Trunk Lock Fix

Automotive lock issues are very common on older models regardless of the manufacturer. As a locksmith technician I ran into many common issues with door, trunk, and ignition cylinders that occurred on several make and models. As I found myself resolving some of these common issues over and over again (like many other locksmith technicians in the field), I developed some tricks that would help combat these issues and prevent them from reappearing.

When I was at the beginning of the road as a locksmith technician, I remember getting a call from a customer who broke his key inside the trunk lock of his Ford Taurus. I had some experience doing broken key extraction services on other make and models before, so I knew I won't have any issues providing the service on this model as well, so I took the customer's information and started headed his way.

Once I got to the customer's location, I grabbed my tools and started working on the vehicle carefully extracting the broken piece of the key that got broke inside of the lock. After about several minutes I had the broken piece out. I asked the customer if he needed a new key made, but he declined claiming he had a spare. At that point I left to another job regretting not checking the lock or examining why the key broke in the first place.

After few days, I got a call from the same customer about the same issue again. At that moment, I figured that there might be an issue with the lock which made the customer use force while operating it with a key each time. I again got to the customer and extracted the broken piece, but this time, because it was the only key the customer had, I had to make him a new one. I then decided I should probably examine the lock before I leave the customer with a new key to break.

After making a new key for the customer, I tested it and the lock seemed to have a lot of resistance. I asked the customer about it and he said it was like that for a while now. Even after spraying WD40 and let it sit, it didn't seem to help. Before going to a new lock route, I decided to call a Seattle locksmith co-worker of mine to see if he could help me solve the issue. Once I got him on the phone, he mentioned it was a common issue with ford trunk cylinders in these years. He also said that the only thing that seem to help was using Houdini lubricant and work an uncut blank inside the cylinder while the lubricant sat inside the cylinder.

Since I didn't have that particular lubricant, I had to go to the local hardware store and get some. Once I got back and sprayed some inside the trunk lock, I waited few minutes before working a blank inside it to get the lubricant inside the internals as much as possible. I then attempted to operate the lock with new key I made and I felt a big improvement. Needless to say, I have not heard any complaints from that customer ever again.