I wanted to buy a new immobiliser key for our second TJ Magna but the dealer wanted a bloody fortune ($170 !!!) and the two locksmiths I contacted locally wanted around a hundred bucks a key. I was a bit taken aback. Plus, for me, a hundred bucks does not grow on trees! :eek2:

So imagine my surprise when, at the Dandenong Market, here in Victoria, I came across a busy locksmith's stall (the only one in the market) and his signs proclaimed he could cut and program immobiliser keys for most car makes, at a cheap price. I asked about this supposedly "cheap" price. Fifty-eight bucks, all up! So I decided that the price was too good to pass up. I decided to take the plunge. The guy cut the key carefully, analysed my existing key on his code replicating machine and then married the key blank to the new black grip housing the immobiliser chip. The black grip is a slightly different design to the original Mitsubishi key grip but for $58 I wasn't fussed. The guy came out and checked the key in the door and the ignition, took it back to file it off a bit more, returned to check the key and it was all hunky dory. He also provided a written 12 month guarantee. Top notch!

If you live in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs and you want a second key plus you don't want to spend a bomb, then look the guy up. Like I said, he's the only locksmith on site and his stall is just next to the fruit section of the market.

I have used this man for a spare key for my Pajero. The key was not an exact replica, but IT WORKS! I paid $280 for a spare ket for my wife's new Oultlander, and that hurt. The Dandenong man was very efficient. He had to cut the key and then replicate the code. Then he checked it in the vehicle, so you have to park reasonably close to his caravan. If you are going to use him, take all your keys with you because he has to program all the keys at once. I have no connection with this guy other than being a very satisfied customer. Mr Minit places can often cut and re-program keys as well.

I now have that spare key hidden inside the vehicle, with a non-programmed key wired underneath so I can access it if I lose my main keys. That way, I can at least get home from Whoop Whoop without having to get the NRMA or whoever to recover my car. I saw a kid in Cooma Mitsubishi who had lost the keys ot Mummy's car at Perisher. That would have cost him a bomb. They had to flat-top the car back to town, then get a key cut by the local locksmith, then program it and then it would need re-programming in Sydney because Mummy's other keys wold no longer work. $$$$

It's one of the down sides of having a "high tech" anti-theft key.
Check out the prices of a new key from a dealer for modern Euro cars and you will get a fright!

Had to get a replacement key for my Ford last year after one of the two was lost - $380......

Had to get a replacement key for my Ford last year after one of the two was lost - $380......

Sounds reasonable.
The days of getting a locksmith to cut you an all metal blank and pay $7 are long gone.

(Trap for the unwary: Buying a second hand car? Make sure you get all the keys, or it will cost you!)

At least it is better than the situation I faced with my TS. Long before Mitsu used proper immobilisers, they had an anti-theft device in the key barrel. Problem was, if you popped the barrel out to lubricate the tumblers (Gregory manual led me astray), it would trip the immobiliser and your car would not start, ever again!
No, Mitsu can't sell you the bits!

(Spring loaded optical chopper, pull the barrel and the chopper disc would pop off it's shaft and cut the ECU power to spark(?) or injectors(?))

i've had keys cut from the Dandenong market dude as well, he's the cheapest i've found for ford and jaguar tibbe keys

I need one as well. Been running around with 1 key for years..

Sadly I live in Sydney :(

The guy cut the key carefully, analysed my existing key on his code replicating machine and then married the key blank to the new black grip housing the immobiliser chip. The black grip is a slightly different design to the original Mitsubishi key grip but for $58 I wasn't fussed. The guy came out and checked the key in the door and the ignition, took it back to file it off a bit more, returned to check the key and it was all hunky dory. He also provided a written 12 month guarantee. Top notch!


he didn't whip out his MUT-II to link to your car's ECU right?

btw that is a "Clone" key - he's copied the code from your existing key, your car just thinks its both the same one key

whereas a proper set of 2 black & 1 grey keys, each has unique code that is recorded on the ECU - needs the MUT-II to reprogram. If you delete any of those 3 keys from the memory the car won't start; but yeah the key still works to unlock the door.

there's a few mobs around town who can clone using imported key blanks, i'm sure there's a few in every downtown.

he didn't whip out his MUT-II to link to your car's ECU right?

btw that is a "Clone" key - he's copied the code from your existing key, your car just thinks its both the same one key

whereas a proper set of 2 black & 1 grey keys, each has unique code that is recorded on the ECU - needs the MUT-II to reprogram. If you delete any of those 3 keys from the memory the car won't start; but yeah the key still works to unlock the door.

there's a few mobs around town who can clone using imported key blanks, i'm sure there's a few in every downtown.

So I guess this guy couldn't help if you lost the only key for the car?

So I guess this guy couldn't help if you lost the only key for the car?

No.You would need a towruck to the nearest Mitsu dealer, and leave the car there.
They would wave a magic wand, make you wait one week, then give you 2 new keys and a bill that will make you go OMG HOW MUCH?

I only have one key and didn't know it was so difficult to get a replacement if the one is lost. I have even fallen into the river with the keys in my pocket once, lucky they still seem to work ok despite the swim. May look into a spare now.

TL Wagon:
Mr Minit at Aspley did a TF Magna key for me years ago, but it wasn't coded. I think he could have done so, but I didn't want it that way.

"btw that is a "Clone" key - he's copied the code from your existing key, your car just thinks its both the same one key" Correct - the car thinks it is the original key. Nothing wrong with that. And no - he didn't whip out his MUT111 to do the job. From memory, he did the cloning in his caravan and then checked it in the car. One downer - he couldn't supply me a key with the original door lock buttons - he could only supply a key with the immobiliser chip. This means that I would have to open and lock the doors manually, which is not normally a problem, except that on both my new cars, the key only locks the driver's door. All the others have to be locked separately. Still, it is an emergency key which will allow me to get home if I ever lose my keys. If I ever have to use the spare key regularly, I may have to get a separate key fob and program that. All I know is that he is cheap and it suits my needs.

An aside - too many years ago (over 50), I bought a used Triumph 2000. I then moved interstate, and when I went to change the numberplates over, I unscrewed the rear plate and found a spare ignition key. What a find for someone who was stealing the plates for a crim job - they would have had the car as well

May look into a spare now.

Yes, they are waterproof. A solid lump of plastic usually is. A key can go through the washing machine no ploblems.

No great rush getting a second key. Wait until you loose it, then panic and get it copied!

Oh, wait!

(That's a round about way of saying don't leave it too long.)

Well, "cloned key" or not...it works and it didn't cost a bomb. The dealer and the locksmith guy from a proper shop I asked looked at me as if I was the display on a very hungry cash register!

The Dandenong market guy was great. Yes...he duplicated my original key using some sort of desk-based machine. Then he milled the new metal part of the key...cleaned it and then checked it in the car. I asked the security guards who normally cut off the parking near the key guy if they would let me park near his caravan so he could check the key...no problem. Amazing what happens when you use a smile and ask nicely.

The reason why I wanted the key is that when I bought this second TJ Magna I was only given one main key and the grey service key. Having locked my keys in the boot a couple of weeks beforehand (a stupid mistake which cost me all the frozen food I had in there at the time) and having suffered the indignity of rushing home, finding the grey key, rushing back, putting up with the stares of the people at the supermarket whilst the horn blared away and thanking my lucky stars that I had not locked the glove box...I really wanted a second main key.

I get twitchy without a second key . . .

Daughter rang in a panic, lost the one and only key for my TL wagon she is using an a permanent basis.

Went down there with the spare key. A 300 km round trip.

I was informed when I got there she had found the key, it was in the bottom of the washing machine.

Yes, they are water proof.
No, I wasn't happy.

Another potential option. Is it relatively easy to just wipe the immobiliser codes or disable it somehow?

Another potential option. Is it relatively easy to just wipe the immobiliser codes or disable it somehow?

My old TS wagon had the immobiliser "switched off" by the second hard yard I bought it from, I reckon. You just had to have a normal key to start it and unlock it.

An aside - too many years ago (over 50), I bought a used Triumph 2000. I then moved interstate, and when I went to change the numberplates over, I unscrewed the rear plate and found a spare ignition key. What a find for someone who was stealing the plates for a crim job - they would have had the car as well

Haha that's not factory fit position ;) definitely aftermarket

many British beauties had spare keys bolted somewhere so they didn't get lost whilst being delivered; on our Jensen Healey it was on firewall near the battery.

then again most of our MGs don't even have locks for doors :/

Another potential option. Is it relatively easy to just wipe the immobiliser codes or disable it somehow?

Later the car the harder it is to disable the immobiliser. Usual method is to have original correct key (perhaps broken) and glue that to the ignition barrel close enough for it to be read by the coil.

If you've lost all keys, it might be cheaper/easier to get a scrapper ECU+keys & changeover if you don't have a MUT-II.

For later cars if you have the keycode &/or VIN you can order new key from Mitsubishi without needing 1 to copy from. It will need to be programmed in at the dealers.

Good to know re the bloke at Dandy market, I only have one black and one grey. Regarding hidden keys, I'd owned my Hillman Hunter for 10 years before I got around to fitting an electric washer pump (after busting the original hand-pumped unit) and on removing the bottle, lo and behold, there was a spare key in a little magnetic case! The Hillman's bonnet was opened by a lever under the bumper rather than inside which wasn't common knowledge, so I guess it was a clever place for a spare.

... so I guess it was a clever place for a spare.

Hehe all this talk about hiding keys in Brit classics... didn't everyone simply know hot to hotwire their Lucas electrics??

Lucky these days that knowledge is dying out ;) and even if kiddies did learn, the starter knob + manual choke + fly off handbrake will confuse them no end :D

whereas a proper set of 2 black & 1 grey keys, each has unique code that is recorded on the ECU - needs the MUT-II to reprogram. If you delete any of those 3 keys from the memory the car won't start; but yeah the key still works to unlock the door.

won't the other 2 keys still work?

won't the other 2 keys still work?

Depends.
If the key is cloned by a locksmith, the others will still work.
If you go through Mitsu for a new key and they use the MUTT, you will need all keys present so they and the new key can be registered at the same time.

Difference is CLONE versus NEW, ok?

Hehe all this talk about hiding keys in Brit classics... didn't everyone simply know hot to hotwire their Lucas electrics??

That's actually very true, hence why I only ever had one key for the Hunter. A spare wasn't even necessary for the cabin or boot, since the only way to lock the driver's door from the outside was with the key (no 'hold the button in while shutting and break your thumb' thing) and even the boot could be closed but not locked. I did have to hotwire several times, on more than one occasion when the key switch failed. I even had the wires in the glovebox all rigged up with spade clip for the coil, alligator for the battery, and another for touching to the solenoid!