Where to get new ignition cylinder

[Jardon]

Hey yall. I was curious where the beet place for a new ignition cylinder and key set would be. Nothing is necessarily wrong with it, I had just lost the only key I had for it and so far replacing the whole thing is cheaper than having a new key cut. And would I have to find a cylinder with wiring? Ive got a 1994 mustang gt. Any and all help is welcome

 

[shovel]

I ordered one from Amazon - Dorman 924-730 & disassembled it, along with my car's cylinder to switch the pins around so my same key would keep working. Pretty cheap and easy & now the off/accessory/run/start positions are where they should be. There are no wires on a 94. If you want to make it slightly harder to steal you'll need to outfit a different kind of kill switch or starter interrupt.

 

[ttocs]

FYI take it and your old key to a locksmith and they can rekey the ignition to use the original key so you do not have one for the doors/trunk and one for the ignition. I just got my at the autparts store, takes 2 mins to swap it out.

 

[Jardon]

I ordered one from Amazon - Dorman 924-730 & disassembled it, along with my car's cylinder to switch the pins around so my same key would keep working. Pretty cheap and easy & now the off/accessory/run/start positions are where they should be. There are no wires on a 94. If you want to make it slightly harder to steal you'll need to outfit a different kind of kill switch or starter interrupt

Its not so much that the cylinder itself is unusable. Ive completely lost my only key set (one for ignition one for doors) and just need a new replacement cylinder haha. Im not looking to spend almost 200 on a lock Smith to get me a new key cut when I can spend maybe 50 bucks and get a whole new assembly

 

[ttocs]

the locksmith that rekeyed mine took 15 mins and charged me I think $20. It is too bad you don't have the original as you will not have a door key if it ever gets locked.

 

[Duckboy4]

I'm a locksmith. Having a key made for the car as-is would be far better. If you choose to replace the ignition lock, you must drill it out first in order to turn it to the position where you can press the retainer button for removal. Then, you can easily put in the new lock, but you still won't have keys for the doors/trunk/glove box. This is assuming, of course, that your car is still on its factory one-key system.

 

[MyLittlePony]

I'm a locksmith. Having a key made for the car as-is would be far better. If you choose to replace the ignition lock, you must drill it out first in order to turn it to the position where you can press the retainer button for removal. Then, you can easily put in the new lock, but you still won't have keys for the doors/trunk/glove box. This is assuming, of course, that your car is still on its factory one-key system.

This. You need a key in order to remove/replace the cylinder.

All SN95s originally came with two sets of keys, of which, both sets matched, and could be used on any keyhole within the car, such as: doors, trunk, glove box, and ignition. Remove the door card, and then remove the door lock. Take that lock to a locksmith, and have them cut you a new key. If you want it to be OEM, you’ll have to provide them with factory blanks. If they ask, it doesn’t need to be programmed. It’s a 1994.

If, for some reason, you had two keys, one completely different for the ignition, as the door key did not fit, this means a previous owner already swapped it, and didn’t rekey it. Which is a shame, because if you take the old lock cylinder and brand new lock cylinder, they can swap keys for you, so your new replacement one will work with all your original keys. I think it was $20-40, but call first, because apparently not all locksmiths can do this, even if they had previously done so in the past. (It rarely comes up).

Anyway, if you had two keys, because only one operated the ignition, remove the paneling from the bottom of the steering wheel column that is under the ignition cylinder. I honestly don’t remember if it requires a torx head or Phillips driver, or if you can even see it once removed, but the hope is that you’ll be able to see enough of the cylinder to determine what brand it is, and possibly locate a number, which can then tell you what key to order (which requires contacting customer service for that cylinder). The idea is that you can order a matching key for that exact keyed cylinder, versus some random one off a shelf.

 

[Duckboy4]

This. You need a key in order to remove/replace the cylinder.

All SN95s originally came with two sets of keys, of which, both sets matched, and could be used on any keyhole within the car, such as: doors, trunk, glove box, and ignition. Remove the door card, and then remove the door lock. Take that lock to a locksmith, and have them cut you a new key. If you want it to be OEM, you’ll have to provide them with factory blanks. If they ask, it doesn’t need to be programmed. It’s a 1994.

If, for some reason, you had two keys, one completely different for the ignition, as the door key did not fit, this means a previous owner already swapped it, and didn’t rekey it. Which is a shame, because if you take the old lock cylinder and brand new lock cylinder, they can swap keys for you, so your new replacement one will work with all your original keys. I think it was $20-40, but call first, because apparently not all locksmiths can do this, even if they had previously done so in the past. (It rarely comes up).

Anyway, if you had two keys, because only one operated the ignition, remove the paneling from the bottom of the steering wheel column that is under the ignition cylinder. I honestly don’t remember if it requires a torx head or Phillips driver, or if you can even see it once removed, but the hope is that you’ll be able to see enough of the cylinder to determine what brand it is, and possibly locate a number, which can then tell you what key to order (which requires contacting customer service for that cylinder). The idea is that you can order a matching key for that exact keyed cylinder, versus some random one off a shelf.

Ford ignition locks do not have key code numbers anywhere on them. Even if they did, you would first have to remove the ignition cylinder from the housing on the column in order to read it.
Additionally, pulling a door lock from the vehicle will not get you a key to the ignition. There is more to it than that.
Mustangs from 1994-1996 were built under Ford's 10-cut key system (see image below of a diagram of a 10-cut vehicle). The tumblers in the doors pertain to positions 1-6 on the key, and the tumblers in the ignition pertain to positions 5-10 (with only 5 and 6 overlapping). They literally use different parts of the key. The trunk, in Mustang's case, is just another door lock, since the back seats fold all the way down. In short, a door lock will only get you 2/6 of the ignition key. Attempting to guess the remaining four positions would be nearly mathematically impossible. This is where locksmith tools come in to play.
Mustangs from 1997-2014 (wow!) were equipped with Ford's 8-cut key system (see chart below). The graphic shows two possibilities of what tumbler positions might be found where, but inside the 8 cut system, this tended to migrate over the years. Below is the most common setup. As you can see from the 8 cut system, if you had the door cuts, it would be much easier to go through the mathematical guesses in order to obtain a working ignition key.
Why Ford switched to the 8 cut system is beyond me. I found the 10 cut system to be VERY reliable and not prone to failure/corrosion. The ignition locks tended to get worn out and were subsequently easy to steal. That's just one of the reasons why Ford added the PATS1 immobilizer system in 1996 as an option for GTs and Cobras.