That's what I did.

Even when I contact Steve 'Mr. Locksmith' which I must do soon, like today,
for replacement keys for all four doors and the ignition I will keep the
semi broken gas cap lock.

Mike

On 12/7/04 11:58 PM, "Al and Sue Brase" <albeeee@MCHSI.COM> wrote:

> Regarding the gas cap key:
> Here in the great salty midwest, locking gas caps get corroded where
> they turn and this offers a great opportunity to twist off the ignition/
> door key. I  have found that a 1/4" straight blade screwdriver, fully
> inserted into the key slot and then turned with a channellocks (okay,
> German Knipex!) pliers one time will nicely BREAK all the finely
> engineered German lock wafers and render this formerly finicky POS
> (that's Point Of Sale) into a practical US engineered semi-locking gas
> cap that anyone can open with said straight blade screwdriver that you
> now keep under the passenger seat so it is within reach whenever you gas
> up and also for other emergencies if they ever arise! (Should I have
> made that into more than one sentence?)
> Al Brase
>
> jbange wrote:
>
>> At 03:34 PM 12/7/2004, you wrote:
>>
>>> I only had one key, and went on a hunt to find someone who could make a
>>> couple of spares. I found that sears could make a set, and they appeared
>>> to work in every lock. Sadly, I missed one lock. For some reason, my
>>> keys
>>> work in all locks except the Gascap. Does anyone know why this would be,
>>> what is different about the gascap. My Original works in in no problem.
>>
>>
>> Your question got me to wondering, so I just now went out to my
>> Vanagon and
>> took apart the gas cap. The gas cap actually has wafers for ALL SIX of
>> the
>> cuts in the key (crazy Germans). I'm going to bring it to work tomorrow
>> (I'm a locksmith) and check it out where I have more light and less rain,
>> but it looks like the last wafer at the end is offset towards the tip of
>> the key. If the key monkey at Sears didn't get the key lined up on the
>> machine quite right, it's possible that he may have chewed just enough
>> off
>> the end of the key so that it can't quite reach the last wafer. Certain
>> cuts on this type of older VW key have to be made wider because the
>> wafers
>> in the locks are placed at unequal intervals. I don't know if all the
>> locks
>> stagger them the same way, but if they're shifted differently in the
>> various locks on the vehicle it's possible that the key can only "reach"
>> the last pin in the other locks. Really I'm just speculating without
>> looking based on my general knowledge of such locks and the general
>> incompetence most non-locksmiths (e.g. hardware stores, shoe repair guys,
>> dry cleaners, etc.) demonstrate in cutting keys, so I can't really say
>> without seeing your original key and the Sears copies.
>>
>> I promise to delve deeper tomorrow into the particulars of  the staggered
>> wafer position in VW locks and let y'all know if my speculations are
>> correct or just more swamp gas.
>>
>>> also, Does anyone know if the glovebox key is the same as 1/2 of the
>>> Ignition key?
>>
>>
>> The glovebox actually uses an old 1960-1966 beetle ignition key with no
>> cuts in it. It could be any one of the following: V68D / 61VW,
>> V68L / V61VW, V68LR / U61VW V71E / S62DW-- . My '91 takes a V68D/61VW, so
>> there appears to be no particular rhyme or reason to it really. They put
>> the same lock in a lot of different VW cars, so I think they just cycled
>> through the various old beetle key profiles as they ordered new shipments
>> of locks. The best way to deal with it is to CAREFULLY remove the
>> glovebox
>> lock (or even the whole glovebox itself!), bring it into a locksmith who
>> has a selection of old beetle keys, and ask them to sell you a BLANK that
>> fits the lock (mentioning, of course, that it requires no cuts to work).
>>
>> John Bange
>> '90 Vanagon "Geldsauger"
>>
>
>