roscoedog

I bought this little beauty 10 days ago. 43,000 miles and in excellent condition. Drove it home, detailed it out, drove it one time them parked it in the garage seven days ago. I went to start it up yesterday and the door would not unlock. It has power door locks. Is it possible it has a dead battery and the lock won't activate?. If so, can anyone tell me how to get it unlocked? Any ideas? This is really frustrating. I'm glad I found this site, you guys really seem to know your stuff.

thamzid

Had the same PROBLEM and to cure it you need to LUBE the SH** out of the locking mechanism inside the door . But the problem is getting the door open in the first place. Luckily my door opened for me one more time so I took care of it.
Good Luck my friend
Later
Ken
She ain't fast but she is all mine

78Vette-SA

Assuming you tried the key in "both" doors, you may want to try and borrow a "slim-jim". It's a thin flexible piece of metal that will fit down between the window and door and hopefully allow you to grab on to the latch mechanism and pop the door. Not sure if it will work, but I would try it.

Welcome to the forum.

Dalannex

Give your local police department a call. Tell them the situation and they may send and officer over to unlock your doors for you. Or else you may just have to call a tow truck to come over and give them the $30 to unlock your doors for you. Good luck.

Justin

bamavettes

Welcome to the world of old Corvettes, and welcome to the forum. I got locked out of a Corvette about ten years ago. I have never locked a Corvette door again. Work the key but be careful and don't break it off and try to find a slimjim.

peer81

I've had the same thing.
I bought my vette but i could not get the doors locked. Yes first lock the doors (electric) with the driversdoor open and then slam the door. (window a little open offcource)
But how to get is open. With my vette you have to turn the key to a point where you thing 'ooh, its gonna break!' and then it opend. :smash:
Not a nice feeling when you have your vette only 1 day.
Within a week i had a alarm installed. No problemo :)
Open: Just press the remote!
Close: It closes it self 30 sec after i slam the door.
No key problems for my anymore. :cool:

Greets Peter.

454Big

Try to push down the window a little bit, so you can move a screwdriver or even your finger between the weather strip and the glass.

Then release your T-Top latch. Voila, you can lift the Top and get in......

Should work! :yesnod:

Phlash

Saw this answer on the forum late last year. Try pushing in on the handle and quickly letting it pop back up a couple of times. Then try the key again. Sometimes when it is cold and the grease is stiff, the latching mechanism doesn't fully return, thus the key won't work. If you get it open this way, then pull the latch out of the door, clean and lubricate it. If this doesn't work, check (search) the forum articles for other causes.

Phlash 72 BB Roadster. :seeya

CHEESERAL

I had this problem with my 81, once I got the door open and the door panel off there's a rod comming off the outside door handle. There's a length adjustment on the end of this rod an on mine it was keeping just enough presure on the latch so that the door wouldn't unlock. The thing wroked fine as long as you never locked the door but once locked it would never unlock. One turn on the adjustment and all is fine.

Good luck.

The Wanderer

The same thing happened to me right after I bought my Vette. The previous owner kept telling me not to lock the doors because thieves would cut the top or break a window to get in. Well, you know how it is with a newly purchased Vette … you just gotta lock the doors. The following Saturday, I decided I wanted to drive it to work for the first time. I went out and neither door would unlock. When I got to work, I called several locksmiths and all declined to come out and try to unlock the doors. They said they had tried to open Vette doors in the past and it takes way too long for what they can charge. One locksmith told me to buy several keys, spray a lot of WD40 in the lock and in the door handle. My handle on the 72 has a cover that pushes down and I sprayed a lot of WD40 into it. I waited about 5 minutes… then repeated the process a few more times. I got lucky … the door instantly unlocked, but I have never locked it since. I agree that I would rather them get in and see I have nothing for them to steal than have the top cut. Hope this helps… and let us know the results.

Chris Fowler

I had the same thing happen to me.

My main lock key has a noticable bend to it from the first night I had it...

I got lucky and was able to use the passenger side door. Grip the key solidly and turn really slowly. and Pray...

Once you are able to get in, remove the door panels on both sides and spray all of the door lock mechanism joints with carb cleaner and then wd-40 or equivalent. Make sure to get the lubricant down into the door lock actuators.

After that mine have worked fine. :yesnod:

DaveL82

I have a 1980 model that I've had for 17 years and I lock the dooors everytime I leave it, even in the garage.

I do understand your problem and there are solutions:

I locked my keys in the car once. I used solid wire just a little larger diameter than a coat hanger. I slowly feed it in between the door glass and T-Top and was able to slowly push the T-top release down. On a friends car with loked T-tops we used a longer piece of wire and was able to activate the door lock switch. Hitting the door lock switch took a lot of effort, but it can be done.

Solving the problem of sticky or stuborn door locks took some time, but this is what I found. Lubing all the linkages will help, but won't be the cure all. In the door with the door panel off there is a pivot that seems to be just a piece of metal and if I remember it's close to the front of the door. I lubed/grease this pivot 10 years ago and my locks have worked ever since and it it easy to use the key.

You can also install a remote lock/unlock kit

VegasJen

man, do i feel for you. something similar happened to me over thanksgiving weekend. i went to an auto-x and ran all day on saturday with no problems. at the end of the day the skies opened up so after i got everything loaded up i go to hop in the vette. Damn! :eek: the door won't open. ok. lets check everything. window was down so i reached inside to unlatch from inside--no luck :confused: well, i don't think i locked the doors but lets give that a try. still no luck :confused: :confused: :confused: passenger door opens no problem so i climb through the car (boy is that fun!) and go home. i get the car in the garage and here we go :smash: tried all the same stuff again. sprayed the livin s**t out of the lock, opener and everything else--still, no luck. had to rip, and i do mean rip, off the door panel to get access to all of the guts. i sprayed, and pried and cursed :cuss to no avail. finally, i broke out the mini-hack (stubby hacksaw with just a handle and the blade sticking out) and went to work. had to cut the bolt loose from the door. took about twenty minutes of sawing. as soon as i had the bolt off the door was free but still holding the end of the bolt. grabbed the handle and PING! out comes the end of the bolt. replaced the bolt and had no trouble since. the only thing i can figure is the factory bolts have like an isolator material and a sleave. my isolator material was all gone and it must have caused the latch to bind.
man, i don't wish that on anybody! hope none of you ever have to experience that but if you do or if you have i'd be interested to hear about it. :D

La Orange

Had a simular problem with one of the doors on my 72 just would not unlock sprayed a very large amount of WD40 in lock and down linkage and it has worked grate ever since
good luck :chevy

Purplerainz

finally got my driver side door open after a month of trying .. looks like the rods separated from the clips .. the door handle linkage is not working either .. oh well :confused:


[Modified by Purplerainz, 5:36 AM 1/22/2002]