Over the past winter sometime, the little bitty door that is pushed open when you put the key into the door lock has stuck open.  I suppose that the little spring has corroded.  Anyways, this past week one of my jobs was to replace the door lock cylinder on a Dodge Caravan, it was broken from a theif trying to punch a hole beside the lock.  I was able to take the key down to the Dodge dealer and they gave me a new lock cylinder to install and took the key and programmed the new lock cylinder.

Also in the box with the new lock cylinder came an extra new little bitty door, that gave me the idea that maybe if I can pull door lock cylinder out of my Grand Vitara on saturday I'd be able to go to the dealership and they'd be able to take it apart and give me a new little bitty door.

Well I pulled the cylinder out, (yay for Suzuki making it easy to take doors apart unlike Ford), drove clear across to the other end of the city to the only Suzuki dealer in town,  and I find out that they "don't do that".  Guy said the best they can do is *order* up a new lock cylinder for around $60. (You'd think they'd have one in stock...) Well that's reasonable enough I could settle for that, so I asked "So then all I have to do is bring the key and you can program the cylinder right?"  "Nope the cylinder comes with a new key".  Now I had been nursing a headache since I hopped into the car but that statement made me not so nice anymore.   "... that's just retarded.  Well I suppose I could just toss it back into the door.  There's nothing wrong with the lock itself I just want the little door to work.  I don't want yet another key." 

I could live with that with my rusty 17 year old turbocharged Plymouth Voyager but not on a vehicle I spent close to $9,000 to purchase used.

They said maybe try a GM dealership. but this being Dominion Day (er I mean Canada Day) weekend by the time I got to the GM dealer much closer to home they were already closing up for the long weekend at 3:00pm.

So now I have put the door back together and its just sitting in the garage.  I cannot believe that they can't take the cylinder apart.  I mean it looks like the bitty door end should be able to come off and a new one snaps on or something.

Anyone else know?

James

Maybe they could take it apart, but don't want to bother, or don't know how.  Perhaps you could take one out of a scrapyard vehicle, and use it for the defective parts.

As far as I know, "programming" consists of taking the tumblers (small brass cylinders) out of the old lock and putting them into the new, in the right places the match the key.  Usually, a new lock will not have the right number of tumblers of the right length to match the old key, so you need the old tumblers, unless the dealer has a big set of tumblers he can use to match things up.

I did one many years ago on a SAAB, and it was a slow and finicky job, with tiny springs and maybe 14 tumblers, so that may explain the Suzuki dealers approach.  My wife thought I was mad, wrecking (she said) a good replacement part, especially as I did not know what I was doing, and had to work it out as I went along.

Of course, the Suzuki unit may have been made not to dismantle.

I know the Tracker lock cylinders are rebuildable and so should the Suzuki. There is a C clip on the back of the lock cylinder, pull it off, then the little arm, and everything will come apart. I used to do them all the time being a body man, They always get a lock rebuild kit that has everything. I usually toss out the parts I dont need such as the part you need. If I get one in the future I will send it to you

Yep I've seen it done when I worked at a Toyota dealer and and I've seen it done in front of me twice at the Dodge dealer, they bring out a box with a bunch of compartments in it.

I mean they have to be programmable somehow otherwise how would they have all 3 locks and the ignition use the same key.  I wonder if it's possible to order the cylinder as a diassembled kit, then I can destroy the old cylinder to get the tumblers out, code-up the new one and snap it together.

benzr, I just saw your post, I had to take the c-clip off to get the cylinder out of the door otherwise the arm would be in the way.  After that I don't know how it comes apart.  I already put the door back together anyways so I'll try the GM dealer again next weekend.

Thanks,
James

  I got a local locksmith to do mine after i bought a new door lock.The dealer said he couldn't,and I did not want a key for each door.The locksmith charged my $15.00 and was done in 20 minutes.

Hi guys, just an update.  Last week I had to replace a swaybar link for a 2001 Chevy Tracker and while I was on the horn to the GM parts deparment dude I asked him about my lock cylinder problem.  I know it is exactly the same as the "big square" GM keys because the key to my Suzuki GranVit fits into my mom's Pontiac Firefly (well except that it won't turn), which look the same as the keys for this tracker I was working on, so I'm sure they're the same kind of cylinder. Anyways the guy says they can't or don't rebuild tracker door lock cylinders and they only supply new cylinders with a new key.  I mentioned that they must be codeable at some point otherwise how would all the doors in the car be able to use the same key.

So I guess the next step is a local locksmith.  I was too busy this past weekend to do anything, maybe next one.

James
PS can anyone point me to a skid plate for my Zook?