1998 Kia driver's door locking mechanism problems

[skutter]

Hi,

For a while now on our '98 Kia Sephia (manual locking), the driver's side locking mechanism has been giving some difficulty. Pushing in the button on the inside would occasionally not lock the door (you would need to push it in ALL the way for it to work).

Last night, when I arrived home from work, the car refused to lock at all. The internal button was stuck in the unlock position and refused to move when I attempted to lock it. Also, the key would not go into the external lock. It would get about a 1/3 of the way in and then just stick.

We had thought that it might be frozen (which it wasn't), but when the car was idling (while we attempted to unfreeze the lock), I thought I heard a faint rattling noise coming from the driver's side door.

Is it possible that the locking mechanism is busted? If so, is this an expensive thing (labor and parts) to fix? I have an appointment with the dealership nearby next week, but I wondered how easy it would be to fix at home.

As you can imagine, having a car which does not lock might be a bit of a problem, so I wanted to get it resolved ASAP.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

[MeettheCreeper]

Originally Posted by skutter

Hi,

For a while now on our '98 Kia Sephia (manual locking), the driver's side locking mechanism has been giving some difficulty. Pushing in the button on the inside would occasionally not lock the door (you would need to push it in ALL the way for it to work).

Last night, when I arrived home from work, the car refused to lock at all. The internal button was stuck in the unlock position and refused to move when I attempted to lock it. Also, the key would not go into the external lock. It would get about a 1/3 of the way in and then just stick.

We had thought that it might be frozen (which it wasn't), but when the car was idling (while we attempted to unfreeze the lock), I thought I heard a faint rattling noise coming from the driver's side door.

Is it possible that the locking mechanism is busted? If so, is this an expensive thing (labor and parts) to fix? I have an appointment with the dealership nearby next week, but I wondered how easy it would be to fix at home.

As you can imagine, having a car which does not lock might be a bit of a problem, so I wanted to get it resolved ASAP.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

Water can get inside the lock and cause it to freeze up. Plus when you try to force it the rods get bent. I have seen this before.

It should not be too expensive to fix. Depending on your definition.