My key won't lock or unlock the driver side door of my 97 XE truck. I've tried a new (brand new, cut by the dealer) key. That key won't work either. The key works fine in the other door.
So I'm pretty confident that it's the lock instead of the key.
I have no idea at all how to approach this, or how to get to the lock, or anything.
Any advice?
Or should I just head for my friendly local locksmith, who say's it'll cost me about $75?
Can you unlock and open the door from the inside? If so, I would remove the interior panel and check out the mechanism for the key part of the lock. It could just be that some plastic linkage part has failed.
If you cannot open the door at all - I feel your pain. I currently have to enter and exit through the window on my 944 due to the power locks failing in the locked position.
Silly question, does the key turn the lock or not? If it does, then the linkage inside has fallen off. They're held together with little plastic keepers that fail every now and then.
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Yes, I can unlock the door from inside with no problem (in the normal way, by raising the little lever). If the door is already unlocked, I can open it from inside or outside.
No, the key doesn't turn the lock. I try to turn the key, and it doesn't move. I've tried wiggling the key around, turning as hard as I dare, and graphite.
To bpayne: Any idea what my chances are of fixing it if I do take the door panel off? And yeah, I feel your pain too. In my case, I know that I could just leave the door unlocked and/or unlock from the passenger side. But it's a nice little truck, and I'm planning to keep it for a while, so I would like to fix the problem.
$75 for the locksmith probably isn't such a bad deal....
OK, I see what you mean. Curiosity would kill me if I didn't remove the door panel and at least inspect the thing from inside, just to see if something is obviously wrong that I could correct without calling in an "expert". Did the locksmith say that he would need to get inside the door? I assume he would. Perhaps you can save yourself some labor time/cost. I also consider the "monkey factor" which is the cost and grief incurred by allowing someone - who does not care for a vehicle the way its owner does - perform any mechanical task. In your case this could be broken clips on the door panel resulting in possible rattles.
However, I would also call $75 a small price to pay to have the door function normally. Hey, look at what I'm about to spend on a new fuel tank for a reliably running (albeit with a rusty frame) '94.
My exterior door locks refused to work properly when i got the truck 2 years ago. Spray PB blaster or equivilent in 2x 1 hour apart and then work your key back and forth while working the inner door lock up and down. BE PATIENT and GENTLE so you don't break the key.
I use White Lithium grease to keep it lubed. This is a little thick and i like WD40 better but you need to use it more often. Holds less dirt than the Lithium in the long run.
I don't know why I didn't think of that. I had tried graphite powder, but that didn't help.
BPayne, the reason I hesitated to take off the door panel and examine it is that every time I've messed with the interior of a car, I've broken some plastic tab or something. I seem to be jinxed that way. (Once, while installing speakers as a teenager, I actually caused a fire.) Not that I'm much better working on things under the hood, but at least metal is harder to break....
Glad it was a simple fix for you! I break some sort of plastic clip everytime i mess with doors so i just load my pockets at the u-yank. The manager gives me them $1 a pocket and dosn't care. I grab lots of bolts and screws to because i always F them up to.
Alas, I must bid the board farewell. I am selling my '96 because i needed a full size truck bed and nissan dosn't make those. Chevy it is. Lets hope that that 700R4 tranny lasts me.
The sentra is gone. Someone drove it all the way out to Kansas City (800 miles). They were brave and got a $400 car from it.
The '91 needs lifter(s) and its going on eBay when i get around to changing them. Runs great and still a good 4x4 with frame rust.
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