One of my keys broke off inside the hatch lock years ago. Enough of the key remained that you could put just about anything in the keyhole and turn... and the hatch would pop open. It was a definite security breach.

I am getting the car painted and they have it all apart, so I took the opportunity to pull the lock out for repair. My problem is that I can not figure out how to disassemble the lock enough to get the key out. Do I need to pick out the rubber seal at the back, or press the cylinder out the front?

 

How badly broken is the key in the lock? Is there at least apart of the key sticking out? If so you might be able to use a small locksmith pick and pull it out. True story the key to my fc was broken off inside the ign switch so, with my dad being a locksmith i got some of his picks and about 5 mins later I got the broken half of the key out and made LOL ! I could start my own car without "other tools".

 

Sucks about the key but grats on the paint job.

 

Perhaps this will help.

http://www.ehow.com/tips_16770.html

if you do a search on google, you may find more resources on how to actually do this because I'm sure its happened to a lot of people.

Good Luck.

 

Best idea would be to take the cylinder to a local locksmith and have them take care of it. They have the specialized tools and parts to do the job right.

I've had work done on lock cylinders in the past, and it's typically just a few dollars for the service and they do it while you wait.

You need to go to a dedicated locksmith, not just some place that makes keys.

In the past, I've had door cylinders re-keyed to match the ignition key, put new cover flapper doors in cylinders, etc. all for only a few dollars and done while I waited.

Dale

 

These are all good solutions for this problem. OP whats your verdict ?

 

Locksmiths are some amazingly skilled people... I tried rekeying a tumbler once... ask me how that went... lol...

 

After hours of cussing I was finally able to extract the piece of key. It was broken far enough down as to make it impossible to get hold of with either fine point hemostat or tweezers.

I ended up pulling the rubber ring from the back which allowed me access to the one pin that was retaining the cylinder in the housing... I was able to slide the cylinder out the front. I tried to pull the key out with dental picks but could not. In frustration I started randomly pushing on the pins and was slowly, through much trial and error, able to coax the broken key out far enough to grab with pliers.

It was a pain in the ***, but the lock works again.