adrial

When I got the 951 in 2001 it came with 3 keys.

2 smoothly contoured keys (similar to most other 944 keys I've seen over the years) and 1 very jagged key.

All 3 work the same, except that the jagged key obviously feels pretty rough going in. What's the rough key for? Almost seems like it's meant for freeing up a frozen lock.

I've lost the 2 smooth keys over the years (just lost the last one), so I went to the dealer to get a replacement (holding the rough key in my hand). The parts guy says he's never seen the smooth keys and assumes the one that I order will be the rough one...which I think will prematurely wear out the lock.


If you've ordered a key from the dealer ... did you get the jagged one or the smooth one?

theedge

There is only one that I know of. The "smooth" ones are probably just worn ones, my original one has smooth teeth.

Dougs951

Yea the smooth one is what I have, when I had a spare made it was rough/jagged and would not work properly after some time with the file it worked perfectly.

I think they become smooth keys after years of use.

adrial

Well I found the key I thought I lost!

Here is a comparison shot. The dealer said the same thing, that it was just wear. But the key has looked like this since I got the car when it had 67k miles ... I guess I am just surprised that the key wore that much in 67k miles! Although as pictured is 115k

KuHL 951

Are you sure it's not the key for the glove box?

whalebird

I'm not sure about this one. The jagged one looks right. Either way. A lock(ignition, door, etc) wear together with the key. If you use the same key for years, it wears with the lock. In extreme caes the other keys will fail to work. If you have several keys, rotate them every so often so everything wears together. Never have a ton of keys on a key chain. The weight of stupid bottle openers, key fobs, etc will ruin an ignition lock cylinder.

944Ross

I wonder if that's the difference between a punched key and one cut from a blank on a machine? If you look at the areas the tumblers lay on, and eliminate the teeth in between (which do nothing), the keys look to be identical.