MAJOR lock / unlocking problems

[meltonlad]

please help if you can..... as my remote hasnt worked for age's i have to lock the car by using the key in the door.

well this morniong i went to lock the car put the key in the driver door and locked it BUT then i was unable to remove the key from the door or even unlock it. so im in a car park key stuck in driver door unable to unlock it, unable to remove the key......... the key would turn 3/4 to unlock it but that was it..... how the hell can the key get stuck in the lock ???

i had to call green flag out and the bloke sprayed **** loads of WD40 in the lock and after about 10 mins he removed the key. but although i can now lock / unlock again when i now lock the car the lock feels very loose and it feels like there is nothing there when i turn the key..

what could have made this problem happen ?? how could the key get stuck in a lock ??

 

[meltonlad]

anyone ????

 

[mikeholroyd]

After I got my Leon, the door lock itself was seized absolutely solid, and I could only lock and unlock the car with the remote fob.

I bought a lock repair kit off ebay, and put a thread on here about this, and after the lock was rebuilt and put back together with new springs, and loads of grease, the key now turns to lock and unlock dead easy -- and like yours, it feels there is no resistance to the key turning whatsoever.

I've just put it down to the lock now being totally free. Your lock will probably have been going stiff for ages, and it's probably the recent salt on the roads that has finally seized it solid. It might be simply that you're so used to having a lot of resistance there when you've used the key, that now it's gone after the WD40 has been sprayed around, it doesn't feel right!

The key will only come out of the barrel when the key and barrel is vertical in the lock, and if the lock seizes so that the tabs don't pop out and tell the barrel it is upright, then the barrel doesn't know what position it is in the lock and so won't release the key. When the green Flag sprayed loads of WD40 in there, the locating tab in the lock will have been released to a point where the barrel knows it was vertical, and only then would it let you have your key back.

As long as turning the key locks and unlocks the car, I can't personally see a problem. Remember that a free lock won't jam and potentially snap your key! You're lucky the RAC managed to get the key out without snapping it!

Mike