Frozen Ignition Barrel

The ignition on my 1995 325i is stuck in the "1" position, can neither turn the key to off or turn to the starter position. Key does slide in and out, steering wheel lock does not engage.

This behavior preceeded in the past 3 years by key spinning round and round in the barrel before it would "catch" and allow me to start.

Check with 3 sources: 2 independent repair shops and 1 dealer, estimates to fix range from $300 to $1200 (you can guess who the $1200 is) - 2 of 3 say that the whole barrel has to replace with new matching keys so that the chip in the keys matches the chip in the barrel. I understand 95 was the first year they did this and verified that my car does have this *#*%#*$ feature in owner's manual.

Has anyone ever had this problem, can anyone give me the straight skinny. I don't mind paying $300 if this will fix it once and for all, although I am mechanically inclined if anyone can advise on the basics of troubleshooting this and which/how many pieces to replace.

You need a new cylinder. Keep messing with it till you can get it to the accessory position, then do this:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=379874&highlight=ignition+cylinder

You need a new cylinder. Keep messing with it till you can get it to the accessory position, then do this:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=379874&highlight=ignition+cylinder

Thanks for the amazing detail on this, I'll give it a shot!