first off ive searched and found nothing. my problem is when i put my key in any of the outside locks (driver door, passenger door, tailgate) i cannot turn the key at all. for me to open my locked door i have to pull up on the handle and turn the key the little bit that i can. i tried shootin wd40 in there and on the lock and nothing happened. i really just want to be able to roll down my back window with the key its a PITA to roll it down from the car get out then get back in and roll it up. i was thinking maybe the key was bent or something but i got a new key made at home depot and still the same also the key works just fine in the ignition. any ideas?

 

See if you can get a new key made by vin # or rekey the locks. Toyota recomends steel keys since the brass keys wear out. And i'm sure your key is a copy of a copy of a copy to the point where some of the tumblers wont fully seat when you used the copied key.

 

im having the same problem, i can operate the rear window but my door lock mechs. will turn to lock but not unlock. im gonna try and have a new key made and see what happens.

 

Remove the passenger side door lock cylinder have a key made by a lock smith. That should then work on all the locks but the ignition .

It sounds like that was changed at one time and no one changed the rest of the locks.

The way to do this is to rekey the new ignition cylinder to fit the door locks but no one seems to go to that much trouble.

these vehicles being as old as they are no telling what has been changed as far as locks

 

On my truck, this problem was not in the key cylinder at all. I removed the inside door trim and removed the crud from the the bell cranks and cams that the key cylinder drives, and that solved the problem. Since you have to remove the inside trim to remove the lock cylinder, I would certainly try cleaning up the driven parts before I took the cylinder out.

(The fact that moving the door handle helps you to turn the lock cylinder points in the direction of the problem as I describe it, not in the lock cylinder.)

Of course, if you sprayed WD-40 into the cylinder, you're probably going to need to replace it soon anyway. Graphite can be used if the cylinder is actually sticky, but WD-40 will attract dirt and eventually wreck the cylinder. Or so I am told