Perseverence is key with a camper

Readers, you may remember that on our epic trip to Ireland we had the key stuck in the ignition in the 'on' position so had to resort to connecting and disconnecting the main electrics to start and stop the car. Not the best way to operate things.

So this was clearly high up on our jobs list for the Winter and using the expertise of the car locksmith at his work, Husband recently dismantled the key barrel and managed to fix it, this after being quoted £90 (because a working key barrel is like rocking horse poop according to Husband) for a replacement from Adrian Bailey (CF bods will know who he is).  Here's how we (Husband) did it:

Step one: drill 2 holes, one either side of the lock retaining pin

Step two: prize the lock retaining pin out...

Step three:...allowing key barrel to be removed

Step four: lightly drill the rear retaining clipto remove the peened over metal

Step five: now the lock mechanism can be removed and the offending key slides can be taken out

Step six: this shows a badly deformed key slide and another one that snapped in half, this is what was causing the mechanism to jam

Step seven: remove any redundant springs, I left only 2 lock slides in place to hold onto the key to stop it rattling out

Step eight: re-peen the back plate on and re-assemble everything - knock the pin back in and it shouldn't fall out

So there you go - easy, right?!