It seems to be a common complaint on the 7th gen civics. The brass wafers in the lock tumblers (door, trunk, and ignition) are extremely soft, and deform over time. This causes the key to jam when inserting or removing, or to not allow the key to turn at all.
The cheapest solution is to dismantle the lock mechanism and remove the particular wafer(s) that is causing the problem. Unfortunately, this makes the lock slightly easier to pick, not that car thieves are going to go through the effort of picking your old civic. However, the problem WILL keep recurring over time. I've had to pull 4 wafers on the driver's side over the span of 3 years, and 3 from my ignition in the same amount of time. It's extremely annoying because you cannot operate the lock in question until you fix it, so if it's your ignition, you aren't driving anywhere.
And unfortunately, most locksmiths do not carry the correct wafers, so putting in new ones may not be an option unless you raid a scrap yard and find the same designation wafers out of other Honda lock tumblers.
It was such an easily preventable problem that would cost almost nothing to fix during manufacturing. Just use harder brass like every other auto maker!
key lock to the truck bad took to dealer to fix left it all day and still waited after work for them to finish and they could not get it fixed and stated that the problem not covered would need to purchase new cylinder mech then take to locksmith for key matching
i declined service, funny thing is that a friend has same year mobel and had the same problems
- Rafael D.,
El Paso, TX, US
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
door and ignition lock pins deform and cause jams
It seems to be a common complaint on the 7th gen civics. The brass wafers in the lock tumblers (door, trunk, and ignition) are extremely soft, and deform over time. This causes the key to jam when inserting or removing, or to not allow the key to turn at all.
The cheapest solution is to dismantle the lock mechanism and remove the particular wafer(s) that is causing the problem. Unfortunately, this makes the lock slightly easier to pick, not that car thieves are going to go through the effort of picking your old civic. However, the problem WILL keep recurring over time. I've had to pull 4 wafers on the driver's side over the span of 3 years, and 3 from my ignition in the same amount of time. It's extremely annoying because you cannot operate the lock in question until you fix it, so if it's your ignition, you aren't driving anywhere.
And unfortunately, most locksmiths do not carry the correct wafers, so putting in new ones may not be an option unless you raid a scrap yard and find the same designation wafers out of other Honda lock tumblers.
It was such an easily preventable problem that would cost almost nothing to fix during manufacturing. Just use harder brass like every other auto maker!
- Punch S., Beverly Hills, CA, US