While talking to my parts manager. He warned me not to have a heavy key ring on my ignition key. He said it would damage the steering column cylinder. The cylinder costs 500+ and it isn't covered in the bumper to bumper warranty. Is this true?? Needless to say, I now have two key rings, one light one for the Z keys and remote and a heavy one with all my other keys.

 

I put a nice quick hook on my key ring. I take 350Z key off my ring each time I walk toward the car. I hate keys banging around while I'm driving. I also do this on my Firebird. On my Pathfinder key ring with a couple of keys it doesn't rattle or bang much at all. Howeerver, I have to use a extra key ring for all the other keys that I use when I use my Pathfinder. Those keys are for things like lockboxes, trailer coupler locks, storage lockers etc....

 

Yes it is true. The extra weight will, over time, cause the cylinder to wear, causing the cylinder to not be able to turn to the lock position, which for our cars would mean you couldn't take the key out. Luckily, I found this out on a 78 Chevette (no joke, one of my first cars), and the cylinder wasn't that much. Limit what you have on your keyring to vehicle essentials, like the transponder and key.

 

I have had this happen to me in the past, now i just have house key, car key and remote. Everything else is on another ring

 

this happened to my buddies silverado, you could start the truck by just turning the ignition without having the key, as long as the steering lock wasn't on you were good to go. Good thing about it was you could leave the truck running in winter or summer, take the key out and lock her up... lol

 

Thanks for your response. This is a good thing to know.