steering lock cpu

[thesaint]

does anyone have any useful info on the limitations of using second hand part and the problems encountered.Was served by Dick Turpin at renault dealership this morning and told to stand and deliver £350 for a new one. Just want to know about the programming side and is the keycard what resets it to your vehicle. Any help or advice very much appreciated.

[AlexB]

A new lock programmes itself automatically once connected.

Second hand units work, but they need to have the secret data erased from the flash memory. Buy a part which is already reset. The memory chip is very cheap and can be replaced instead of erasing, but this means fiddling with electronics...

Many locks can be repaired. Mine, for example, was sticking mechanically. I took it apart, ground off some metal where it was catching, and everything is good. There were reports about a relay failing inside the unit. This relay can be replaced with a cheap part from Maplins.