Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Removing Ignition key 1985 4/4 ?

Last week I became the happy owner of 1985 4/4. I can't remove key when ignition is turned off.????

Congrats on the new car and welcome to TM!
Suggest posting your question in the Classic (pre-CX) section OR the Maintenance and Servicing section - you may get more replies in one of those

Welcome to TM Gary, noting Graham's comment above. The key mechanism can get gummed up, try WD40 whilst wiggling key. Probably worth having a spare anyway whilst they're still available.

On my earlier car you need to push the key inwards and turn it 'off' further to pull it out ... may be the same for you

K

Couple of things - as reflected in another thread here - I've heard that a large/heavy bunch of keys can cause issues as it put undue strain on the internal mechanism.

If you have to replace the ignition barrel, have a look at MGB ones - I replaced mine a few years back and the MGB one was virtually identical and a fraction of the Morgan price.

Getting the old one off can be a little tricky, but I drilled and snapped mine out - if you get to that stage let me know and I'll let you know what I did.

This, definitely. I replaced mine years ago with an MGB lock. I cut the old one off with an angle grinder.

The other thing to do if you're able to keep your car in a garage or somewhere safe is to not break off the bolt heads when you install the new lock. They come with intentionally weak bolts, the idea is that the heads break off when you tighten them up, thus making it hard for a Ne'er-do-well to remove them should they want to nick your car. I left mine as is to make it easy to remove the ignition lock should I need to. But having said that it must be at least 15 years since I put the new lock on and I've not needed to remove it again.

Have you tried wiggling the steering wheel to ensure the steering lock has disengaged properly?

Yep, I just swapped mine for a couple of Allen bolts and countersunk them into the body so they're not visble. The fact that all the wiring is hanging out the otherside and steering locks can be snapped with a sharp tug meant that I didn't think security bolts were that important in this situation!

I did the same as Tim when I replaced the switch on my '76.

On my 1977 plus 8 you need to turn the key to the off position, then press a little tab on the steering lock above the key in, and then turn the key a little further and then you can extract it. The tab is above the key. It's a bit of a fiddle with no apparent advantage that I can see.... On the other hand, on the 69 4/4, the key will just fall out. And on my first car, 50 years ago, an Mg Midget, a screwdriver was a perfectly good substitute for the key, as the thief who took it out of the local pub car park demonstrated. They did not get far, as the throttle cable broke 3 miles down the road. I miss that car ....