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Passenger Door Lock Replacement

steventadams

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Joined
February 28, 2007
Messages
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City, State
New Jersey
Year, Model & Trim Level
2001 Sport
So I had the Ex out here at OSU for about 5 days before someone broke into it and stole my head unit. They popped off the metal ring around the lock on the passenger side with a screwdriver and got in.

My question is:
What exactly do I need to replace to make it all work again? I think its safe to assume the cylinder is shot but what else?

I did a quick search but didn't come up with anything solid.
Thanks for your help.
 



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Bump for the night crew. Any help would be much appreciated. Need to get this fixed up so my car locks again.
 






It might be best to take off both door panels so you can see exactly how everything is connected. You will then be able to determin if something is bent or missing.
 






You can buy either a used or new key cylinder, left and right are the same part. There is an arm on each side to work with that side's latch. You can pay a locksmith to change tumblers to work with your keys.

Is the door hurt? The hole where the cylinder goes needs to be right, I'd concentrate on that.
 






As far as I can tell the hole is okay. I think it's a little rough around the edge though. I'll get a picture of it up in the morning because I'm not entirely sure. Hopefully they didn't mess up the actuators or anything. How hard is it to replace the cylinder?
 






You can buy either a used or new key cylinder, left and right are the same part. There is an arm on each side to work with that side's latch. You can pay a locksmith to change tumblers to work with your keys.

Is the door hurt? The hole where the cylinder goes needs to be right, I'd concentrate on that.

After further investigation the hole seems pretty out of whack. Not sure though so here are a few pictures. Any idea if I can still use it?

lock1.jpg


lock2.jpg


lock3.jpg


it was tough to get a decent picture so hopefully this is good enough. Thanks.
 






sorry but to the top. Need to get this fixed ASAP
 






That looks fixable, the door is the big issue there. You need to get that metal straightened out and be sure it's going to be strong enough. If it's not too torn as the bottom looks, you may be okay to just bend it back in shape. I'd tape off the area before you work on it, and use touch up paint where the paint is missing.

Find a new key cylinder and have it fixed to work with your other keys. Check the small arm on the back of the cylinder that connects to the rod. That is possibly broken also, so be sure that the cylinder is all that you need to buy.
 






If the bottom is shot and I can't get it to hold then what is my other option? Would I have to replace the whole door?
 






Well it will bend back to shape, but be gentle doing it. You want to keep the body straight around the hole, to avoid a trip to the body shop.

If it was very weak from the damage, the wost case would be to have a little welding done there to strengthen the area. That would hurt the paint too, so hopefully you can straighten out the hole without hurting it more. I looked and don't have a picture of my cylinder holes, I had to make mine larger(93 doors) to fit my 99 cylinders. Go slow with it.
 






Ill go slow bending it back and hopefully itll hold. Should the hole be perfectly round or should there be a notch at the top?
 






You will see it clearly when you take the cylinder out. The hole is not round, there are four squared cuts in it, top/bottom/left/right. The surface should be flat at the edges where the cylinder sets there.
 






Awesome thanks for your help Don. How exactly do I get the cylinder out anyway? I'm assuming I have to disconnect the rod attached to the back of the cylinder? Does it just pop out?
Hopefully this is a task I can tackle myself and save some cash.
 






There is a flat steel clip holding it in from behind, it's basically "U" shaped. That may also be damaged so see what that looks like. The parts are no trouble to work with, except for the lack of space to get in there.
 






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