A few days ago, I tried to manually unlock my 2001 986 and the key
turned with no resistance. A quick online search mentions that the
solution is usually one of the following two issues:
1. A broken plastic piece (Part 12 Here (
Porsche Boxster Door In White Parts))
2. A broken metal piece in the lock cylinder, which requires replacing this piece (Part 15 Here (
Porsche Boxster Door In White Parts))
You can easily replace (1), as the part is available online. After disassembling my door
panel, I realized I have problem (2). Of course, Porsche doesn't sell the $0.50 piece of
metal by itself - you need to replace the lock support for $350. Tons of dealerships and
junkyards sell the entire handle (with lock cylinder) for ~$100 to profit from this fairly
common problem. Again, this is a suboptimal solution for replacing a very inexpensive
part.
Here's how to fix it for ~$20:
Porsche and Volkswagon share many parts, and as it turns out, Volkswagon is
much more reasonable about repairing a lock cylinder.
1. Order RegulatorFix VW Passat Audi A4 (B5) Door Lock Repair Kit
(
RegulatorFix VW Passat Audi A4 (B5) Door Lock Repair Kit - Front (left or right) : Amazon.com : Automotive) from Amazon.
2. Disassemble the door panel and remove the "back" (support) for the handle
and lock cylinder (bring a torx wrench set).
3. Remove the lock cylinder, and (by pressing down on the paddle/screwdriver piece)
slide the quick release washer off.
4. Replace the inner metal part (if broken) shown in this
Porsche Lock Replacement - Imgur
photo (duplicated at bottom of post). The old broken piece is yellow, next to the
identical silver new piece.
5. Save $300.
Hopefully this will help others save money in the future!
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