Drivers Lock turning without Key

In our TD5 Defender my missus managed to lock herself out at the petrol station the other day and rescued herself by putting the fuel cap key and turning it.. I couldn't see how that was possible as the fuel cap key is tiny, so I had look and it turns out you can unlock the drivers door lock with pretty much anything that you stick in the hole and it doesn't give up any fight!

Passenger door lock fine.. this is obviously alarming and I've put it in storage until I sort it. Has anyone come across this before and could suggest what's gone wrong and how to fix it?

Sounds like the in the lock are stuck at the shear line, I would try spraying gt85 into the lock and try zipping the key in aload if times to see if they fall back into place.

A very common problem on lots of older cars, my mate had a ford capri and had all his tools nicked out of the back and wondered how they opened it, I showed him by sticking my keyring pen knife blade in the lock and turnung it, (you could carry pen knives then) it opened with anything you shoved in. I could open lots of these old type locks with it or other keys that slipped in and even some ignition switches. It was a bit of a party trick in those days. Lots of these old type locks fail with time and Landy locks are olde worlde. P.S I am not and never have been a tea leaf.

What interests me about this is, how come she had the fuel cap key but not the door key? Surely they would be both on the same keyring

Col

I opened mine a couple of weeks back with a teaspoon, because I couldn't be bothered to go back in the house for the key.
I thought it was normal on a defender drivers side.....wear and tear
New barrels are cheap as chips, just the hassle of changing all 3 doors and then having a separate key for ignition.
Doing all with a proper Land Rover key isn't cheap though.!

As Exmed Wayne has said these lock barrels with keys are cheap as chips
(unless you are in Flamingo land where we are today and chips are very expensive)
look on youtube and you should find videos on there of how to change the barrels.

Be careful which locks you order, there are different types - I know this from changing the locks on my lad's defender.
Years ago a friend of mine had an Allegro, that could be opened and started with a 2p coin!

Rippers said:

In our TD5 Defender my missus managed to lock herself out at the petrol station the other day and rescued herself by putting the fuel cap key and turning it.. I couldn't see how that was possible as the fuel cap key is tiny, so I had look and it turns out you can unlock the drivers door lock with pretty much anything that you stick in the hole and it doesn't give up any fight!

Passenger door lock fine.. this is obviously alarming and I've put it in storage until I sort it. Has anyone come across this before and could suggest what's gone wrong and how to fix it?

Click to expand...

As Mcclegend said, cos the barrels are made of cheap alloy they corrode badly. Inevitably, because you're pushing the key in all of the time, the tumblers seize in the open position.

As has already been said, a good squirt of GT85 and then wiggle the key in and out a couple of times.
After that, remove the key and put a piece of wood over the keyhole and give that a series of light, rapid taps with a light hammer.
That should loosen the internals enough to allow you to reuse the lock until you get a replacement in your own time.
Old age can be of benefit as the long-term memory still seems to be working, as this advice comes from the 50's

Oldseadog said:

As has already been said, a good squirt of GT85 and then wiggle thwe key in and out a couple of times. After that, remove the key and put a piece of wood ovewr the keyhole and give that a series of light, rapid taps with a light hammer.
That should loosen the internals and allow you to reuse the lock until you get a replacement in your own time.

Click to expand...

Tratterers should only be in possession of big, heavy, manly hammers...
"a light hammer" would need to be borrowed from a Gaylanderer owner

exmed wayne said:

Tratterers should only be in possession of big, heavy, manly hammers...
"a light hammer" would need to be borrowed from a Gaylanderer owner

Click to expand...

... Or you could use a tap ...

Even when you have replaced your key, the locks will not present much in the way of security.
If you want to keep your defender you need to consider extra security such as disc-locks(steering wheel) or pedal locks. Don't bother with bar type steering wheel locks, it only takes a couple of minutes to hacksaw through a steering wheel.