1999 Nissan Frontier
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

1999 Nissan Frontier Metal Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

I was parked outside a hardware store off Magnolia in Rancho El Cajon when the call came in. Guy had a 1999 Frontier, high mileage, and he was done fighting his ignition. He described it perfectly without knowing it: key goes in, you have to wiggle and pull back slightly, sometimes push the steering wheel hard left before it'll turn. He had lived with it for months.

When I got to him the ignition was not seized, just stubborn. I worked through the cylinder and found the wafer stack was worn unevenly. The key was actually a duplicate someone had made years back, cut a little shallow on two cuts. Shallow cuts plus worn wafers equals exactly the fight he had been having every morning.

I decoded the lock directly, cut a fresh key matched to what the cylinder actually needed, and dressed the wafers while I was in there. First try with the new key, smooth full rotation. He sat there and turned it three or four times just to feel it.

He mentioned the dealer had told him over the phone it was probably the ignition switch and quoted him a number to replace the whole assembly. I kept that part short because the worn wafers I showed him told the story better than I could.

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