A 2017 Ford Transit in Nottingham with a key that turned the door lock but not the ignition. Customer sent a photo of the key on the phone call. We decoded the bitting by eye from the picture, rekeyed a replacement barrel to match, and had it installed on site at Wollaton Hall Park the same day.
The call
This one is a mechanical fault, not a programming job. The key in the customer's hand was the right key, cut correctly, with a working transponder - it just would not rotate the ignition. That points at the barrel itself, not the keys.
On a 2017 Transit the usual culprits are worn wafers inside the ignition barrel, a broken retaining clip, or a seized cam at the back of the lock. Any of those will stop the key rotating even if the electronics side is perfectly healthy.
The customer sent us a photo of the existing key when they called - a clear shot of both sides with the cuts visible. On an HU101 profile the wafer heights are readable off a good photo by eye, so the bitting was decoded from the picture before the van even set off. That meant the replacement barrel could be prepped in advance rather than on the roadside.
How we replaced the barrel
Callum prepped the replacement barrel on the bench - stripped the new unit, rekeyed the wafers to match the decoded bitting from the key photo, and tested it with a cut blank to confirm the match. That left the on-site time for install only, not rebuild.
Jake finished a service call earlier the same day, picked up the prepped barrel, and drove to Wollaton Hall Park for the install. Barrel out through the steering column shroud. The old unit came apart on removal, which confirmed the wafer wear - once that much play develops inside the lock, the wafers stop engaging cleanly with the cuts on the key. New prepped barrel dropped into place, cam aligned, shroud back on.
Customer's existing HU101 key turned first try. No new key cut, no new programming, no changes on the customer's side beyond an ignition that works again.
Outcome
Transit starting first turn on the original key. Done at Wollaton Hall Park. No tow, no Ford dealer booking, and the two-stage prep-then-install kept the on-site time to a minimum.
Key stopped turning in your Ford Transit, Custom, or Connect? We come to you - Nottingham and the East Midlands, on-site mechanical lock repair. Send a photo of the key when you call, and the replacement barrel can be prepped before we set off.
Published: 10th April, 2026 | Updated: 22nd April, 2026