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Get your free estimateMedeco Locksmith in San Marino, CA | True Blue Locksmith
We service Medeco hardware across San Marino, CA, including 91108 and 91118, and also provide Medeco repair in Alhambra. When you call us about a Medeco lock in San Marino, the job usually isn’t a simple cylinder swap: it’s restoring a restricted keyway inside a 1920s mortise case, or cleaning grit out of a sidebar that hasn’t been touched in twenty years. We’re an independent shop, not Medeco-authorized, and we’ve built our reputation on honest bench work and key control records we can show you. If you need Medeco service in San Marino, call (877) 358-5506 for a straight answer and a free estimate.
Why San Marino Residents Choose Us for Medeco Service
Most locksmiths in the Pasadena area can cut a Kwikset key. Far fewer regularly open up a Medeco cylinder, rebuild the sidebar, and re-pin it to a fresh restricted keyway while the original 1920s mortise case stays untouched in the door. That’s the work we do most weeks in San Marino. Our Medeco sales & service bench handles original keyways, factory-restricted cylinders, and the odd retrofit where a modern Medeco cylinder now lives inside a brass mortise body from the Coolidge administration. We carry OEM Medeco sidebar springs, key blanks, and cylinders on the truck, so an estate-block job near Huntington or Euston doesn’t wait on a parts order. Noel Carrasco, our owner, went through the locksmith program at Cerritos College and has worked these old locks for going on two decades. He’ll tell you the same thing we tell everyone in San Marino: if the lock body is sound, we fix the cylinder and keep your original hardware in place.
Styles & brands we work with







Common Medeco Locksmith Problems We Solve in San Marino
Here’s what actually shows up on San Marino service calls. Not theory, just what we see in the driveways and entry courts.
- A correctly cut Medeco key turns hard or hangs halfway. Decades of dry heat and Santa Ana wind events pack fine dust into the cylinder and sidebar. Street-facing doors catch the worst of it, especially on deep lots off Huntington where long driveways funnel grit straight at the entry. We disassemble, clean, and rebuild the cylinder with OEM parts.
- The bolt binds against the strike, but the cylinder is fine. Seismic settling racks old door frames, and what was throwing cleanly now hangs on the strike. In San Marino’s unreinforced masonry-era homes, the frame moves a few millimeters and the Medeco bolt reads it as a misalignment. We service the mortise case and adjust the strike rather than blame the lock.
- A modern Medeco cylinder seats but the bolt won’t retract smoothly. Original solid-brass mortise cases from the 1920s wear at the tailpiece and cam. The cylinder works; the case doesn’t. We rebuild the tailpiece, lubricate the case, and the Medeco operates like new without touching the street-visible hardware.
- Inherited a Medeco system with no key card. Restricted keyways mean nobody can duplicate your keys without the control records. If the card is lost, we do a controlled rekey to a fresh restricted keyway and issue new key cards so you’re not locked out of your own key control.
- Key-in-knob Medeco cylinders on older knob sets. These are common on San Marino’s Period Revival homes. When the cylinder wears, the key jiggles and the lock feels sloppy. We re-pin or replace the cylinder and keep the original knob hardware intact.
Medeco Service in San Marino: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
Here’s the part most Medeco pages won’t tell you, because it’s specific to San Marino. This is a city of landmark and historically designated estates. Many homes along the blocks off Euston and Huntington are 1920s Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival properties with original solid-brass mortise locksets and ornate entry hardware. When a change to street-visible entry hardware is proposed on a designated estate, the city’s cultural-heritage review can get involved. That means we don’t default to selling you a new entry set. On those properties, our standard approach is to rekey or rebuild the existing Medeco cylinder in place, preserving the original faceplate, escutcheon, and lock body, so nothing visible from the street changes. It’s the right call for the hardware, and it keeps you clear of review. This is why San Marino service area calls skew so heavily toward repair and rekey work rather than full hardware replacement.
Medeco Models & Products We Service in San Marino
We work on Medeco Maxum deadbolts, original-keyway Medeco deadbolt cylinders, high-security mortise cylinders retrofitted into vintage locksets, and key-in-knob cylinders on older knob sets. Parts policy is simple: for anything that must stay within an existing restricted keyway, we use OEM Medeco cylinders, sidebar springs, and key blanks. We won’t substitute aftermarket internals into a restricted system. If a worn mortise case should be rebuilt rather than replaced, we say so plainly. And if the original estate lock body is sound, we preserve it and fit the cylinder to the hardware instead of selling a whole new entry set. That’s how we approach every Medeco job in San Marino.
Medeco Service Pricing in San Marino
Before pricing, know this: the quote we give you on the phone is the price on the invoice. No dispatch fee added when the tech arrives, no bait figure that balloons. What drives Medeco cost in San Marino is cylinder condition and key control status. A standard cleaning and re-pin runs less than a controlled rekey with new restricted keyway and fresh key cards. Rebuilding a 1920s mortise tailpiece adds bench time. Every estimate starts with a phone conversation about what’s in your door and what you actually need. Call (877) 358-5506 and Noel will quote the job honestly before anyone heads your way.
Honest work, solid locks, that’s the whole job.
Serving San Marino, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Marino area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Medeco Locksmith in San Marino
Yes. We pull the Medeco cylinder from the original brass mortise case, re-pin it to a fresh restricted keyway, and rebuild whatever internal wear is causing problems, all while the original faceplate and street-visible hardware never leave the door. That’s the standard job on San Marino’s older estate blocks.
It’s usually the door, in San Marino. Seismic settling racks frames in older unreinforced masonry homes, and decades of dry heat plus Santa Ana grit pack the cylinder and sidebar. We inspect both before touching anything. If the cylinder’s fouled, we rebuild it. If the frame moved, we adjust the strike. Call (877) 358-5506 and we’ll diagnose it straight.
Not duplicates. Without the key card, a restricted Medeco keyway can’t be copied. The solution is a controlled rekey to a new restricted keyway, with fresh keys and new key cards issued so you regain full key control. We do this regularly for San Marino homeowners who inherited a system with no records.
It can, if your home is a designated estate and the change is visible from the street. San Marino’s cultural-heritage review applies to street-visible hardware on landmark properties. That’s exactly why we favor rekeying or rebuilding the existing Medeco cylinder in place, keeping the original exterior hardware and avoiding review entirely.
Because Medeco uses a restricted keyway and a patented key control system. The blanks aren’t sold to retail cutting machines, and the duplication equipment can’t read the angled cuts. Only a locksmith with the proper blanks and key control record access can cut Medeco keys. Call (877) 358-5506 for an exact quote, estimates are free.
Service Areas Near San Marino
We serve San Marino and the surrounding communities, including Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, and Arcadia. If you’re just outside San Marino, you can also reach us for Medeco service in East Pasadena or Medeco service in Lennox, depending on which direction you’re coming from.
Book Your Medeco Service in San Marino Today
Need Medeco work done in San Marino? Call (877) 358-5506 for a free estimate. We’ll quote the job on the phone, explain what’s actually wrong, and get your lock working without touching hardware that should stay untouched.
Written by Noel Carrasco, Owner at True Blue Locksmith, serving San Marino and the San Gabriel Medeco service area.