Hi all, my first post so hoping someone can shed some light on my problem.

I recently bought a 1998 3 door polo. When I got it the key would not turn in the lock in the driver's door. I changed parts in the door lock from spares I had and now the key will turn in the lock, but there is resistance and the door still won't lock. Anyone know what else I should take a look at? (Bear in mind I'm a novice so not too much technical language please.)

Side note - the car has vacuum based central locking and when I tried manually pulling the locking wire down from inside the driver's door I thought I could hear the passenger door attempting to lock, but it remained unlocked. The passenger door and boot both lock with the key, I'm more worried about getting the driver's door to lock than getting the central locking working at the minute!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

Welcome to the Forum.

What parts did you change?

If the key is 'stiff' to turn, have you tried oiling the barrel (the thing that the key slots into)?

If the problem is not to do with the key/barrel, it may be down to the actual lock (the mechanism that engages with the striker plate on the door pillar - again, you could try oiling it.

Regards.

I changed the paddle and the part that the spring goes into in the door lock, not sure what the latter is called. They both had small parts broken off and were basically sitting loose in the door.

I tried lubricating the barrel and it didn't seem to make much difference. I'll try again, but what you said about the actual lock mechanism being faulty sounds like it may be the problem.

Thanks, appreciate the help!