Whats wrong with the door locks on these cars? the damn thing constantly wont open, ya have to force the key so much im affraid to break it off everytime we unlock the doors. IS there a fix to these stupid locks? There stiff to open even in the summer, and now that its colder then hell out there now... its next to imposssible to open the damn door. It doesnt seem like its the lock, more like its the linkage inside the door is freezing it self or something. If the car sits over night, when i go out in the morning there impossible to open as if its "stuck", but once it opens the first time and is broke loose, it opens no problem... can lock and unlock with no problems.
Is there no grease on the linkage, or maybe the grease Gm used freezes? Any body know how to fix this turd? Ohh and its an 04 so its not like the damn thing should be woren out.
ohh and just to add.. the car doesnt have keyless entry. And theres a remote starter on it so the car is allways warned a little when trying to get in it.
Try spraying some WD-40 in the key hole to displace any water that my be in there and to lube up any mechanical parts.
yeah that might help, i'll give it another squirt. but it just seems more like its the linkage inside the door then it is the lock itself. Alot of times the passenger side door is the a little easier to get into, and so we have to crawl across the car and unlock the driverside door from inside.... and eventhen unlocking it the lever is still hard to push until it pops free, then you can freely lock and unlock the doors as you please..
hey dont feel bad 98layin frame mine does the same thing it sucks!
It does sound like something inside is binding up. Short of takin the door panel off and havin a look, it'd be hard to figure out...
i have an 04 an 00 the 04 doesnt due it, yet the 00 does the key almost breaks before it opens the lock. my 00 has keyless and it useually takes a few trys with it to fully unlock seems only to unlock half way. yet from inside the lock moves great and the paas opens one try. i got a new batt in the remote yet still does it. any tips? and why would the keyless on my 04 work far away and the 00 basiclly 15 feet away?
My 97 does the same thing, but only on the passenger side. Driver side is fine...
Sounds like the door lock is binding. You can try graphite, but I prefer WD-40. But if that still doesnt work and its still stiff. You might have to replace it.
Please correct me if Im wrong
But I hope it helps...
...They just HATE it when you ...POINT - LAUGH - then DRIVE OFF AND AWAY-!...
ok well im glad to see its not just me thats having this problem. I talked to my buddy about it, and his girls car does the same thing too when its cold out. And then it also sounds like several of you guys are having the same troubles. Ohh well, i'll just try spraying the locks, and maybe i'll pull the door panel off to grease and check the linkages in there.
I know this thread is a year old but my girls car has the same problem, the keyless wont unlock the door when its cold but if you go in through the passenger side, it unlocks by hand just fine.
It's an 03.
You think they wouldnt bind up like this but did anyone find a fix?
i put some lube on all the pivet points on my driver side locking system i mean every thing and cleaned it got a lot of dirt and stuff out and they move fine now.(fyi it was a 00 and the driver side not unlocking fully by remote). now if its just doesnt work u may have a bad remote and or battery.
no thats exactly the problem, it just doesnt unlock FULLY from the remote, it tries but wont completley unlock.
Ill try to clean up the pivot points and lube it up nicely.
So that took care of the problem?
yep i had gotten some grease similar to oem its a white color from the auto parts store and just cleaned and greased every part of that locking/handle system. also while i was at it i regreased the window regulator and track window was going up kinda funky but ok now. almost a year clean and clear. let me know how it goes
try white lithium grease you can get it at any part store that is what the factory uses for the sunroofs, door locks, and mostly everything that is greased on the car. or the lock is binding inside and has a defect but I say try the lithium grease first it is like four bucks at the part store I have a can of the stuff and clean everything every six months to be on the safe side
also on the door locks if u remove the door panel u then have easy acess to the inside handle and lock it comes a part real easy gotta pust the pin out . with that apart clean and add a little grease there. cause if u think about it how many time a week do u grab that handle right. it gets all nasty with just stuff coming off ur hands like skin,dust,dirt,etc. i mean the weirdist things collect crap. lol just a quick thought.
My bet is the door latch springs are rusted real bad. Had that same issue with our '96 Z-24. The latch springs are regular steel, should have been stainless springs. Take out the door latch's on both sides and spray the living hell out of them while running the latch with your hands and finally pack them real heavy with grease. They will last another year before any issues happen again. New latch's greased up heavily will cure the problem. Been there done that many times before. The rods that go from the latch's to the lock handles inside, ride in plastic bushings, so no lube is needed. The latch is the issue. Poor design from GM. Take some good pic's of your latch's after you take them out and post them here.
Mike
'06 Redline Ion Competition
'97 Saturn SC-2
