When replacing automobile cylinders or working on the lock mechanisms, you should keep in mind that each make and model of automobile is different. Hundreds of different model cars are manufactured; vehicle models change slightly in design from year to year; and you’ll even find some varia-tions in vehicles from the same model year. The location of lock cylinders and the removal procedures will vary from vehicle to vehicle. For this reason, it isn’t practical for us to show you how to work with every make and model of car.
However, we can provide you with a general procedure that can be applied to most vehicles.
For the average locksmith, this general procedure is all the information you’ll need to provide excellent service to your customers. However, if you wish to eventually pursue auto lock repair as a specialty service, you can easily learn more about common car models by studying the reference manuals published by various car manufacturers. There are also many excellent locksmithing service manuals published, and cur-rent trade journals carry articles about auto lock repair regu-larly. With a little extra effort and a bit of experience, you can become an expert in the repair and replacement of auto locks!
Now, let’s take a closer look at the general lock removal pro-cedure you’ll be learning.
The lock cylinder in many cars is held in position in the door panel by a large diameter flange on the lock cylinder and a U-shaped clip that straddles two slots on the outer cylinder shell. The U-shaped clip is made of thin metal and is inserted onto the cylinder from the inner side of the door panel. This arrangement places the door panel between the cylinder flange and the clip, thus holding it tightly in the door panel. The metal U-shaped clip that holds the cylinder in place must be removed from inside the door by removing the inner door trim panel. The exception to this rule is vehicles produced by Ford Motor Company. With most Ford vehicles, the lock cylin-der clip and the lock cylincylin-der can be removed without disturb-ing the interior trim and door panel.
Now, for the moment, let’s imagine that you’re working on a car that requires you to remove the door panel and trim to gain access to the lock cylinder. In simple terms, the procedure to replace a door lock cylinder is as follows:
Step 1: Remove each piece of the door trim
Step 2: Remove the trim panel and the watershield
Step 3: Remove the U-shaped retaining clip with a flat-blade screwdriver
Step 4: Pull the lock cylinder from its mounting
Step 5: Reverse the procedure to install a new cylinder The following section of the text provides a detailed explana-tion of how to disassemble a car door to gain access to the lock mechanism.
Disassembling the Car Door
As stated above, in some car models, you’ll need to remove the interior door trim and panel to reach the lock. The following procedure is a general one. Keep in mind that each vehicle is a little different. Therefore, be observant of all trim items that must be removed. If you’re unsure of what items need to be re-moved to gain access to the lock retaining clip, you can always consult a service manual for the vehicle you’re working on.
To remove a lock cylinder from a typical car door you must first remove the inner door trim panel to gain access to the cylinder retaining clip. The inner door trim panel is the deco-rative panel that makes up the inside of the door. Most trim panels are made of a heavy cardboard, metal, or plastic and are often covered with upholstery. Mounted on the door trim panel will be a variety of items, such as the armrest, inner door handle, window handle, etc., all of which must be re-moved before the door panel can be taken off the door.
In addition, you’ll also find a thin sheet of plastic or foam between the trim panel and the door. This sheet of plastic is called the watershield. The watershield serves an important function by preventing moisture and condensation from damaging the trim panel. Because of this, you should always be sure that the watershield is reinstalled when you assemble the door.
Before you begin disassembling the car door, here are some tips that will make the job a little easier.
Tip 1: Be sure that your tools and clothing are free of any grease and dirt. Since you’ll be working on the interior of the
vehicle, dirt and grease can easily get onto the upholstery and carpeting of the vehicle, making the customer very un-happy. To help prevent dirt from getting on the upholstery, it’s a good idea to use plastic to cover the seats of the vehicle while you’re working on it.
Tip 2: Have a small container available to store parts. The re-moval procedure will require you to remove several small screws and retainer clips. A container to store these items will prevent them from getting misplaced or lost.
Tip 3: Keep a notebook or piece of paper and a pencil available to take notes on the location of the various components so that you can refer to your notes if necessary during reassembly.
Tip 4: Don’t apply force to remove a component. If a compo-nent seems to require force to remove it, stop and look for an additional screw or other objects retaining it. Most items have screws that are placed out of sight, and thus, easy to overlook.
Now, to remove the trim from the interior of the door, follow these steps.
Step 1: Before beginning the removal of the door trim panel, remove the negative battery terminal lead from the battery (Figure 22). The reason for removing the negative, and not the positive, lead is because touching one end of the wrench
to the positive near the front of the vehicle. The removal of the battery connection will cut off all electrical power to the vehicle. When working on a car door you may have to work around electric accessories, such as power mirrors and power windows. Disconnecting the battery will prevent a short circuit if you accidentally touch a power lead in the door.
Step 2: Carefully observe the inner door trim panel and try to familiarize yourself with all items and screws that are hold-ing the panel on.
Step 3: Raise the car window. Once the trim panel is re-moved, you’ll need to have access to the lock cylinder. If the window is down, it will block your access. Therefore, it’s a good idea to have the window up before beginning, since in most cases the window handle will have to be removed to remove the door trim panel. Since car windows are very ex-pensive to replace, be very careful not to scratch, crack, or break the glass while you’re working on the door lock.
(Note: If it’s necessary for you to have the window down for any reason during removal of the trim panel, you can always reinstall the window handle to raise the window.)
Step 4: Remove the interior lock button. On many vehicles, the lock button is removed by simply unscrewing it (Figure 23).
FIGURE 23—On many vehicles, the lock button is removed by unscrewing it.
The lock button is threaded onto a rod, called a lock rod, that attaches to the door latch assembly.
If the lock button is the horizontal sliding type, the button won’t have to be removed; instead, it will remain attached to the door. However, the plastic trim around the sliding lock button will have to be removed. The trim will be held on by one or two screws.
Step 5: Remove the armrest. Most armrests are held in place by two or three screws that are inserted from the side or up from the bottom (Figure 24). To remove the screws you’ll need to use either a Phillips screwdriver, a hex socket, or a
FIGURE 24—Remove the armrest by unscrewing the screws that hold it to the door panel.
Torx screwdriver. A Torx-head screw is similar to a Phillips-head screw, with the difference that the Phillips-head of a Torx screw will have a six-sided star-shaped slot in it. Torx screwdrivers can be purchased at most auto tool suppliers or hardware stores. Once the screws are removed, the armrest can be re-moved from the door trim panel.
You may find that some vehicles have the armrest and trim panel as all one piece. These are called integral armrests and are found most often on more expensive cars with power win-dows. On these models the screws are removed as described above, but the armrest will be removed when the trim panel is removed. These screws aren’t always easily visible; they’re sometimes concealed behind metal trim or under power win-dow switch plates. When working on a car with an integral armrest, be sure to carefully check for any hidden screws that might hold the armrest to the door panel (Figure 25).
Step 6: Remove the window handle. There are two common types of window handles. One type is held in place by a screw through the handle, while the other is held in place by a wire clip. The screw-on type handle is commonly seen in Ford and Chrysler vehicles. For the type held by a screw, the handle is removed by first removing the screw in the center of the han-dle (Figure 26). Most hanhan-dles will have either a Phillips-head or Allen-head screw, which can be removed by the appropri-ate tool. Once the screw is removed, the handle can be re-moved. Note: You may find some window handles that have a cover over the screw head. For this type, you must puncture or remove the cover to access the screw head beneath.
FIGURE 25—The screws that hold an integral armrest to the door panel may be hidden.
Another type of window handle uses a retaining clip to hold it on the retainer shaft (Figure 27). This type of window han-dle is commonly used on General Motors vehicles. It has a wire horseshoe-shaped retainer clip that fits into slots in the
handle, thereby against the handle, thus improving its appearance. A thin plastic plate between the handle and the trim panel acts like a bearing plate. This plastic bearing plate prevents damage to the upholstery when the window handle is turned.
To remove this type of handle, follow these steps:
• Press in the trim panel around the handle so that the re-tainer clip and plastic bearing plate are exposed.
• Remove the wire retaining clip. To remove the clip you should use a special tool designed for this purpose. This tool can be purchased relatively inexpensively at most locksmith or automotive supply stores. It’s a flat metal-type tool with a specially designed end to grab the re-tainer ring. To use the tool, simply insert it between the handle and the trim panel, so that the open end of the re-tainer clip is facing the tool. Push inward on the tool to release the clip. Be sure to keep a close watch on the clip so that it doesn’t drop and get lost. The clip is relatively small and therefore easy to misplace.
FIGURE 26—Loosen the screw in the center of the window handle to remove the handle from the door.
FIGURE 27—This type of window handle is held on by a retainer clip instead of a screw.
• Once the clip is removed, the handle may be removed by pulling it off of the shaft.
Step 7: If the car has power windows, remove the trim from the control panel. This trim panel is held in place by one or more screws. On most vehicles, the power window and lock control buttons are mounted on the door itself and thus aren’t removed with the door panel. In these cases, only the trim panel will have to be removed. Note: There are some vehicles which have the control button mounted on the trim panel. For these vehicles, the power wires to these switches will have to be unhooked before the panel can be completely removed.
Step 8: If the vehicle is equipped with remote control mir-rors, the trim ring around the window control handle will have to be removed (Figure 28). This trim ring is sometimes held by a threaded nut and can be removed by simply turning the nut counterclockwise. Sometimes the threaded nut is part of the trim ring.
Step 9: Remove the inner door handle. On most vehicles, the inner door handle is held in place by one or more screws.
These screws are normally inserted from the front or from the bottom of the handle. To gain access to the screws, you’ll of-ten have to pull the handle out and hold it while you remove the screws. Once the screws are removed, the handle can be taken off and set aside (Figure 29).
Step 10: Once all the items have been removed from the door panel, the panel is ready to be removed. At this time, it’s usu-ally a good idea to double-check to be sure that all trim items have been removed.
FIGURE 28—Remove the trim ring from a mirror remote control.
Step 11: The interior door trim panel on most cars is simply an upholstered piece of cardboard. On most vehicles, the trim panel is hooked over the top of the door and held tightly to the door using plastic push-in fasteners. These fasteners are located along the outer edges of the panel. The fasteners sim-ply push in through the panel and then through holes in the door itself. To remove the panel, the fasteners must be pried out of the holes.
A flat-blade screwdriver can be inserted between the door and the panel to force out the fasteners. However, the pre-ferred method is to use a special tool designed for this pur-pose (Figure 30). The tool is inserted between the trim panel and the door and used to pry the fasteners out of the holes.
To get the fasteners out, simply twist the tool once it’s in-serted between the panels. The fasteners are pried free one at a time, until all of the fasteners holding the panel are out. If one of the plastic fasteners happens to break off, don’t worry.
This is a common occurrence. Replacement clips can be pur-chased at any auto parts store. (Note: Some door panels may be held in place by screws. For this type panel, simply re-move all screws holding the panel in place.)
Step 12: Once the trim panel is loose from the door, pull the panel out slightly and then lift it upward, unhooking it from the door (Figure 31). Once the panel is unhooked, it can be removed and put in a safe, clean place.
FIGURE 29—Remove the inner door handle as shown here.
FIGURE 30—This tool is used to pry trim fasteners out of a car door.
Step 13: After the trim panel is removed, remove the water-shield. The watershield is taped or glued in place and can be easily pulled free from the door. If necessary, insert a putty knife or paint scraper behind the shield and slide the tool back and forth to loosen the seal. You can now peel the watershield away (Figure 32).
At this point, the car door is disassembled as far as necessary to begin lock cylinder removal.
Removing the Lock Cylinder
After all the trim has been removed from the interior of the door, and the door panel and the watershield have been re-moved, you’ll see cutout sections in the door panel (Figure 33).
They provide access to the locking components inside the
FIGURE 31—Lift the trim panel off, as shown here.
door. You should be able to easily see the lock cylinder inside the door. If not, look at the location of the lock on the outside of the car door for a clue as to its placement in the door.
Once you’ve located the lock cylinder, follow these steps for its removal:
Step 1: Disconnect the connecting rod that attaches the cylin-der to the door latch. The connecting rod will have a metal or plastic clip that holds the rod to the cylinder pawl. The design of the metal or plastic clips will vary from vehicle to vehicle.
However, the following are the three most common types.
One type of clip has a lifting tab built in to assist in its re-moval. This type is commonly used in vehicles manufactured by Ford (Figure 34). To remove this type of clip, a flat-blade screwdriver is inserted under the lifting tab on the clip. Once in place, the screwdriver is twisted, unhooking the clip from the lock rod. Once unhooked, the clip can be rotated out of the way, allowing the rod to be pulled out of the lock pawl.
FIGURE 32—Peel the watershield away, as shown here.
Another type of clip is very similar to the one explained above, except it doesn’t have a lifting tab. The removal is very similar. A flat-blade screwdriver is used to pry the clip loose, but you must place the screwdriver blade against the edge of the clip and apply pressure (Figure 35). If the clip doesn’t come free with pressure applied to it, you can usually tap the end of the screwdriver with the palm of your hand to knock the clip loose. Once the clip is loose, the rod can be removed.
This type of clip is commonly used on vehicles produced by the Chrysler Corporation.
The third type of clip is a sliding type that slides on the lock pawl and locks into a retaining groove on the lock rod (Figure 36). This type is commonly used on General Motors vehicles. To remove this type, use a flat-blade screwdriver to pry the clip sideways so that the clip is free from the grooves on the lock rod. Once the clip is free of the grooves, the rod can be removed.
FIGURE 33—After the trim panel and the watershield have been removed, you’ll see these cutout sections in the car door.
FIGURE 34—The rod clip in a Ford vehicle will have a small tab to help you lift it.
FIGURE 35—To remove the rod clip in a
Chrysler vehicle, exert pressure on the clip
Chrysler vehicle, exert pressure on the clip