1978 308 GTS Cannot Lock From Inside

The manual door lock interior push/pull mechanism will not push down to lock the car from inside. The rod from the lock pull to the door lock mechanism was bent from (other's)attempts to force it down but it won't go. I have straightened it but that does not fix it.

The manual door lock key mechanism works properly which means I can lock from the outside but not inside. This pulls the lock mechanism down. Once locked, I can pull it up to unlock the car from a locked position. The door handle/lock mechanism otherwise works.

Note this is not a power lock car.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Cheers,

Ken

 

I have trouble believing the car was designed so you could not lock yourself in the car. Why would the pull lock be there at all? The door unlocks when the inside handle is pulled. The pull unlock would simply be redundant.

 

Please see picture. I could not find a diagram to describe the parts involved so I will do my best. The part on the top pivots between the push/pull lock and the door tumbler. When you push the button down, the pivot pushes the tumbler down and locks the door same as when you turn the key to lock. The dog below it was too far inboard (toward the car away from the street) to allow the pivot to move, thus preventing locking.

I have no idea why that is the case. The dog has a spring (not shown) pulling it inboard. I added the spring shown to pull the dog outboard, allowing the pivot to move and the lock to work.

Suboptimal but I think I would have to pull the lock apart to fix it. If necessary I will do that in the future but this is my fix for now. If someone posts a diagram of the door lock parts I can describe what I did in better detail.

Cheers,

Ken
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