1998 Buick Riviera
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

1998 Buick Riviera Remote Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

A guy in Berry Park, Imperial Beach called me on a Saturday morning. He had snapped his key in the door lock of his 1998 Buick Riviera. Not a crack, a clean break, blade in two pieces, half stuck in the cylinder.

The first locksmith he called said the cylinder would need to be drilled out. On this generation of Buick, drilling the door lock and replacing it creates a mismatch problem. The door and ignition end up on different keys. That is a headache that outlasts the repair.

He called me for a second opinion.

I extracted the broken blade fragment using a non-destructive method, working carefully around the internal wafer surfaces so nothing got scratched or displaced. Once it was out, I decoded the lock mechanically and cut a replacement blade to match. The lock worked. The ignition worked. Same key for both, the way it left the factory.

The fob side was a separate piece of that job. His 1998 Riviera remote was intact, just needed to be confirmed working with the new key situation sorted out. We tested every button before I packed up.

No drilling. No cylinder. No mismatched keys. The dealer route was never part of the conversation, but when he mentioned what the other locksmith had quoted him, he said he saved a good chunk just by making one more call.

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