Doors Won't Unlock

[Tactical Bacon]

Just that simple, I am shut out of my Comanche because the doors refuse to unlock. I believe the cold snap today finally dealt the final blow to the little plastic clips or some such inside the door. There's no way to access the inside of it (without busting out a window) so I'm trying to jimmy the lock with a coat hanger. Spent an hour and a half on it earlier to no avail. I can see down in there and see stuff moving. In regards to the driver side door, when I press the button, there's a rod that goes down and a lever under the latch that moves up. When I turn the key, the cylinder just turns. It doesn't try to move the lever attached to it up or down. It looks like there should be a c-clip on the end of it.

 

 

Passenger side, I can't see down in there but on that side, when I turn the key in the door lock the inside lock button moves just barely.

 

Does anyone have some advice on what I should try to hook onto so I can try and get a door open? Or perhaps a diagram that shows the layout of the bits and pieces and how they go together?

[AMC86Kid]

not sure what to tell you other then this post that i found 

 

http://comancheclub.com/topic/12093-breaking-into-your-vehicle-lost-keys/

 

mine won't even accept the key that i use to start it 

unless thats is its suppose to be a different key 

[Tactical Bacon]

I'm trying to avoid going full mongo with hammer just yet. Replacing a window means buying a window which means spending even more money I don't have.

[A-man930]

I have issues unlocking the doors in the cold as well. As crazy as it sounds you might try warming up the lock cylinder with a hair dryer for a good 5-10 min and try again. I haven't ever dug into exactly what hangs up in the cold but it ONLY happens in the cold so obviously nothing is flat out broken... good luck! Be gentle.

[AMC86Kid]

have you tried a wedge pump ?

 

here's a link on how it works 

 

 

maybe you can buy one use it once and return it to the store so you don't have to spend any money 

[Tactical Bacon]

I have issues unlocking the doors in the cold as well. As crazy as it sounds you might try warming up the lock cylinder with a hair dryer for a good 5-10 min and try again. I haven't ever dug into exactly what hangs up in the cold but it ONLY happens in the cold so obviously nothing is flat out broken... good luck! Be gentle.

Pretty sure something is broken on the driver side. It looks broken. Passenger side, I'm not sure but someone did try to open it as I was unlocking it the other day. I managed to get it working again after that but who knows what it looks like in there.

[desbennett004]

Do you have AMA, or some kind of roadside assistance? If you do they will send someone around to Jimmy it for you.

 

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[Tactical Bacon]

Do you have AMA, or some kind of roadside assistance? If you do they will send someone around to Jimmy it for you.

 

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

That's a negative, ghost rider.

[Eagle]

mine won't even accept the key that i use to start it 

unless thats is its suppose to be a different key 

 

It is a different key.

[Tactical Bacon]

Well I guess $#!& was just frozen last night because I got out to it today and the key unlocked the passenger side, I reached across the seat and unlocked the driver door from inside, and then the key worked to both lock and unlock the driver door so I'm borderline relieved but also ready to experience incoherent rage and kick my door more.

 

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[desbennett004]

You can buy lock de-icer key rings with a glycol solution in them to spray in the lock. I personally have a butane torch key ring for just such an occasion.

 

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[kook911]

On my comanche I have the key to unlock the door. When I put the key in it will turn but will not unlock either door. I taken the door panel off and everything is hooked up and correct. My only guess is when I turn the key there is not enough force to turn the lever far enough to unlock it. So now I just leave mine unlocked.

[AMC86Kid]

is it possible to buy a new lock with new keys for them 

[Tactical Bacon]

is it possible to buy a new lock with new keys for them 

 

On my comanche I have the key to unlock the door. When I put the key in it will turn but will not unlock either door. I taken the door panel off and everything is hooked up and correct. My only guess is when I turn the key there is not enough force to turn the lever far enough to unlock it. So now I just leave mine unlocked.

 

Locksmart P/N DL48150 is a pair of Door Lock Cylinders and a pair of keys that will fit a 91 Comanche, not sure about other years.

 

[64 Cheyenne]

If the key turns, the problem is not the lock cylinder. When it's cold, I sometimes have to turn the key back and forth a few times while applying gentle force in the unlock direction until it finally unlocks, might take five or six cycles but I get it open. FWIW, that's how I unlock the passenger side (cold), from the inside, five or six cycles... I suspect that through the years improper lube (regular oil?) or too much has been applied to the latch mechanism, attracted dirt, gummed up, more oil applied, bigger problem. So I'm not really sure how the latch should be serviced (lubed) and with what kind of lube that won't attract dirt? I suspect maybe some kind of a teflon/graphite lube?, my guess is because of the remains of the plastic "slider" that is on both sides of the latch itself. My experience with plastic bushings/slider mechanisms is they need dry lube when serviced. Can the door mechanism be removed and cleaned, I don't know. Before now, I've always heard replacement of the door latch mechanism is the best fix. On another note, did I read somewhere that the rear door latches can be swapped to MJ front because they have less wear and tear on them...? Or was it door checks?

[A-man930]

Excellent

[man-coche]

Yeah, with a key you can feel the mechanism turn, but it's like it doesn't turn enough to unlock the door. I too thought it was a freezing issue. But after it happened at 60 degrees temp outside and monkeied with it both inside with the button and outside with the key, something gave way and the key turned like a 1/4 turn more and it unlocked.

[SVPete]

Keep it simple. I had problems for years with doors that didn't want to unlock. My solution was to leave it unlocked like kook911 (and the fact that the truck had other issues and anyone trying to steal it would give up trying to drive it). Since the trucks works correctly now, I figured I would investigate the locks......

 

After all these years, I will bet a Coke the lock/latch mechanism is gummed up (if everything is connected). Take the door panel off and liberally hose down the door latch mechanism with a de-greaser spray (pressurized, not squirt), from inside the door and from outside at the latch. Get the plastic tube into all the nooks and crannies of the latch that you can. When you think you've done it enough, do it some more. Put your key in and start manipulating the lock also. The focus of cleaning is the latch, not the lock cylinder.

 

Your truck will smell for a few days.

 

I thought about removing the latch mechanism to clean/soak it, but after really analyzing where all the linkages connect (with those plastic clips that were going to break), clean in place seemed to be the better option.

 

This doesn't help frozen locks, but I live in Arizona, I'll worry about the window weatherstripping another day.

 

I am sure at some point that an appropriate lube will be in order, right now I am happy the locks work.

[Tactical Bacon]

When I was trying to jimmy it, I could see down inside the door and I could see the lock cylinder turning full range but the rod attached to it didn't move up or down.

[SVPete]

Well I guess $#!& was just frozen last night because I got out to it today and the key unlocked the passenger side, I reached across the seat and unlocked the driver door from inside, and then the key worked to both lock and unlock the driver door so I'm borderline relieved but also ready to experience incoherent rage and kick my door more.

 

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

 

When I was trying to jimmy it, I could see down inside the door and I could see the lock cylinder turning full range but the rod attached to it didn't move up or down.

 

If you were able to use the key to lock and unlock it (after unlocking it from inside), that would indicate everything is at least connected. I'm still thinking cleaning is in order. Even when my locks didn't want to work properly, the key still turned.....just not quite enough to cause the latch to unlock. If you haven't taken the door panel off yet to eyeball things, that is were I would recommend starting.

[Tex06]

I did a full tear down of my driver's side door last year but can't find the pics (if I took any of the MJ....I did my '86 K30 at the same time and found those, lol).  My window was getting hard to roll up and down and my key wouldn't always unlock the door.  It's about a 2 hour job to tear down the door, pull the window glass and then latch and lock mechanisms.  I used a wire brush and some brake cleaner to get all the old black gunk and grease off of the mechanism, then relubed with a can of spray white lithium grease from Wal-Mart (about $3).  Put everything together then didn't do the passenger side....and now I'm having window issues over there.  All in all, shouldn't take longer than an afternoon. 

 

Note about the windows:  If the window is hard to roll up, pop off the handle and see if the stem wiggles.  If so you need a new regulator, there's nothing to be done to fix that that I'm aware of.  Pulling the regulator is a little bit of a PITA, it's riveted in place.  I bought the biggest rivet gun Harbor Freight had (looks like a pair of bolt cutters) and some spare rivets (they were the 2nd biggest ones I believe, maybe 1/4" or 5/16"?).  I also greased the chain inside of the regulator with a spray graphite dry lube meant for bicycle chains I had.  Other than drilling out the rivets, this was a super easy job!  

2nd Note: Now that I think about it, I used a dremel with a cut-off wheel to get the rivets out....1/2 were easy and drilled right out, 1/2 had a stainless center and would just spin when I tried to drill them.

[Tactical Bacon]

I did a full tear down of my driver's side door last year but can't find the pics (if I took any of the MJ....I did my '86 K30 at the same time and found those, lol).  My window was getting hard to roll up and down and my key wouldn't always unlock the door.  It's about a 2 hour job to tear down the door, pull the window glass and then latch and lock mechanisms.  I used a wire brush and some brake cleaner to get all the old black gunk and grease off of the mechanism, then relubed with a can of spray white lithium grease from Wal-Mart (about $3).  Put everything together then didn't do the passenger side....and now I'm having window issues over there.  All in all, shouldn't take longer than an afternoon. 

 

Note about the windows:  If the window is hard to roll up, pop off the handle and see if the stem wiggles.  If so you need a new regulator, there's nothing to be done to fix that that I'm aware of.  Pulling the regulator is a little bit of a PITA, it's riveted in place.  I bought the biggest rivet gun Harbor Freight had (looks like a pair of bolt cutters) and some spare rivets (they were the 2nd biggest ones I believe, maybe 1/4" or 5/16"?).  I also greased the chain inside of the regulator with a spray graphite dry lube meant for bicycle chains I had.  Other than drilling out the rivets, this was a super easy job!  

 

2nd Note: Now that I think about it, I used a dremel with a cut-off wheel to get the rivets out....1/2 were easy and drilled right out, 1/2 had a stainless center and would just spin when I tried to drill them.

That's some really great advice about the regulators in your second paragraph. The passenger window is a pain to roll up/down on Chewie so I'll check that out when I get into it on a warm day.