Some useful info for those techies amongst us. Unique to the euro spec Mk2 is a transponder key based immobilizer, that I am told is NOT thatcham approved - Anyway, I was enquiring today at my local shoe/key place (Timpson) about spare keys. I was told this.

1) Silca have just produced keys for the Mk2, with or without the transponder. 30 quid with, 5 without - will do the pair for 30.
2) They have a machine that will read the code from your existing key and then write to the new one.

This is MUCH cheaper than a dealer. Also, having a key that will open the car but not start the engine is useful - it will also test if the thing actually does anything at all and prevents the engine getting started. (12/99)

For those of you with a separate immobiliser button from the key (the California was one of the last editions to have this) take very good care of this!!!!

I got back to my car in Tescos today to find there was no little metal disc attached!!!! hence the car was immovable! I had taken my keys out of my bag at the checkout so I was very fortunate to find it lying on Tesco's highly patterned floor there after a search of the car park etc. On inspection I found that the black plastic holder is cracked so there is no way of holding the metal disc in place now!

So, to all California owners and others - check the metal disc for any movement. I was lucky - I found the disc - and I also had my son bringing my spare set of keys to me - if it had happened yesterday when I was at the co-ordinators meeting in Donington it would have been a lot more serious. (2/00)
I recently bought an imported Eunos Roadster and soon found out that the key I got with it is the service/sub key which doesn't operate all of the locks. Can you point me in the right direction to try and get a master key? I have a ref number stamped on my key but my local Mazda dealers seem unwilling to try and help me. (6/00)
I guess it won't work boot, glovebox and centre console. :-( You'll probably have zero luck with Mazda dealers. :-( Do you have a contact in Japan who could try and tackle it there? Failing that you could see if Jay Ng will do you a lock set. I can't see that he'll have much call for these normally. I posted details of another Mazda breaker a while back who might also do the full set. Only the steering lock could present problems, the rest look straight forward to swap out. (6/00)
Jay does regularly sell lock sets; right now he's trying to track down a set for someone over here in N.Ireland. He charges about 20-25 for the 2 door locks. As a student, I managed to rig a second hand lock in my old polo to work with my original set of keys. If you can, take out the lock barrel, and if its anything like Vauxhall/VAG barrels, you will find a series of brass splines that retract when you insert the key, and allows the barrel to rotate in a cylinder. Put in the valet key, and note which ones don't lie flat; it may be only one or two near the end of the barrel (on mine, the 2 keys only differ right at the end). You can pull these out using pliers. Reaseemble lock and it should work. This of course is a last resort. The only lock I guess you'll really worry about is the boot lock; the others don't matter so much, and I think its more difficult to seperate the barrels in these interior locks. (6/00)

The key number is on the drivers door key barrel. This is the number for all the locks if none have been changed. My Roadster only had one after market key which fitted perfectly. However, when trying to get a key copied from this key, it never worked in all the locks. Luckily, I over heard a conversation at the Mazda dealer between the service guy and a customer saying that all drivers door barrels had the key number for the set of locks! Once you have the key number, then you can go to a large locksmith key cutter, who has all the key numbers on computer, and they will cut the key with the number you supplied. Mazda dealers key numbers don't go so high so cannot cut them. Total cost is £6-8 depending on your key cutter.

Easiest way to get the number on the barrel.
1) remove door trim and parts.
2) inside the door skin, 2 bolts (8mm or 10mm) holding the door handle, undo.
3) from the outside, the door handle should be loose.
4) pull out slightly, you don't need to undo the rods.
5) un-clip the circlip so the barrel is free and you can rotate it to see the number.
6) put back together.
7) go and see your local locksmith! (9/01)
I snapped my original key in the boot recently, and when I got a new one cut, the shop used a mazda blank which only worked on the drivers door & ignition. He then looked at the original and cut me another using a toyota blank, and this worked all round. Apparently the groove down the centre of the key is different. Might be worth a go for the cost of a few quid. (9/01)