Rep Power: 0

Hello all. New car owner here and having problems with my key and the front door. It seems to getting jammed. When I first got it, the key would go all the way in but I would have to fiddle with the key to turn it and get the door unlocked. It took a couple of tries (fiddle + reinserting) to get it to work. Then I applied some WD-40 to it and afterwards the key would only insert halfway and would take a lot of effort to fully get it in, PLUS with the original problem of turning the key. Thus making it almost impossible to get in from the driver's door, making me have to go in through the passenger's door which works perfectly fine and having to unlock my front door from there.

This is pretty frustrating and inconvenient and it will only get worse as it gets colder outside. Any ideas on what happened, and how it can be fixed? Would I have to replace the lock cylinder on that side of the car? Any help is appreciated

Thanks!

 
Rep Power: 519

When you make a thread, it's helpful for us to know what car you have.

Regular key or sidewinder key?

If it is a sidewinder key, most dealers should have the tumbler kit and be able to replace the tumblers in the lock cylinder or replace the cylinder and tumble it to use the original key.

 
Rep Power: 0

Ah makes sense, 2003 Honda Civic LX. What's the difference between the two?

 
Rep Power: 519

Almost any lock shop would have the tumblers to rebuild a cylinder for a regular cut key.
The key can be cut on a grinder.



Few places other than a dealer would have the tumblers to rebuild Hondas Sidewinder locks. The lock type is pretty much limited to Honda and Acura AFAIK.

Hell, it seems like half of the dealers (or their employees) don't even know they have the parts available to do anything with it.

Special wafers (tumblers), twice as many wafers, and the keys are cut using a machine similar to a router.

regular vs. sidewinder:

 
Rep Power: 0

Okay I have a sidewinder according to those pictures. So I would just go to a dealer or a lock shop to ask for a new tumbler for my specific key cut? And then I would have to get a dealer to install the new lock?

 
Rep Power: 0

Don't ever use fluid to lube a lock cylinder. Use graphite. Comes in a little squeeze bottle, looks like black powder.

 
Rep Power: 309

Yes to the graphite, and don't go crazy with it. Do not squirt graphite directly into cylinders.

My 2010s trunk cylinder wanted to catch a bit sometimes. I put some graphite on the key grooves and worked it in on a couple of occasions and it is much better now. Did the same to ignition also.

 
Rep Power: 519

Depends on how much of the work YOU are willing and able to do. Can you remove and reinstall the lock cylinder in your door?
Carry it in and have them just fix only the lock cylinder, then you reinstall it yourself.

Also depends on whether or not your dealer is willing and able to open up a lock cylinder and has the necessary kit to retumble one to fit your key.
Like I said earlier, not all dealers have a kit and not all employees even know about the kit.


You could pull into the service drive and hand the guy your keys and tell them your key doesn't work in the lock anymore and you want the new lock to work with your original keys.

If they tell you they can't do it this way, tell them to look at bulletin 03-068. The kit contains a few door lock cylinder blanks and all the tumblers one could need for several dozen lock rebuilds.