Hey all, I'm trying to rehabilitate a 2003 2Dr. DX and can't figure out how to fix my driver's door lock.

The problem: I can lock the car from the outside using the key, but can't unlock it

When I turn the key to unlock the car, it doesn't move at all. I can't rotate the key to the right at all, but moves freely to the left to lock the car.

My mom said this happened after she locked her keys in the car and it was slim-jimmed. I figured it may be as easy as something getting disconnected, but it's tough to see what's going on back there. I took some pics just so I could get a better look as to what's going on. Does anything seem out of place? Anyone know what I should be looking for?

 

If something were disconnected, it would be easy to see it.


It appears to be intact, so either the key is worn out or the lock cylinder needs to be replaced. I'd mess with it a bit and see if it'll "fix" itself, otherwise .. yeah.



What about the lock ****? Does it still lock and unlock the door like usual? If not, the problem could be with the latch assembly.

 

Honestly, I couldn't really tell... not very easy to see into there. Does that rusty piece look okay? I couldn't tell if that was connected to anything. Also, I wasn't sure if something was disconnected if it would cause the cylinder not to rotate.

Key works on the passenger side. Would slim-jimming cause something to happen with the cylinder?

The lock **** on the inside works fine. Can unlock it from the inside.

 

Unclip the yellow clip and disconnect the metal rod. Try to move the key in the lock cylinder both ways left and right. If it moves both ways unlock and lock then the metal rod or door latch is bent/broken. If it still doesn't move right then it's the key cylinder.

 

I doubt anything went bad with the cylinder itself, I was just tossing out ideas. I'm not 100% sure what "that rusty thing" is, but I'm pretty sure that it goes from the handle and connects to the latch/lock assembly via a bent rod. Hard to tell without going out and pulling my door panel off to take a first-hand look.


Whoever slim-jimmed the lock might have broken something inside the latch/lock assembly associated with locking/unlocking the door with the key. The reason the **** still works is because it's connected to that assembly with a cable vs. the rod attached to the cylinder. If that makes sense.

If I had to guess exactly which component is faulty, I'd say it's the latch/lock assembly inside the door since the key still works but the lock won't function properly. You might try bending (straightening) the rod that goes from the cylinder to the latch/lock assembly and see if it'll work again. Edit: (as noted by danyostar. sorry, I went AFK while typing this)

 

Thank you guys sooo much for the info, it helped immensely!

So it is the lock cylinder. I was able to lock / unlock the car with the rod after disconnecting it.

So, now the next question: How do I remove the lock cylinder? I'm not coming up with much on the search...

 

there should be a "C" clip holding the lock in the door handle.

 

From https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-2001-2005-78/help-w-door-lock-cylinder-03-civic-cpe-lx-2730228/

 

So I finally had enough time to do this today. Been riding around this whole time with my door panel off, awesome. Anyway, I didn't take a second look at the pictures and just dug in thinking I needed to remove a clip, and spent some time working on the wrong thing. I took some pics just in case anyone else searches and comes upon this thread.

I tried pulling off the U shaped piece (red arrow) until I realized that it was part of the lock cylinder and the actual clip was behind the bracket (as it wasn't me already said :banghead: ) shown by the green arrow:



The bracket is lined in green here, the clip is shown by the red arrow. There is a little divot (blue arrow) but I couldn't get my scribe in there for the life of me. I got the clip out by using the middle finger of my right hand to push down on the right side of the top of the clip. Then I pushed on the left hand side of the top of the clip while grabbing the bottom of it with a pair of micro 90* bent needle nose pliers using my left hand. When I was able to grab some meat, I rotated them so they were perpendicular to the clip to slide them between the clip and cylinder and pulled. There was no way I could get it by just grabbing on and pulling, you really need to get something under the clip.



Also, the cylinder rebuild is quite a bit different than the other DIYs I've seen on here, so I'll be doing a writeup on that as well.

 

I am having problems with my 03 Civic driver's side door lock, too. I fixed it once a year ago. Now I cannot even get the key in. All parts are the original OEM. Today I located a TSB on the subject: TSB 03-068 October 29, 2004. It has the owner replacing the lock plates and cylinder. Importantly, the TSB has some good detail on the lock design and taking it apart. Many thanks to JimmyM86 for providing a link to the TSB at https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-2001-2005-78/honda-tsbs-technical-service-bulletins-2189650/ . Specifically, to view, print, and download the entire 7-page TSB, go to http://www.mediafire.com/?c2yzmzdj2xj .