Fuel door lock cylinder question

How do I make my new fuel door lock use the same key as the rest of my truck. The new lock is OEM from Toyota.

 

Every typical auto/residential key barrel has a series of cylinders ("barrels") inside that marry to the indentations of your key, and if matching, allows the lock to turn.

The lock your purchased from Toyota likely won't match your current key. But a locksmith (or you, if you want to dive in) should be able to re-key the cylinder to match your current key. It may also be possible to 'genericize' the keyway so it only needs to match on one barrel?

I had it stuck in my head a lot of fuel doors typically only require a match on the first couple of ridges, or some are generic, but don't quote me on this. It probably varies widely across manuf'ers. I've owned a lot of cars and sometimes the info blurs together.

 

I know it doesn't match. I just wanted to know ways to make the lock use the same key so I don't have two keys.

 

Right, hence the latter half of my post. Ultimately you'll want to compare the key on the cylinder you got to your current key, then go from there to try and match and/or replace wafers. If the first couple notches (from the handle end of the key) are the same on both, I'd remove all but those three barrels/wafers from the tank door cylinder, so it's at least remotely secure, as in it will still lock/unlock with a valid Tundra key.

There's a good video to walk you through how to deal with the barrels in cylinders like on our trucks, where you can remove/swap around the wafers. Someone - maybe @NickB_01TRD or @ATBAV8? - posted video instructions recently. Wait ... here, check this out.

 

I already looked at it yesterday and it's not to different which surprised me. So I'll probably just swap a few of the wafers. I was hoping this would be possible so thanks.

 

I mean, you could technically remove all the wafers but one, and it'd still be functional. Or remove them all maybe, then all you'd need is a Toyota key (period) to open the door?

I haven't had to do it yet. I think the difficulty I saw someone on here mention with the fuel door specifically was opening up the barrel. It's a more compact barrel than the ignition. I know it's been done before, I know one or more people on here with 1st gens have done it, just can't recall who.

 

Difficulty isn't a problem I've worked on many small things before. I'll try it tomorrow.

 

If you happen to take pics and share details of the process, it'd be appreciated. I'll immortalize your experience in the Megathread.

 

Will do that. Because I myself would probably forget something if I didn't.

 

https://youtu.be/mrQUOqI_m8c?si=fh3AHWQaUSsKbYRp

 

I was confident that it would be just a couple ridges as well, but after fiddling with every single tumbler for my airbag sensor off lock cylinder and the tailgate lock cylinder, i'm pretty sure that it isn't going to be simple for the fuel door lock cylinder either!

 

Takes pics during your sloooow disassembly so that you can reassemble it with success! And find a clean area (no clutter around) when you take the cylinder apart. I'd also recommend to drape an old white T shirt out on your work space so that you can more easily see a rouge spring or wafer fall out when you aren't looking. The springs are pretty darn tiny, and the split wafers are a pain in the butt. Dental picks helped me out. Rather than removing the wafers completely, i used a small flapper disc on the end of my die grinder.

 

Do you have any pictures? I'm still gonna try anyway because I don't wanna pay anyone if I don't have to.

 

I don't think i took any pics? If i did, they would be hiding somewhere in my build thread. That video above that @bfunke posted up is VERY informative! It pretty much has all the info that you need to do the work.

 

I Did watch both the videos and they are helpful. I just wanted to see more of the locks so I know a little more than what those videos have.

 

I don't even know what I'm doing or where to start It looks to different and nothing looks obvious other than those two circles on the bottom.

 

Is that key in your picture just a blank?

 

No it's the key the new lock came with

 

I think I'll need to pull the front off. I think for now I'll probably wait until I can get a new cap. Unless someone knows where I can buy one.

 

The tool is also $200+ USD

 

I’m pretty sure i pried my cover off? At least i had to do that with one of the lock cylinders i was working on. I was just SUPER careful and took it very slow with a couple small flat head screwdrivers and a dental pick. Use the matched key to remove the cylinder from the housing. Once out, be REALLY careful and put your fingers over the top of the wafers so that they don’t spring out everywhere. Then take the old key (that matches the rest of your truck’s locks), and insert it into the new cylinder. You can then remove your fingers from the top of the wafers. When the key is inserted, the wafers can’t pop out of place. Then make a note of what wafers are not flush with the cylinder. They will either need to be filled down (to be flush), or swapped around into a different position so that you may (or may not) have to file them down as much. This would be a super budget shade tree technique.

 

What tool is that?

 

I tried praying it off a few minutes ago I couldn't get it to move. I'll try again tomorrow. When I can make more noise aka probably end up cursing a few times at the lock. A gator tool not buying one that's a waste for one time. But it would definitely make it a lot easier.

 

I had a vin cut key made a while back. Dropped that and the new cylinder off with a locksmith and got a perfect one back that afternoon for $30 or so. I figure that was a good deal.

 

$30 is totally worth it. The local locksmiths in my area were closer to $75…and that’s if i handed them the key and cylinder on their front counters.

 

That's a great idea for everyone but I still wanna try. If I can't do it I'll take it to be done. I just don't wanna spend more money I'm broke asf. Also I know at some point I'll need to do this again in the future.

 

Well, it would appear (to my untrained eye, at least) the cylinder is only using 4 wafers/barrels, but I think normal keys have 7 or 8 engagement points. I'm not looking at my key to verify, but if you put a key above it up to its hilt, you can see where it would engage those wafers, I'm guessing the 4-5 notches closest to the hilt end of the key. There may be a 5th wafer under that glob of grease to the right of my red box.

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Meanwhile, while it could just be that you'd need to pry off the existing cap (left, the rim part of the keyhole) to unload the cylinder, then press on a new one after setting the wafers, I can't help but wondrer if it can be unloaded from the rear, maybe by kicking this diff't colored piece of metal over, or finagling with something else in the "moat" around that protruding part? I haven't been into a ton of lock cylinders. But to @daveeasa's point, it may be worth popping by a locksmith to see what they'd charge to hand them a key and the barrel and ask them to key it for you. I'm guessing half hour's worth of labor.

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The guy I talked to, maybe Russian, maybe Eastern European, said ignition is harder and takes more time but this was super easy. His only concern was the quality of the key and once he saw it was fresh he said no problem.

$50 tops I’d say but you have to find a real locksmith, not some lightweight wimpy shop. Best going to the more urban parts of town or maybe even mail order on eBay if such a thing exists.

 

I'm not an expert here, but a few months ago I did fix my ignition lock cylinder using the video linked earlier in this thread. I've also done the same fix on a Mercedes 190E I had years ago -- so a different system, but a nearly identical process. In both cases there was an external pressed-in pin or some other means of holding the mechanism together that needed to be removed in order to disassemble the unit. Looking at these pics, I don't see anything like that. Which tells me it may be behind the stainless steel cover that's crimped over the key end -- but that's a total guess.

 

Here's a video of a locksmith re-keying a Toyota door lock cylinder. It's a little different than the fuel door lock, but looks very similar. As I suspected, the front bezel needs to come off.
As to re-keying it: if it was me, I'd just pull all the wafers out so any key can work with it. A fuel door is not a high-security application -- fuel doors on most vehicles aren't even lockable, hell, on later First Gen Tundras the fuel door isn't lockable. If I could remove the lock from mine, I'd do it in a heartbeat -- I find it to be a pain in the ass. The problem with removing it is that the door won't stay shut, and it leaves a hole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyINPQlBGjM&t=128s