First off happy holidays and Merry Christmas. I have an issue with my 1981 pickup.The other day I found out that my passanger side key doesn't work and the lock inside won't lift to unlock. I took the door panel apart as much as I could with the door closed and determined that it was the hook mechanism in between the door and body that's not working, t is frozen and won't disengage. Sprayed some lube in there try to actuate mechanism inside the door with a lot of frustration no results. It's the passenger door so I don't care that much but it would be nice for itto work. Does anyone have any help or ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

Must be frustrating. Never had that problem but sounds like you're right about the latch. No other input so just what I'd try; push the door from outside firmly behind latch at edge of door a few times to see if its not fully latched? from the inside you can see the latch at the jamb, not much room but might be able to move the latch a bit and see if it releases while lifting the locking knob. I'd use a long screwdriver and wrap it with tape not to mess the paint? Don't get crazy and force things, hopefully someone here will know what to push or pull on to unlock it ? Whens the last time the door was used? and why a different key, my '82 uses the same key for both doors so maybe was a problem before?

I suppose its a good time to lube all our door locks and if the panel is off in future remove the lock and give it a good cleaning & lube. Mine is getting harder to unlock on the passengers side also even though I've sprayed it a few times over the years and just now did again but its still a bit stiff... Hope to hear the fix on this just incase

 

Thankfully it's the passanger door. I'm gonna lube and clean the driver side so it didn't lock up like the passanger. The passanger door lock was broken by a thief while the previous owner had the truck. That probably helped with it not working. I think I just have to give up on it.

 

I'm having the same problem with my 86' 4runner, but its the drivers door. The lock has always been difficult to unlock with the key. Sometimes you can just see the lock on the inside wiggling up and down like it wants to unlock. Once the cold weather hit it quit working altogether. Curious to what you figure out, I haven't tore into mine yet, I need to replace the window regulator as well (its stripped out) just figured I'd fix them both at the same time.

 

Try parking with that side in the sun or try a hair dryer and if it makes a difference it's probably lubrication. If not you might be able to adjust the latching mech. Where I live the snow melts and then freezes the door frame closed.