My son called me last night that his key would not turn in the cylinder of his 2000 Maxima while at a store. Yes, we tried EVERYTHING you can possibly name over a long period of time. It seemed that a tumbler broke internally (a search revealed that others have had this happen). We finally concluded it would have to be replaced anyway, so we broke the cylinder out and got the steering wheel to unlock and started the car with a screwdriver and got it home. Now two questions: the cylinder casting appears to be attached the column not by bolts but by a press/rivet type set up. I plan on buying a new "lock set-steering" (as Nissan calls it) and replacing it myself (will be contacting Dave. B.), but is anyone familar on how to get these rivets separated? Drilling? Grinding? And the second question, I believe that these new keys (since they have a chip) will have to be programmed to sync up with five digit number on the tab from the original keys, correct? And a dealer has to perform this, right? Thanks for any ideas. The ORG has been a fantastic help as both sons have Maximas.

 

Drill through the center of the rivit head. When this is done, you will be able to punch out the rivit.

 

the key reprogram can be done with anyone who has a consult 2, which is usually only the dealer. They actually reprogram the ecu to recognize the new keys IIRC.

and +1 on drilling out the rivets

 

The code in the chip is read by the nats antenna, which is a seperate peice that you will be swapping over to the new lock assembly, so you can tape the old key within close proximity and the car should start fine, it will at least allow you to drive to the dealer for the nats consult reprogram.