Hi,
Went outside this morning, opened my drivers side lock, started her up no problems. However upon further inspection of the drivers side lock the little key shield has disappeared and the lock seems very loose too.
The thing is a few weeks back i had frozen locks and actually twisted my key in the lock and i now need another spare key. Anyway got the WD40 out and liberally squirted in to the lock barrel and all has been fine since. However i now realise that the lock has completely lost it’s stiffness and as mentioned previously the little shield has disappeared!
The lock is working ok(i.e locks and unlocks) it’s just i’d like to get the little window back and any advice would be much appreciated! i’m hoping i didn’t damage the lock by twisting the key in/using the WD40?
As a tip Ben, id suggest that you name problem posts more in line with the problem to try to get more exposure to people who may think “ohh yes i had that”.
Normal posts it doesnt matter as much. Just a thought.
Sorry I dont know the answer to this.
I had the same problem and ended up removing the lock from the door to take it pieces so that you have a better chance of getting WD40 in and being able to jar the shield out. I seem to remember it is made of quite thin material and if distorted it will jamb up.
WD40 is only a short term fix. WD40 will soften and dissolve the factory grease used, so eventually you will start getting a sticky lock all over again. Coupled to that, the drivers lock, as the most used lock, will wear more and suffer more damage; the little spring (and it is little) that holds the flap in place often snaps. The aluminium casting in which the spring and flap sit can crack. The casting can also aware alarmingly due to the key.
In many cases, the only sure fire way for a permanent fix is a new lock. Passenger and drivers door locks (lock barrel) are interchangeable. A used passenger lock should be as good as new, and display virtually no wear (how often do you lock the passenger door using the key?). Unfortunately, Mazda will only sell an entire lock assembly, left and right sided. But, if you have the lock number; stamped on original keys, or on some lock barrels, you can order a lock to fit the key. In the case of aged locks though, and worn keys, you might not find it as slick as before.
One day I’ll take some pictures of the process, but here a description. Now with some pictures I had from a previous car.
Follow the description given by Graingers to remove the door handle assmbly. Note, two 10mm nuts hold the handle to the door skin. Its not infrequent for one of the nuts to rust on, and when you undo it, the entire captive thread comes out. This is not a problem, as it can be easily wound back in. You care also having to workk in a bit of a black hole so a little torch placed inside the door is handy. I’d also recommend dabbing a little grease inside your socket during disassembly and assembly, to prevent dropped nuts. They’re quite difficult to recover from inside the door.
Door handle lock assembly:
The lock cylinder is retained in the door assembly casting by a wire clip. Unhook it and slide it out. At this point, Grainger says go buy another lock, but you can take it a bit further.
3. By the way, at this point, its useful to perform the work sitting at a table, well lit, on a white cloth, as there are a few small bits.
Pop off the outer finishing aluminium cap with a screw driver.
At the other end of the lock, the assembly is retained by a steel circlip. Use a flat bladed screw driver to ease it out. It may stick a bit. Be careful to keep track of the clip. The arm with the plastic clip on I think is sided, so if fitting a passenger lock to the drivers side, you might have to swap this over. Underneath this is a thin spring washer.
The lock assembly can now
be slid out; I think its easier with the key in the barrel, but I have
done this with a scrapyard lock which had no supplied key.
When you slide the lock out, check the casting for a very tiny bearing. It sits in a tiny hole with a spring underneath, and is meant to “bush” the lock barrel. Without it, the lock can be a bit stick. If its fallen out, find it. If its still in place, its probably a good time to pick it out, and put in a safe place. The spring itself seems to be well held in by factory grease, but maybe a good idea to put a small dollop on it.
7. Slide the barrel out; if you haven’t put the key in, little sprung loaded brass leaves may obstruct removal. Use a screwdriver and the slops on the casting to push them in as you retract. Its a lot easier with the key in.
Note the numper on the casting; this is the key number (note, this number is out of a scrapped car). Should also be on the original key, but its not always on the barrel casting.
With the barrel out; without a key in place, you see the leaves are sprung out. Be careful; they easily fall out, along with a little spring for each. Now if you are really meticulous you can remove these, clean off all the dirt etc off them, regrease and reassemble. But, you need to keep them in the exact order they came out. Its also obvious at this point, that you can use these to reset a used lock to fit your own key. With the key inserted, they should all retract to give a smooth cylinder. When you look as the inside of the casing, its obvious how the lock works.
Optionally, with a small flat bladed screwdriver, you can pop off the
soft aluminium cap where the flap is (of you have a problem with the
flap). Just patiently ease it of, rather than bending the tabs too much. Remove
the cap; the flap should fall out. Hopefully, the tiny spring in its
recepticle won’t either. I have a broken spring in my present car, and
I’ve yet to locate a replacement (besides cannabilising another lock.
In another car, the aluminium casting was actually cracked and fell to
pieces. With the cap off, you might also see wear to the casting caused
by the key; I think because the car is low, people have a tendancy to
push down on the lock. The wear seems to be always to the bottom.
Reassembly; use a dab of grease to hold the small ball bearing in place. If fact, its a good idea to put a thin smear of grease on the inside of the lock casting. I’ve used regular grease, with no problems (its what I had to hand). Others might use white grease. Slide thge barrel back it, refit the assemblies at the end, and circlip (can be a bit tricky putting the clip on. Check the lock turns with the key in. If the lock jams up, one possibility is that the bearing has popped out of its hole into the lock barrel (ie. the key is up against the bearing). Take it all apart again, and start over.
One other point; the arm with the plastic clip is shaped to work with a cam cast in the lock barrel end. The soft aluminium can wear, causing locking problems. I suppose the part can be refiled, filled etc, but I have in the past just swapped this for another used part.
Here’s a comparison of a worn barrel (left), and not so worn (right). Note, thatthe slot is where the small ball bearing sits when all assembled.
And the notched part in the arm
Finally, when refitting the handle and lock back into the door; the clip thathooks around the threaded rood. If you’re wise, you will have already noted where it refits, but if not, a little trial and error is needed to happen up the correct position (try closing the door, locking/unlocking it). Hint, it needs to go lower.
Thanks for the advice everyone!(this is what i call a sense of community!)
Thank you so much for posting that info SAZ9961. I was thinking to myself last night that i may have a go at disassembling the lock barrel, greasing it and getting that little window back working and now all i need is a day of summer to arrive six months early and i’m there:)
[quote user=“bennyblueshoes”][quote user=“SAZ9961”]
11. Optionally, with a small flat bladed screwdriver, you can pop off the
soft aluminium cap where the flap is (of you have a problem with the
flap). Just patiently ease it of, rather than bending the tabs too much. Remove
the cap; the flap should fall out. Hopefully, the tiny spring in its
recepticle won’t either. I have a broken spring in my present car, and
I’ve yet to locate a replacement (besides cannabilising another lock.
In another car,
[/quote]
Just wondering; Is it not possible to source a replacement spring for the flap from a salvaged part?
Cheers
Ben
[/quote]
Yes you could, but the best chance for getting a good lock is apassenger lock assembly. The spring is very mll and fiddly to replace. I’d sooner reset the leavs (pin tumblers), as its easier. I found an article describing resetting a Porsche 914 lock, which looks very very similar:
Thanks for your help SAZ9961, you’ll have to start charging me if you give me any more advice he he:)
I think the best course of action like you say is to buy a passenger side lock as there is a lot higher probability that the barrel will be in better shape compared to a near side barrel. I shall then try to reset the leaves to fit my key and use the new barrel as a donor for the worn one on my near side.
I know MX5parts.co.uk sell new Mark 1 lock barrels for 30 sovs so that is an option but they’re always breaking Mark 1’s on eBay so i may try there. Additionally i’m lucky that there are a few Japanese car breakers near me so may try those too:)
£30 isn’t bad for a new lock; breakers won’t sell you just the lock. They’ll either want to sell you the entire lock set, if they have the keys (and they know what a set from Mazda costs), or sell you a complete handle with barrel for usually £25-30.
If you have to pay more than £20 used, I’d go for the new part, even if I’m re-keying the barrel.
The other advantage of buying a brand new barrel is not having to worry about any wear and tear of course, hence i could buy a new near side barrel rather than have to go for a used offside barrel.
Seeing as MX5parts aren’t posting the dealer’s price for the lock, might be worth checking anyhow, since at least you could order a lock to match the key (whether UK or import).
I’ll contact my local Mazda dealer to see what they can do, but if i can buy a barrel from Mazda that obviously fits my key then this removes the hassle of re-mapping another barrel. Just a simple case of popping my worn barrel out and swapping it for the new one.
Wasn’t aware of this problem - is it worth considering getting a spare pair of solenoids then?
From memory the ones I fitted had rubber boots and seemed to be well sealed.
I sympathise to an extent with the simpler-is-better brigade. I’ve never seen the need for central locking on a 2-door car, so I suppose reports of central locking problems in MX5s has stuck in my mind. I don’t know what the fix is; I suppose it will depend on the brand of system used, since they are nearly all aftermarket (with different levels of quality and spares support). A lot of them seem to use bits of Mecchano.
