lock sticking, hard to push key into lock suddenly..

[Dabba]

this is happening on my 86 m1008 (k30). it also happened on my 03 civic and now i cant even use the dside lock. whats going on here? it happend all of a sudden and i dont want the same thing to happen on my truck. can i just spray wd40 into the lock, or some sort of lubricant or do i need to buy a new cylinder, not looking foward to that...

 

[dyeager535]

You can certainly try WD-40.

It's either the cylinder or the mechanism, mechanism needs grease if so. I think the mechanism is a lot less likely than the cylinder.

 

[K5dreamer]

my m1009 did this. a good spray of wd40 in the lock, and white lithium grease on the mechanism cleared it up. although i still have a hard time lining up the key to get the driver door to unlock. nothing is sticking, its just a replacement key that must have been ground a bit off. i twist back and forth while slowly pulling the key out, and it will catch and open the lock. only does it on the driver side door though. ignition and passenger door work fine.

 

[Dabba]

mechanism? what mechanism haha, and with what and how do i grease it?

 

[K5dreamer]

cylinder = the...well..... cylinder that holds the tumblers for the lock itself. On the end of this is a tab with a hole and a plastic clip on it.

mechanism = that which connects to the tab/hole/plastic clip. consists of a few rods that move the parts that decided whether or not your door unlocks. which are connected to the latch mechanism in the door.

lubing them = you can just soak the latch mechanism from the outside and hope for the best... me, i popped the door skin off the inside, and directly sprayed everything that moved with white lithium grease. be sure to roll up the window to avoid spraying the glass with the white lithium grease, its annoying.

NOTE - i use the white lithium grease on mechanical things like hinges and latches, but use the WD40 on the actual cylinder itself. the white lithium grease can dry out, turn hard, and cause more problems than it solves with all the little pieces in there that need to move in just the right way.

 

[Dabba]

thanks, the wd40 worked like a charm, so the mechanism is the thing attached to the tumblers huh? For the heck of it i tried the wd40 on my civics door (dont know why i didnt think of it before) with a no go. thanks for the helps guys, hopefully the wd40 for a while and i dont have to pull the skin (have very bad luck doing that with the civic)

 

[oakknight]

wd-40 is good stuff , but its wet and will dry out or drip off after a time .. you can also use a graphite poweder in the tumbler part of the lock.
the rest of the parts best to use a ithium based greese like mentioned above

 

[Dabba]

thanks, will do when the wd40 wears off

 

[K5dreamer]

the door skin on the truck is very easy to take off. the trick is, you need to use a hook, or small screwdriver to pop the retaining clip off the window crank. then it pulls right off. unscrew the lock plunger, it screws off. then undo the screws that hold the door skin on, should be several peremeter bolts, and two in the handle/armrest. the skin then lifts up, and off the door, and pulls over the handle. comes off in about 4-5 minutes.

latch and all that jazz is directly visible after that.

for reassembly its just in the reverse order. a handy note though, preload the horseshoe clip onto the window crank before you press it onto the splined shaft. if you try to push it on, and then somehow get the clip on its a huge PITA.

 

[toomany]

wd-40 is good stuff , but its wet and will dry out or drip off after a time .. you can also use a graphite poweder in the tumbler part of the lock.
the rest of the parts best to use a ithium based greese like mentioned above

x2

Spraying wd40 into the lock cylinder will attract dirt over time, making the cylinder hard to turn again. Graphite won't attract dirt/moisture. They sell cans of graphite at autoparts stores for this reason. I think the name brand is Lock Eeze...I bought a can at Napa awhile back. Don't get it on your skin though. Or else everything you touch will become black. Rember to wipe the key off before putting it into your pocket too.

 

[tRustyK5]

X eleventy on the graphite powder...WD40 is weasel piss with good marketing.

Rene

 

[Dabba]

thanks guys, ill head up to autozone and see what they got. Im just so paranoid about taking the skin off. I did it with my plastic pos civic and it was all these plastic snaps and lets just say we dont get along well.. nuts, bolts, screws i can get along with..

 

[73k5blazer]

There's a product called "seafoam" that works great for this type of thing. It's not water based so it lasts a long time. I usally give my cars lock cylinders a shot once a year right before winter time.

 

[Dabba]

thanks, and you have an awesome avatar..