Put the key in the driver's side door lock of my 82 CE today and turned. The lock came out with the key still in the keyway.

I presume there is some sort of clip that holds the lock in the door panel and that I have to take the door panel off to put it back.

Anybody done this before?

Thanx

 

I saw an old car guy standing there looking at my vette last week after I came out of the local restaurant from breakfast. Hadn't seen him in probably 8-9 years. He said - "In the Vette business now huh?" I said "yeah... And she needs a lot of work." He said "They always do..."
to you.. Hang in there.

 

Ya, this happened to me a couple months ago. YOu're right, it's just a little clip that holds it on. It took me about 30 min. to fix and I honestly can't remember what all was involved, but it was really simple. Just pull your door panel and you can figure it out from there.

Just wait until you go to open the hood and only one latch releases

 

Look down in the bottom of the door once you get the panel off
Im sure Part E is lying down there somewhere

http://docrebuild.com/dr-r-web/DR-LOCK.PDF

 

Just wait until you go to open the hood and only one latch releases [/QUOTE]


Here, try this one. I looked at the temp and it was starting to climb, pulled over and pulled the hood release, pulled the friggin thing right out of the hood latch. Finally got the hood to release by removing the side grill and reaching up there to the latch. Only to find that my alternator pulley was spinning on the shaft, which is the same belt for the water pump. Got to love old cars.

 

The little plastic retaining clip on the end of the cable broke (and only after only 25 years! ). After struggling to get the hood open, I clamped down the hood release cable with a metal clamp vice a plastic one. Has worked like a champ since then.

 

Not making light of your problem, but let's put it this way: most of the guys here would trade you their troubles for yours pretty fast.

Should be an easy fix.........

 

Once I got the parts, it was a fairly simple job, although having smaller hands vice these meathook hands of mine would have helped signigicantly Here's how I put the U-clip back without totally taking the door apart.

I did all this with the window down.

Had to take off the arm rest (3 screws), two screws in the door panel (one inside the velcro pouch on the door), one screw on the upper rear part of the door panel, the plunger cap for the door lock, and the flat head screw holding on the trim cup under the door handle. I didn't mess with disconnecting the door lock switch on the door panel.

Once the door panel lifted off, I peeled back the plastic seal, then went fishing in the door panel with a probe magnet for perhaps the old U-shaped lock retainer (to prevent potential rattles in the door). It wasn't there, and owing tot he fact that there was no washer around the lock, I have this feeling the previous owner just never replaced either prior to sale.

The lock keyway has a wire attached to it. I believe it is for the electronic lock interface, so I decided not to disconnect it. (BTW, if you futz around with taking the keyway out of the door, chances are you will slip the eyelet away from the lock linkage. If that happens, make sure the linkage is "up" and move the keyway around a bit until you feel the eyelet pop into the linkage tip because a plastic piece makes it impossible to see the actual linkage.)

Now comes the hard part if you don't have slim hands. The U-clip has a right angle tang at the closed end of the part (bottom of the "U"). I attached a set of needle nosed vice grips to the tang and fished it around the plastic interior piece and window glass until it rested against the interior door wall, to the right of the lock cylinder. My son lept pressure on the exterior piece of the lock while I slid the u-clip under the nubs on the lock cylinder. when the vise grips couldn't be manipulated further, I slid the clip the rest of the way using the blade of a long screwdriver.

Then I put the door panel back. I secured the arm rest before doing the smaller screws and trim pieces and it seemed to go pretty flawlessly. Whew! Everything back in place and didn't drop the clip down the door once. Overall, about 40 minutes real work start to finish. Getting the right amount of light into the door panel was a pain (I think I should suggest Chevy put a light fixture inside the door panel, just to help in case of a situation like this )