in message
I just puchased a 91 legacy wagon. The key just turns around in the
drivers side front door lock. I have taken off the inside door panel,
but can't see how to get access to the lock cylinder.
You better have tiny fingers to get in there. I don't. Just normal
sized. My fingers were very sore after replacing the lock cylinder
because I refused to care about the pain involved in trying to work
blind in tight quarters to get the job done.
As mentioned in the other post, there is a retaining bracket or clip
that holds in the lock cylinder. However, the cylinder won't just pop
out after removing this clip (and it is hard to get the clip back on
when putting in the new cylinder). On the back of the cylinder is a
tang or arm that rotates with the key. On the end is a hole through
which the actuator rod passes. This rod is bent so that it stays in the
hole but this means it won't just slide off. It take a bit of
contortion work with all the parts left inside to move the cylinder at
an angle enough to move the rod out of the hole in the tang (and even
tougher to get the rod into the hole in the new cylinder's tang hole).
In fact, I could never get the cylinder at an angle enough to get the
rod out of the tang hole to remove the cylinder. I had to use a
right-angle screwdriver to remove the screw holding on the tang to the
back of the cylinder, and at about 1/16 turn per try which required
working in the blind with fingers that never flex in the right direction
in such a tight space, it was a long time to get out the screw (which
fell and I had to grope around trying to locate it with my fingertips
considering that the bottom of the door is a tiny crevice from the outer
and inner panels coming together at a sharp angle).
Once I managed to get the lock cylinder replaced in my driver door, I
gave up even thinking about doing the passenger door to get they keyed
alike. My fingers wouldn't take it anymore. From now one when the
driver door lock is frozen with ice in the winter, I'll go try the
passenger side. That side isn't as important to have a working door
lock (one where you can't unlock the door but the electric lock still
gets it locked).
Once you remove the interior panel and lower the window, you should be
able to see the back of the lock cylinder using a flashlight. My
recollection is that it was covered with a plate that is also used to
hold the outside door handle. I had to remove that first to get at the
tang screw and then the clip to get the cylinder out. Meanwhile my door
handle was loose. I got the cylinder for about $20 at Napa Auto Parts.
If I had called my favorite car shop, there's a good chance they
would've been not too high in price for me to rethink doing it myself,
but then I wouldn't have realized how hard it is to get 2 sets of
fingers crammed through small panel cutouts trying to work in a cramped
quarters and wishing my fingers bent backwards and sideways to contort
around all the parts.
