Category Archives: Ignition Key Replacement

When things happen to your key, it is important to contact a dependable ignition key replacement service in Chicago to get you on the road once again. When you contact Towing Chicago, we will come to where you are at and help you get on the road.

Why Keys sometimes don’t turn in ignition

Published January 30, 2017 By Chicago Towing

It can be quite annoying when you put your key inside your vehicle’s ignition slot and it won’t turn. Your mind can be floating everywhere trying to figure out what’s wrong, with no clear cause or reason for the key’s malfunctions. Here’s Chicago Towing’s quick guide to reasons keys sometimes don’t turn inside ignition.

If you’re car owner without any warranty on your vehicle, jamming keys can pose both a severe annoyance and a high cost. If you need to jiggle the ignition in order to start the car, it’s a sign of problems starting, and you should contact a professional right away. Poor design can be a cause of ignition problems. Another potential cause is a lousy connection between the transponder microchip inside the car key and the car’s computer. This reconnection is a highly technical operation best handled by an affordable expert automobile locksmith. It’s best to handle these situations as soon as possible, as with a faulty ignition, you can get stranded anywhere.

You may have any of these following issues:

Hard turning key in ignition
Ignition is stuck or sticking
Key comes out of ignition dirty
Key gets stuck in particular position
Key is frozen

An expert locksmith can easily handle this sort of job, at a fraction of the cost that it would require at an automobile dealership.

Fixing Ignition Keys that get Stuck

Check to see if the parking brake light is on, so you don’t roll away when you turn the key.
First apply pressure to the key, and turn the steering wheel to find a spot to turn the key.
Most cars won’t allow you to turn the key unless you are in park position.
If this doesn’t work, clean out and then lubricate the cylinder of the lock with electrical contact cleaner, and a small spray of silicone or graphite. Make sure not to drip any of these solutions onto the seat or carpet, and keep the windows open to prevent any fumes. Of course, avoid any flames or sparks near the lock cylinder, as these solutions are often flammable.
If the key still won’t turn, the issue is likely inside the tumbler which may be stuck locked. Tap the face of the lock cylinder with a tack hammer for about 60 seconds.
If they key still won’t turn, inspect the key for any distortions by laying it on a flat surface and seeing if it looks crooked or arched. If it is, hit it with a heavy object to flatten it out, but try to avoid any heavy metal object as it can cause further distortion to the key’s grooves.
If the key still won’t turn insert it in the ignition and tpa it lightly with a hammer.
If all these measures fail, contact a licensed, professional locksmith.

Driving in Winter Conditions

Published March 23, 2016 By Chicago Towing

Advance Preparation

In the frigid winter weather, Chicago residents often encounter poor to bad driving conditions. Since most drivers never learn defensive driving techniques for bad weather, during the winter many accidents occur that otherwise never would have. Because of this, it’s absolutely essential that you prepare for driving under poor weather conditions; first of all, always keep a raincoat, umbrella, and gloves/scarf in the trunk of the car. You might have to change a tire in the middle of a snowstorm or cold downpour. Also keep a working flashlight in the trunk; as you’ll never know when you’re going to have to change a tire on a dark street or highway. Always remember to keep jumper cables in the trunk – you want to avoid being stranded in a car with a dead battery without the materials to jump start it. Keep your gas over the halfway mark as a force of habit, that absolutely reduces the chances of accidentally depleting your car’s gas. Ensure that you have a car jack, the proper tire iron for your vehicle, and a correctly blown-up spare tire. If your area gets especially cold during the winter, it couldn’t hurt to have a certified mechanic look at your car to make sure that everything is working correctly. Ideally, if there’s any problems found, you would get them taken care of before being caught driving in an unpleasant weather event, when it might really affect you. By following active awareness and preparation, you can avoid having to spend even more time, effort, or money if your vehicle suffers a breakdown.

Careful Practices

Whenever any bad weather event occurs – be it a blizzard, hail, frozen roads, or a rainstorm – one of the most important defensive driving techniques one can adopt is to drive slowly. By driving at a slower speed, you’re increasing the amount of time that you will have to react in case you come into/across some kind of accident. Also, if you’re driving slowly, and keep a large space between your car and the other vehicles that are driving, you’re going to have a much lesser chance of bumping into the back of one of them if they suddenly break. If the roads are incredibly slippery, one thing you should do is keep the brakes lightly applied while driving at a slow pace – for extra traction.

Top 7 Towing Myths DEBUNKED

Published March 17, 2016 By Chicago Towing

There’s a ton of misinformation out there being hawked by scam towing companies and blogs alike. Here’s a list of the most common towing misconceptions.

Myth One : You can increase a vehicle’s towing capacity by upgrading its hitch.

Untrue. A trailer’s hitch does not cancel out the maximum capacity rating of your vehicle – however it does maximize it. You should never tow more weight than your hitch is rated for.

Myth Two: Tongue weight makes up ten percent of the towed weight.

Untrue. The safe amount of tongue weight is somewhere between ten to fifteen percent of the trailer’s weight – depending on a range of criteria, including the load distribution and the position of the trailer’s axles. Often too much of the load is placed at the trailer’s front – which puts way too much weight on the tongue. If a heavy tongue is a concern for you, make sure to install a rated weight distribution mechanism, which can allow for more towing weight on your vehicle. The tongue prevents the trailer from swaying fast – this sort of sway can also be canceled if you increase the tongue weight, or place sway control devices on the trailer hitch.

Myth Three: All towing extensions work on truck campers.

Untrue. Hitch extensions have to have the right capacity of tongue weight for your truck – shorter extensions can handle weight better than longer ones, as a general rule.

Common Towing Mistakes

Published March 3, 2016 By Chicago Towing

Hitching a trailer to your truck and hauling out all your belongings on the open road sounds exhilarating for many people – but if you’re not skilled with long heavy tows it can be an incredibly complex process. There’s 8 major mistakes that people usually make when they’re towing. If you want to avoid paying extreme fees for mistakes, educate yourself on this list of potential mishaps before you embark.

Having the Wrong Weight Distribution Bars

The weight distribution bars between your vehicle and trailer have to be set up correctly; otherwise, the vehicle and the trailer will be bouncing away from each other – causing a bumpy ride, and potential damage to the trailer’s frame and hitch. The size of the weight distribution bar shouldn’t matter – many tunable chained bars come in many different levels of strength or weight – if you use the right bar size, it will be completely parallel to the frame of the trailer.