W124 Door Lock help please

[sooper coop]

Last nite I couldnt open the drivers door, the key went left but wouldnt go right depsite wriggling and coercion. Tried spair. same.

squirted in some wd. still wont move.

any suggestions gratefully recieved.

 

[EuroCLK320]

How old is the car? Sounds like either a worn lock mechanism or something has seized in the mechanism somewhere to me

 

[sooper coop]

Stress over.

Your right, just rang the specialist he says the locks worn out. £35 for a barrell, £35 to fit.

not so bad. can use the original key in the replacement as well,. can still secure the car from t'other side until barrell arrives.

 

[EuroCLK320]

not so bad then... :grin:

 

[peterchurch]

Your right, just rang the specialist he says the locks worn out. £35 for a barrell, £35 to fit.

not so bad. can use the original key in the replacement as well,. can still secure the car from t'other side until barrell arrives.

My mate gets this problem every so often There is a pin in the barrel that drops out takes about 10 miniutes to fix check this first !

 

[jaques2k]

Ha exactly the same problem, took out the lock, "rinsed" it with rost-off or WD40, jiggled the mechanism with a plier (not by key), and now works 100%.

 

[sooper coop]

how do you take it out ? its an 89 so the age etc makes sense. would rather save £70 for usual daft reason of snot spending cash !

Thanks for the replies btw.

 

[sooper coop]

at the risk sounding a bit thick, why jiggle it with pliers as opposed to a key >?

preusmably because the key will prevent whats loose moving and Its fair to say the barrels going to jam eventually though ?

thanks,

R.

 

[jaques2k]

Hi!
I have a 1989 230CE W124, so I guess the procedure is the same for yours. First, check at the side of the doorframe (near the handle), behind a black small plastic cover at the height of the handle (or not any small cover if it has gone away) a very tiny hex-screw is localized. Unscrew it fully and take it out, and you´ll be able to remove the handle and lock by pushing the whole handle forward (or backwards, don´t quite remember, sorry, but you´ll notice that once the screw is removed). If you can, it helps to turn the key a little while removing handle.
I got mine out and flushed it throughly with rost-off/WD40. Then I put in the key, and gripped the other end of the barrel with a plier, and forced it (easily though...=) to turn. It takes a while to twiggle it back and forth, but finally it loosens up, and then at least mine got as good as new. Took me about half a day...). Where to grip with the plier is quite hard to explain here, but hopefully you see it when the handle comes loose. Lubricate it and also put some grease at the hole in the door to prevent future rust. The first time is a bit difficult to remove the handle, but once you get it out the first time, it´s easy. Hope this helps and return with questions if you have any (tries to answere asap, but...=). To mount the handle, put the handle back in the door, slide it into place and screw in the hex-screw fully (also, lubricate the screw...). Good luck and hope this works for you!

 

[jaques2k]

Oh, and why I said jiggle with plier instead of key is because if you turn the key with a plier or by hard hand-force it could snap... =) Though I think it´s good to have the key inserted while doing this, because it could be some kind of mechanism preventing the barrel to rotate if there´s no key inserted...

 

[sooper coop]

Thanks Jacques, I'll give it ago.

and everyone else.

R

 

[shirubaby]

I'm sure you've got this sorted by now but for the benefit of others..there might also be a simpler answer/solution = the key.
My experience is as follows:
w126 500 se key would not turn the drivers lock. 1st it started to be stiff when locking. then couldn't unlock at all, eventually wouldn't turn either way. The same key worked on the passenger side no problem. wd40 didn't help.
My initial conclusion = the driver side lock barrell, since the key works perfect on the other side = wrong.
I looked at the key (down it's axis) and found that it was ever so slightly twisted (and I mean slight). So I figures what the heck...using a vice I clamped the key and un-twisted it slightly.
And this worked!! Simple!!

Hope this helps someone.

Shiru

 

[PINBALL]

I was told that using duplicate keys cut by your local 'key cutter' or 'locksmith' is a bad & false economy, as metal used is too soft compared to the proper Merc supplied key.
This softer metal wears out quicker, and deposits its ground off swarf into barrel causing exactly the symptoms above.
If your key worked fine in pas door & not the drivers, then I'd say youve got some problems ahead of you with locks or ignition lock failure.

And thats largely how locks wear out & the makers are blamed for making what appears to be a lock that is knackered, mostly, not due to wear on its own merit, but because someone tried to replace a key the cheapest way possible.

 

[shirubaby]

ooh! I thought you cant get keys cut from your local key cutter. I need a spare set and all. And thanks for the heads up...It something for me to sort out in the future.

Cheers

 

[ken bishop]

I have a 1988 230E and the driver side lock was causing intermittent problem similar to that described above. Could not always turn the key clockwise. Some lub improved this. However today the lock did not work and I unwisely pushed the pawl mecahanism exposed in the lock aperture and now cannot close the door. Turning the key in the lock operates all lock knobs up and down including the driver side but nothing moves at the exposed lock mechanism at the drivers side lock. Any ideas or dowes it mean a strip of the lock?

 

[ken bishop]

Having driven my car into my wife's garage (holding the door to) whenI got out to my astonishment the door closed normally. The key also works OK so for the time being the problem has gone away. But I doubt for ever. Could it be that the battery voltage is low and that running the engine brouight up the volts to help weak electromagnetism?

 

[jimgod]

boxing day battery flat but still managed to open drivers door only, changed battery, fine now. so unlikely to be low voltage