I have 2 1996 Fiestas in my fleet. Last night in the middle of a field (dont ask) SWMBO managed to lock one of them using the ' wrong' key, no problem you may say, but the correct key was still sitting in the ignition. And the key that locked it resolutely refused to unlock it, despite much practised jiggling. Of course it was the car that doesnt have a spare key to hand (or safely stowed in a plastic money bag under the front bumper). The only tool to hand was a blunt chisel from a friendly builder, so my solution was to carefully cut out the tailgate glass rubber, and send in an agile 10 year old to open the car.
I now have a rubber seal on order at 60? (5 days!) and to make sure that the temporary tarpaulin stays in place in the face of an increasing Mistral. Of course last night was the first rain in the last 2 months.
Lesson learnt - it would be cheaper to have permanent spare keys concealed under the car! I just hope I dont drop the glass when refitting it.
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pmh (was peter)
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Sounds familiar!
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18105&...f
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Yup. My missus did exactly the same thing with a Mondeo hire car that she had from work for a business trip. Locked it outside the house using the key for her Fiesta with the Mondeo keys still in the ignition!
The AA came out and managed to pry the top of the door open just enough with wedges and an inflatable cushion, to be able to turn the key in the ignition with a broom handle. He then managed to get the broom handle onto the electric window switch to lower the drivers window. Not a mark on the car afterwards - very impressive.
What a stupid design feature on these Tibbe locks though. We have two Fords in the household now, and one without a spare key!! Have to be careful.
Cheers
DP
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cut out a rear quarter glass next time ..much cheaper .....
When rubber arrives fit it onto glass smear fairy liguid round the bit that fits onto the tailgate rim
........put the rubber into the bottom of the tailgate rim and get an assistant to hold it here and pushing all the glass with slight pressure (tailgate shut all the time)get in boot and with 2 small ish screwdrivers carefully pull the rubber lip in starting at both bottom edges and working up so you meet at the top middle.....10 minute job.........get out of car and hit the glass round the edges near the rubber to push the glass into the seal fully..
a nice story for the pub........;-)
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>smear fairy liquid
Please don't use fairy liquid to lubricate the rubber - it contains salt, so in no time you'll have rust streaks down the paintwork.
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ok :( slap on wrist.......:-)
use.......
baby oil
ky jelly
duck oil
wd 40
water
spit
slightly damp dock leaves but only in a left to right action do not go right to left as it produces bad karma ;-)
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IIRC The trade wrap a piece of thin cord alll the way around the beading grove. Then position the window, have the two ends of the cord on the other side of the frame, start the beading where the cords ends meet, then carefully pull the cords at right angles to the glass to pull the beading through.
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IIRC The trade wrap a piece of thin cord alll the way around the beading grove. Then position the window, have the two ends of the cord on the other side of the frame, start the beading where the cords ends meet, then carefully pull the cords at right angles to the glass to pull the beading through.
Yep that's how we do it.
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Please don't use fairy liquid to lubricate the rubber - it contains salt, so in no time you'll have rust streaks down the paintwork.
Twenty years ago Fairy was the only one that did not contain salt. I knew an electronics company that used it for this reason.
Any chemists know for sure? I'd like to know as although I don't wash cars in often, car shampoo usually contains soluble waxes, so use prior to paint is not a good idea.
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Does exactly what it says on the tin....... It should say on the bottle if it contains salt
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FAO Oldman, Come back to the darkside ;-)
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We discussed doing the rear quarter light, however the 10 year old wouldnt fit, and we could not trust the 10 month old baby to operate the locking! On balance we did not think that we could reach the rear door handles, and had no coat hangers or plastic 'binding' tape to hand.
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pmh (was peter)
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Seen this on an XR2, owner left the lights on, friend tried to jump start it and the doors locked :-). Don't Fords have a blackbox to open the central locking in an accident? Would a blow on said sensor open the doors?
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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A Ford XR2 or any mk2 Fiesta can be opened in under 10 seconds without any tools or damage to the car.
Yes airbag equipped Fords DO unlock the doors if the airbag is setoff, But that means the igntion has to be on & the car has to hit something to trigger the airbag, Not very cost effective.
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Sorry Lee, the XR2 was pre airbag, was'nt thinking :-(
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FAO Oldman, Come back to the darkside ;-)
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With two Fords with Tibbe keys in the household, I've commited my key code to memory!
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Mike Farrow
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Not just Tibbe keys;other locks can be locked with any key but only opened with the correct one.
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The other evening a friend of my wife unlocked the boot of her Fiesta,put the key in her handbag,put the bag in the boot and,yes,shut the boot.RAC man turned up,wedged the door slightly open and attempted to unlock the door-deadlocked of course.Plan B-dived under car with a spare battery and connected to something-I don't know what but someone wiil, that fed power to electric windows-used coathanger to operate window switch,then climbed into car and lowered backseat to recover handbag and keys.
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Job done.
Wife held the window from the rear (so her fault if it hit the ground), whilst I pulled the cord from inside the car. Fitted without lubricant and went in like a dream. French garage came up with rubber on time as promised and gave me a 10% discount on the original quote price.
Much easier than the last windscreen I fitted about 40 years ago, I guess that production tolerances have got tighter.
I will just keep my fingers crossed the first time I open the sunroof at 130kph.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions
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pmh (was peter)
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