MoJ
Moderator
Help me solve a mystery:
I have a perfectly functioning key that works in all three exterior lock cylinders as well as the ignition. Since I lost my spare I pulled the passenger side lock cylinder to retrieve the key code which was clearly stamped on top of the cylinder. I then contacted @ToyotaMatt who promptly cut three great keys for me. The keys looked great but were unfortunately a distinctly different profile than my working key. Different enough that it couldn’t be from my key being simply worn. For example my key had material where the new key did not. Being the nice guy Matt is he cut another key to see if it was human error but the key was again the same unmatched profile as before.
Today I stopped by the dealer to have a key cut from the VIN. The dealer looked up the VIN and it cross referenced to the same key code that’s present on my lock cylinder. They then cut a key which resulted in the same unamtched profile which Matt supplied which of course didn’t work in any of the locks or ignition. The dealer then trace cut a few keys from my working key and they function flawlessly
I can only think of three scenarios:
1. The lock cylinder was incorrectly stamped at the factory.
2. The Toyota reference material which correlates key code to key profile is incorrect.
3. All three lock cylinders and ignition were re-pinned at some point yet the original lock cylinder casing with the original key code was retained. (I’m not sure why someone would go to so much trouble or if it’s even possible to re-pin while retaining the original cylinder casing.)
I would like to have the correct key code eventually. Just not sure how to figure it out at this point.
I have a perfectly functioning key that works in all three exterior lock cylinders as well as the ignition. Since I lost my spare I pulled the passenger side lock cylinder to retrieve the key code which was clearly stamped on top of the cylinder. I then contacted @ToyotaMatt who promptly cut three great keys for me. The keys looked great but were unfortunately a distinctly different profile than my working key. Different enough that it couldn’t be from my key being simply worn. For example my key had material where the new key did not. Being the nice guy Matt is he cut another key to see if it was human error but the key was again the same unmatched profile as before.
Today I stopped by the dealer to have a key cut from the VIN. The dealer looked up the VIN and it cross referenced to the same key code that’s present on my lock cylinder. They then cut a key which resulted in the same unamtched profile which Matt supplied which of course didn’t work in any of the locks or ignition. The dealer then trace cut a few keys from my working key and they function flawlessly
I can only think of three scenarios:
1. The lock cylinder was incorrectly stamped at the factory.
2. The Toyota reference material which correlates key code to key profile is incorrect.
3. All three lock cylinders and ignition were re-pinned at some point yet the original lock cylinder casing with the original key code was retained. (I’m not sure why someone would go to so much trouble or if it’s even possible to re-pin while retaining the original cylinder casing.)
I would like to have the correct key code eventually. Just not sure how to figure it out at this point.