I'm having severe problems locking my doors ('01). Some days are better than others - seems like heat is the common factor (hotter outside or the car being in the sun makes the problem worse) but not always. I had my driver's side lock mechanism repaired a few years ago but it's back and the passenger's side lock is doing the same thing. In addition, I occasionally have an issue unlocking the doors.

If you use the fob, you can hear the mechanism kick but it's not as loud as normal, likely because the mechanism isn't moving completely. I can usually use the key and the fob at the same time to cause the lock to rotate fully but may have to do the same thing to both doors. There have been times where it took me many tries over several minutes to get the bastid locked. Probably related, the inner door locks by the release handles won't work, either. As a matter of fact, the driver's lock barely kicks out from the locked position, even if you pull on it. Something's obviously sticking (corroded?).

It appears to be a pain in the arse to get into the lock mechanism. In addition, there's the actuator as well as the lock that could be the problem. When I had the driver's lock replaced last time they quoted me ~$500 (!). When I bitched that it was a Honda door lock, not something magical, they agreed to do it for the price of parts, ~$250.

Anyone got a DIY, advice, etc. on fixing this, hopefully once and for all? Is it possible to remove parts and free them up or is replacement the best option? Anything at all is appreciated...

 

If it's hard to lock from the inside levers you probably have a mechanical problem, like bent push rods or something dragging on the mechanism. I don't have any specific hints but if you pull the door panel off you should be able to see most of what's going on.

 

ding ding ding.

most likely the plastic guide and mount for the rod is broken or been push out.

fixed a feel honda with that problem, one of them the plastic connector to the rod end is completely broke off.

Honda's actuator is pretty tough, but if you happen to break a set, just get something aftermarket, you can buy a universal powerlock kit off ebay for 30buck, i had those in my other car and they works great, it last more push force than oem actuator for sure.

 

Hmmm. Thanks for the comments. I'm just wondering why this would happen more or less all at once with no warning. I thought about the bent rods myself but I'm about the only person who even uses the car (daughter and her boyfriend autocross with me), not to mention (un)lock the doors.

I'm about to go out and at least remove the door panels for inspection so we'll see. Any thoughts on using a graphite or silicon lubricant?

 

If someone tried to jimmy your doors open recently, they could have bent a rod or broke the plastic connector. That happened to me a long time ago with a different car.

It might be a good idea to spray silicone on all of the joints, as well as the lock mechanism. I've done that when my locks were sticking on a Civic and a Corolla in the past, and it took care of the problem. But my locks tended to stick in very cold weather, not when it's hot.

I wouldn't use graphite. It can get very messy.

 

Welp, I opened both doors up and started poking around. The driver's door started malfunctioning shortly after I got started so it was easy to look for what wasn't moving. I graphited the bejeezus out of the lock cylinders, hoping that some of the graphite would work into nearby rotating points (of course, then I had to start wiping down where it leaked out). Didn't seem to do anything so I moved onto the visible rods that operate the inside handle and lock lever. The handle has always worked fine; it's the locks that stick. Since the driver's lock barely moved on a good day, I grabbed the rear rod (between the crank in the middle of the door and the lock itself) and operated it with much friction and sudden, not smooth, movements. Seemed like a good time to try the silicon spray so it got a good overall coating (no way to really pin-point the spray to just the lock rod joint(s)). That seemed to do the trick - I worked the lock with the key, fob and lever many times and it's MUCH freer now. Did the same thing to the passenger's side lock and measured the amount of movement of the crank to verify that they were virtually identical (i.e. the range of motion is identical). Whew!

Decided to straighten the bow that had been put into the rear rod back by the lock attachment point from flexing it while sticking and busted both clips that hold the rod into place. DOH! Looking for new clips now (the dealer wanted $18 for two plastic clips, the Internet has 'em for under $5). The inside lock obviously isn't working but the lock itself is slicker'n owl snoot. Much better to have spent 2-3 hours than $500...