STUPID
I just broke my Saturn Key by picking up the wrong set of keys to start the Focus I just repaird. Now a third of the Saturn key is stuck in the ignition of the focus and a key shop is on the way. This negates the money I saved by finding out that the reason the danged thing would not run was the $600.00 repair done at the Ford agency last fall was not worth paying for.
DANG!

 

So sorry to hear about your problem. Don't be so hard on yourself -- just about everyone here could recount a story or two about times when their wits failed them.

Consider this a white picket fence -- and get over it.

 

When I had my older saturn, the key that came with it was very noticeable, since it was huge! But I have gotten confused using spare keys, dont feel bad.

 

I'm trying not to feel bad, but in part even as I get older, it saves a ton on money to be able to fix things your self. And unlike the S series Saturns which it seems that maintainence was some how considered when they designed the things, the Ford Focus, as nice and reliable a car that it is, is an S.O.B to change minor parts. I blew off a repair for a water leak thinking the local Ford dealer would charge about $350.00 for the repair and have the parts on hand. And it looked like a major dissassembly to get to the junction block that was leaking. And it was. I had just finished changing an alternator on this thing which was an excersize in frustration trying to get the dang thing in and out. You had to remove a number of the cooling items, the windshild washer parts and bend the mounting brackets for clearance. According to the official Ford documentation for alternator repair, so I sent this to the Ford dealer. $650.00 later that damned thing was repaired. Today, all the parts they had to remove on the drivers side of the engine had to come out again to get to the 3rd Starter mounting screw. In the process I found parts not re-assembled correctly. Battery Box, Air Filter Box and Ducting, Brackets, Cables, wiring, Tubes, floatsom and jetsom.
AND the loose electrical connection which was part of the dissassembly which is why the stupid thing would not start.
Walla! Fixed. It only cost me $30.00 to have it towed home. Untill I broke my Saturn key off trying to get it out of the ignition when I put it in by accident. I am still waiting for the LockSmith to show up to see if he can fix the thing.
DANG
I was so proud of myself.
S*t*u*p*i*d
Kinda like the day I tore the side off of my Town & Country with no one to blame but myself.
Awhile back I ran accross a rumour that the Chevy Colbalt was supposed to be a Next Generation Saturn, a car which I like a lot. Until the General in his infinite wisdom decided it was smarter and more profitable to Re-Badge an Opal instead.
Sounds like the same logic that says if you close plants you can cut costs and make more money!

 

1:30 AM, The locksmith just left. Everything back together. Learned a TON about security keys! Wrote a check out for almost $300.00.
Stupid!

 

Hey man, If you aren't messing up once in a while, you aren't doing anything. I'd rather be doing something and taking my chances than doing nothing. That increasingly rare victory is becoming more precious as the years slide by.

 

You gotta point there!

 

teach us about securuty keys and the experience will be a net positive when averaged across the whole world's population

 

Following is some bits and pieces of information on the Chip Keys found in almost all new cars these days and may give some insight as to why they are expensive. Case in point, the ads seen on T.V. where you push a start button to start the car, don't tell you that if you don't have the key in your pocket, or placed in the convienent key holder in the dash board or something equivelent, the push button does not work. Un like my 1937 Ford that used the same system except that an aligator clip to jumper the ignition switch was all it took to bypass the ignition.
Chip ignition keys, some times referred to as Transponder keys in one form or another are current on today’s automobiles.
A definition;
Automotive
Many modern automobiles (especially the more expensive models) have keys with transponders hidden inside the plastic head of the key. The owner of the car may not even be aware that the transponder is there because there are no buttons to press. When a key is inserted into the ignition lock cylinder and turned, the car's computer sends a radio signal to the transponder. Unless the transponder replies with a valid code, the computer will not allow the engine to be started. Transponder keys have no battery; they are energized by the radio signal itself.
The above description is not all inclusive and there are a number of variations to this concept using different technology.
It also takes into account that many keys are also remote control for door and trunk locks and in addition may have complex multi blade key shanks all of which do some or more of the following.
Require a special programming box to program it to the car in question.
Require some form of specialized key cutting equipment to deal with complex key shapes.
Require some kind of coding to the car itself in order to identify what to electronically code the key too.
Require some specialized electronic hardware to actually code or decode the proper operating code of the key.
If used also as a remote for Electronic Door/trunk/starting and what ever, require a battery as part of the key.
But mostly
require lots of money to get a duplicate key made, specially if you broke your key off in the lock of the ignition. In some cases upwards of a grand, in most cases in the area of $150.00 or better due to the need of the owning the expensive electronic coding hardware, data needed to get the job done, and some one actually stocking the key blank.
In many, but not all cases the key works in conjunction with the ‘computer’ that runs the car. Now as there may be more than one, which one is going to depend on the car but probably in the most part the body control computer. The computer also works a bit like an automatic garage door opener in order to receive the remote signal from the key to unlock or deal with automotive functions like start or what ever.
In addition the computer works in conjunction with the black plastic ring around the ignition switch which works as an antenna and in some form, when the key is inserted with in the ignition switch the transponder or chip in the key works with the field transmitted by the computer through that plastic ring around the ignition switch to generate and retransmit or some how modify the signal created by the computer to verify compatibility between the key used and the electronic coding stored by the computer before the computer will let the car start.
For those that this is a mystery too, think in terms of a stop light that is triggered by driving over the Loop in the road that senses the presence of your car, thus triggering the circuitry to change the light from Red to Green. that is a Radio signal of some form and the presence of your car over the loop causes the frequency of the signal to change due to the metal mass of the car. Which is why motorcycles some time do not trigger it.
Anyway, putting a key in the ignition with the Transponder or The Chip does much the same thing.
If you never have a problem with it, you never have to worry about it. But keep a car 15 years or try to restore it 30 years from now and figure out how to get started when you do not have the OEM key properly linked to the on board computer.
Now what?
Following is one of many at this writing, sources of aftermarket keys;
http://www.shoppalstores.com/remotes4u/index.cfm/fa/categories.main/parentcat/26889
there are of course others. And who knows what will be available 10, 20 or 30 years from now. I own one 40 year old car and 5 others from 30 to 40 years old. Who knows what Saturn will become collectable down the road and how hard it will be to find bits and pieces to restore it, not to mention getting the dang thing started.
I am sure hobbiest formatted security key bypass electronics will be available then in one form or another at a price. They are available now to the industry of car repair. The 3 people that came by last night to work on the Focus with a Transponder key had 2 vans full of hardware, half of which was a stock of marquee unique Chip Keys and a handful of data sources and a number of Electronic do-dads to reprogram things. It took the 3 about 3 hours to get the lock out of the car with the broken key in it. As it was a Saturn key in the Ford ignition, I still had good Ford key so I did not have to pay almost $200.00 to get a replacement properly flashed to be compatible with the Ford.
So the $300 I did pay was to remove the ignition lock, and built a new one keyed to the key I already had. That took about 45 min. to do and about 20 min. to install it and then verify that everything worked.
Of course, about $7.00 to get a new Saturn key. Everyone left about 1:30 AM.
Frankly, I consider my self lucky it was not a late 90’s Lexus, the cost of a new key for that sucker was about a grand.
I would have been a whole lot luckier not to jam the dang thing up in the first place, I saved almost $500 by fixing it myself and finding the problem was caused by repairs done by the dealer.
But as I often said, I can screw up a car cheaper than a professional mechanic, at least in my experience so far. And last night I proved it.