lynlan

New too the Forum,I will be helping my Daughters boyfriend change his ignition switch on his 2003 Civic M/T,my question is
1 Do I have too disconnect the battery first before doing any work ?
2 Do I have too put the old immobilizer on the new switch ?
3 Can a locksmith reprogram the new unit,I don't want too mess with the Dealership ?
Thank You for any help.

ezone

WHY ignition switch? Bad electrical part? Key jammed up?


Call your local locksmiths and ask them if they can handle what you want to do.
Then ask how they would handle the problem you have --- because it's probably more efficient/cheaper than the way you thought of.

A well equipped locksmith can replace the tumblers in the lock, that saves a bunch. May need a fresh key cut if the original is worn out though...but you won't have to keep multiple keys on the ring to open the door and then start it. . If they can cut a Honda sidewinder key, they can probably program it too. They probably need the car to program a fresh key though. Again, ASK THEM.

A dealership is supposed to have the tumblers to fix the locks too, but a lot of dealer techs won't do that kind of work.
I retumble them as much as possible. Our local locksmith sends all their Honda sidewinder key and lock issues to me.


The hack way (FREE) would be to strip apart the lock and just remove the bad tumblers (or all of the tumblers). Reassemble.
Anything would be able to turn the switch on, but only a correctly programmed key will get the engine to run.

Stop using the term "stealership". Its krass and insulting to the dealer tech who just gave you all the answers.

lynlan

Thanks ezone,We already have a new ignition assembly with 2 chipped keys and a valet key,the boyfriend only had 1 key on the old ignition,so he simply needed a whole new unit and keys.Need someone too answer my other questions.

ezone

If you don't have the matching PCM from the same car, then what you have must be programmed before the engine will run.
Again, call your local locksmith and ask if they can handle it.
A dealership can certainly handle it.


Better think about swapping your parts in their parking lot too, because they must have the car present in order to do any programming.

What other questions? I don't disconnect the battery, but you may want to. It's like step #2 in the instructions.

lynlan

how about putting the old immobilizer on the new switch,or does it even matter ?

ezone

Programming control units is not quite the same as programming new keys, so
Not knowing exactly what procedures the locksmiths programming equipment is capable of, it might be a good idea to swap the original immobi ring (immobilizer control unit) to the new lock, but no matter what you cannot avoid going through the programming to get it to start the engine.
The 'chip' keys, the immobilizer control unit, and the PCM all have to agree with each other. Replace any item and you have to go through programming procedures.



If you had the ignition lock assembly (with immobi ring), the key set, and the PCM all taken from the donor car as a matched set, you could just bolt them all in and it should run. (assuming that pcm was even compatible with your car)

.

ezone

Just a thought:
Does this mean BRAND NEW?
Those keys may not even be immobilizer keys. Beware. Some sources include plain keys that can't be programmed.

If he got used parts, you should be good.

If all he wanted was a couple extra keys and there wasn't anything actually wrong with the lock, cutting and programming new keys is much simpler.

lynlan

His old lock is messed up inside,and his key was worn down too almost nothin. We will be calling a locksmith tomorrow too get the new keys reprogrammed.