3rd gen legacy key problems:

[mike-tracy]

Story: Friend's mom has an 01 Legacy L wagon w/ 4eat. Her house was broken into when they were asleep, and thieves stole her purse and keys. And the Subaru.

Two days later they find it parked in the woods, not too much worse for the wear. No keys though. So the friend's mom goes to the dealership with her registration and gets new ones made. They work perfectly in the doors, with either side up. Steering wheel was locked by thieves by turning it after the key was removed.

Sounds simple right? Put the key in, and wiggle the steering wheel and it should work, right? Nope.
Took the column's plastic off and pushed the interlock switch while turning the key and a friend rocked the steering wheel back in forth. No luck either.

So I'm thinking, maybe it's not fully in park, so I pushed in the shifter lock switch, and tried the above in "N" and also back in "P." No dice.

I believe the ignition cylinder is in good shape, because the thieves had the car's key, and also because I can feel the replacement key start to turn before it hits the interlock. Doesn't feel like the key's teeth are hitting mangled metal, but that the whole cylinder is blocked from moving.

Additionally, the horn beeps once after I have been working in the car for a while, lock then close the driver side door. Seems like it has an alarm, but there's no led in the normal spot for these cars.
edit: Called owner, she said it has keyless entry, no alarm.

Let me know what you think. They're towing it to my house presently.

[Legacy777]

It's possible the theives damaged the lock cylinder...

Just curious....have you confirmed the new key that was made is from the "master key" blank? You can verify that because only the master key should work in the glove box and the trunk.

[mike-tracy]

Good question. I just tried it - and it does work in the trunk hatch and glove box.

[Legacy777]

Ok, well then I'd probably lean towards the lock cylinder or wheel lock mechanism being damaged.

[mike-tracy]

Got the shear bolts drilled out. The ignition cylinder has a bar that sticks out into the steering column when the key is removed, and that bar WAS just really jammed in there. Functions fine now. Just waiting on the new shear bolts from the dealer.

[Legacy777]

Glad to hear you got it fixed.

[mike-tracy]

Real easy actually. When I installed the new shear bolts I kept tightening one then the other so I didn't break the heads off prematurely, lol. Thieves just jammed the wheel so hard it wouldn't/couldn't unlock no matter what I did.

I relubed everything, and made sure I could lock/unlock the wheel before I broke the shear bolt heads off, lol.