UGH!!!! Door wont unlock.

[snowboarded]

About the last month, my driver side door lock wont unlock with the key. To clarify, after about a minute of fiddling with it, it will open. Half of the time the key wont go in more than half way. The rest of the time it clunks and crunches in and then wont turn either way to unlock. It doesnt happen only on cold or wet days, as I've noticed it on a dry 50 degree day. And also it doesn't happen all the time, just about 75% or the time. This is driving me crazy. Is there any kind of fix or do I just have to replace the whole lock cylinder? If i do that then I would have to have a locksmith match the pins in the tumbler to the key right?

Or should I just ghetto it and install a keyless entry?
Maybe a hefty dose of PB Blast will do it....

[ferrari494]

i worked at Home Depot for awhile and we rekeyed home locks, and yes car locks are quite a bit different than house locks, but we had a lot of the proper tools and there was always some guru who used to be a locksmith who knew how they worked.

you might try taking it out and taking it to them to look at, trust me I always jumped at the chance to fix locks as opposed to dealing with stupid ass customers who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near power tools...and if they do fix it, at most they'll charge you 5 bucks, and if they can't fix it, they can give you a lot of options and ideas or at least good places to go.

[snowboarded]

Anybody know how to or know of any threads explaining removal? I've searched but have come up short.

[vrg3]

That's gotta be really frustrating. If I were in your shoes I'd definitely try some band-aid solutions like spraying it out with brake cleaner and then PB Garage Door Lube or something. Or maybe Lock-Ease (essentially graphite suspended in volatile petroleum distillates). It sounds like there are chunks of debris in the lock itself, so you'd probably have to remove the lock to have a chance of getting them out.

You can swap in and rekey a junkyard lock yourself. I rekeyed the trunk lock on one of my Legacies just using simple hand tools like needle nose pliers and such. If you don't know how a lock works, first read this article:

http://home.howstuffworks.com/lock-picking.htm

The trunk lock I dealt with was a wafer-tumbler lock.

Read Scott's post in this thread:

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=394

[Bheinen74]

powder graphite.
try that first

[ferrari494]

Hayne's manual explains how to remove the door handle, and then slide out the lock cylinder, I've done on my car, it was a piece of cake.

[corsair]

I have 3 keys, 1 master owners key that is worn down to a toothpick and 2 secondary keys. The master key doesn't always work well while the secondary keys consistantly work fine.

How's your key Jared? Try the graphite and then a new(er) key if you have one.

[snowboarded]

Thanks everybody for the replies. I am going to start on it tomorrow as today is no good. I am guessing that I can get powder graphite from Home Depot right? But most likely I will end up switching it out and rekeying it like Vikash said. Thanks V, now I can pick locks too
Sam - I've tried both keys, both do the same, neither is really new tho.

[vrg3]

The Lock-Ease stuff I mentioned should be available at Home Depot.

Have you tried picking locks? It does take time to learn.

[evolutionmovement]

To know how to pick locks and to actually do it are very different things! Took me 20 mins to pick a 1-pin cheesy safe-mode lock on an industrial oven.

I'd try blasting it with brake cleaner first. There's a weep hole in back for it to drip out. Then use the powder before trying to rekey it.

Steve

[snowboarded]

Ok, I was a drama queen. That was probably one of the easiest fixes. I blew it out with brake cleaner and now drivers side door locks and unlocks like a gem. I will probably have to rekey the trunk like Vikash tho, as it turns way better but still not good.

But I broke the interior plastic piece thats right behind the door handle. Ahh well....

[vrg3]

Cool!

Ah, everybody breaks that piece. They're less than 10 bucks from a good dealer:

Code: Select all

62180AA000ML 	right front inside door handle plastic cover
62180AA010ML 	left front inside door handle plastic cover
62180AA020ML 	right rear inside door handle plastic cover
62180AA030ML 	left rear inside door handle plastic cover

(I think those numbers are the right color for post-facelift turbos)