, the keys wouldn't work in any of the locks. [censored]! It took one of the guys there 20 minutes to get it unlocked by lifting the knob with a bent hook thing.

Anyway, I'm considering my DIY options for having a (hopefully all) locks working. No I'm not paying locksmith rates on a 20 year old car. The key works the ignition and folding 3rd seat lock (it's a wagon) and not the two door or tailgate locks. If I had the key code for the door locks I could have a key cut for a few bucks but the Ford dealer said they only have codes back for 10 years. I guess the other option is to remove the door and tailgate locks and rearrange the tumblers to fit the ignition key. Any other low cost option I overlooked?
 
Pop the cylinder out of the driver's door and take it to a locksmith to have it keyed. My guess is the ignition was replaced and the door key didn't make it to the auction. I don't believe that lock in the seat is keyed.
 
Ford had 2 keys awhile ago. One with a squarish head for ignition and one with a roundish head for doors. Other car companies also. People can also get a replacement ignition lock and it will be different than doors.

You must be young. The old people know this.
 
Spray some penetrant in the locks and try the key a few times. Exterior Ford lock cylinders from that era tend to stick when not used often.

Almost every '90s Ranger/Explorer/F-series with power locks I have encountered, the lock cylinders are stuck. This always fixes it.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
Ford had 2 keys awhile ago. One with a squarish head for ignition and one with a roundish head for doors. Other car companies also. People can also get a replacement ignition lock and it will be different than doors.

You must be young. The old people know this.


Yes, but in '99 I doubt there were two different keys.
 
Originally Posted by getawheel
Spray some penetrant in the locks and try the key a few times. Exterior Ford lock cylinders from that era tend to stick when not used often.

Almost every '90s Ranger/Explorer/F-series with power locks I have encountered, the lock cylinders are stuck. This always fixes it.


Guy is a genius. Sprayed WD40 into the locks and all three are working fine. Thanks!
 
Back in the day, Ford had a square ignition key and a round door key. Later on they went to the larger key with the black plastic portion where the ring goes into. Models with the larger black plastic key should have just one key. Its possible it was stolen and the ignition cylinder was replaced in the past.
 
Good choice on WD40,on most fords of that era, the dome light switch is on the door hasp assembly, anything that doesn't evaporate quickly will gum up the switch causing the light to stay on.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by getawheel
Spray some penetrant in the locks and try the key a few times. Exterior Ford lock cylinders from that era tend to stick when not used often.

Almost every '90s Ranger/Explorer/F-series with power locks I have encountered, the lock cylinders are stuck. This always fixes it.


Guy is a genius. Sprayed WD40 into the locks and all three are working fine. Thanks!


I would bet it was originally equipped with keyless entry and they hardly ever used the key in the doors.

I have a friend who is a locksmith, primarily automotive, and he swears by WD40 in lock cylinders. I asked about graphite, and he said it gunks them up.
 
Originally Posted by sloinker
I know the trucks were using two different keys into the 90's.


Only until about '91 or so, but a lot of them now have two keys because the cylinders were still janky until 96-97 or so.

My 94 Ranger was originally a single key, but the ignition cylinder has been replaced and the key codes are too far apart to make one key work. My 94 Explorer amazingly has all original cylinders and one key works all of them.
 
Originally Posted by 01rangerxl
Originally Posted by sloinker
I know the trucks were using two different keys into the 90's.


Only until about '91 or so, but a lot of them now have two keys because the cylinders were still janky until 96-97 or so.

My 94 Ranger was originally a single key, but the ignition cylinder has been replaced and the key codes are too far apart to make one key work. My 94 Explorer amazingly has all original cylinders and one key works all of them.


You also see 2 because some of the aftermarket ignition cylinders come with their own keys on the 8 cut ones. On the 10 cut keys, the new ignition cylinders come with keys half cut with 1 cut shared on the door keys. Then a competent parts person traces the other half. On the 8 cut keys, like OP, the ignition cylinders from Ford don't come with keys, you build the cylinder to the existing key. I have found a lot of times that a key cut by code instead of traced, will magically make a stuck cylinder work again. But Ford only provides key codes to dealers currently for 2010+MY vehicles. I measure the cuts and use my decoder book to get the key cut code.
 
A keyless entry vehicle can be aggravating when you have a dead battery for sure. I worked for a towing company who took a lot of AAA calls. A lot of them were lockouts due to a dead battery. The manual key will still open the trunk on most vehicles. You can gain access to the tail lights or 3rd brake light from the trunk. With a couple of small jumper wires, you can connect a battery pack or fresh battery to the power leads in the brake light harness. That will energize the vehicle enough to unlock the doors with the fob or coded door key.
 
Originally Posted by 01rangerxl
Originally Posted by sloinker
I know the trucks were using two different keys into the 90's.


Only until about '91 or so, but a lot of them now have two keys because the cylinders were still janky until 96-97 or so.

My 94 Ranger was originally a single key, but the ignition cylinder has been replaced and the key codes are too far apart to make one key work. My 94 Explorer amazingly has all original cylinders and one key works all of them.

My mom's 94 Explorer has a separate round key just for the lock on the glove box. The ignition and doors all use the same key.

My '94 Bronco has one key for the ignition and the doors, and has a separate round key (same style as the Explorer's glove box key), used for the tailgate and the glove box. All Broncos have a separate key for the tailgate; Ford apparently couldn't design a tailgate switch that would work with the ignition key.
 
I forgot about the glove box on the Explorer; sure enough, mine uses some kind of valet key too. The cylinder is grooved opposite of the main key, so it won't even go in. What's weird is my Ranger with the same style dash, same style key, that came out of the same plant at around the same time, uses the main key in the glove box. I guess Ford figured an Explorer might be valet parked, but a Ranger probably wouldn't?
 
Originally Posted by 01rangerxl
I forgot about the glove box on the Explorer; sure enough, mine uses some kind of valet key too. The cylinder is grooved opposite of the main key, so it won't even go in. What's weird is my Ranger with the same style dash, same style key, that came out of the same plant at around the same time, uses the main key in the glove box. I guess Ford figured an Explorer might be valet parked, but a Ranger probably wouldn't?

Or your Explorer had the glove box lock or door replaced.
 
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by 01rangerxl
I forgot about the glove box on the Explorer; sure enough, mine uses some kind of valet key too. The cylinder is grooved opposite of the main key, so it won't even go in. What's weird is my Ranger with the same style dash, same style key, that came out of the same plant at around the same time, uses the main key in the glove box. I guess Ford figured an Explorer might be valet parked, but a Ranger probably wouldn't?

Or your Explorer had the glove box lock or door replaced.

My mom's Explorer has a different key for the glove box and I know for a fact the glove box and its lock have never been replaced.
 
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