Lock is sticking in front door

CarPark2

I moved into house 6 months ago and replaced the lock barrels (ABS Avocet). All worked fine for a while, but it has gotten progressively harder to lock the front door. The key turns three quarters of the way, but takes loads of tries to get it to lock fully and remove the key. I am worried that the key will break in the lock.
I removed the barrel this evening, and to my surprise the key turns easily in the barrel when it is out if the door, but still as described above when I put it back in the door.
Any ideas how to deal with this? The door is aluclad about 15 years old.

uch

Try removing the barrel and spraying a bit of lubricant on the lock mechanism through the barrel hole

clancywigam

Check for scratch marks and wear along the bolt. That could indicate that the receiver is not lined up correctly with the lock. You can either re-position the receiver (may not be possible) or you could file the inside of the receiver that is rubbing against the bolt and causing it to stick.

BrokenArrows

CarPark2 wrote: »

I moved into house 6 months ago and replaced the lock barrels (ABS Avocet). All worked fine for a while, but it has gotten progressively harder to lock the front door. The key turns three quarters of the way, but takes loads of tries to get it to lock fully and remove the key. I am worried that the key will break in the lock.
I removed the barrel this evening, and to my surprise the key turns easily in the barrel when it is out if the door, but still as described above when I put it back in the door.
Any ideas how to deal with this? The door is aluclad about 15 years old.

If its moving freely when outside of the door then the fitting is wrong.
When you put it back in the door it might be squeezing it, making it difficult to turn.

CarPark2

BrokenArrows wrote: »

If its moving freely when outside of the door then the fitting is wrong.
When you put it back in the door it might be squeezing it, making it difficult to turn.

Thanks. Any ideas how to resolve that?

hawkeye_bmr

Have you moved the latches (the parts that go up and down to lock the door in the frame) to see if they are moving freely? They may need to be greased/oiled

CarPark2

hawkeye_bmr wrote: »

Have you moved the latches (the parts that go up and down to lock the door in the frame) to see if they are moving freely? They may need to be greased/oiled

Thanks.
They seem fine.

hawkeye_bmr

CarPark2 wrote: »

Thanks.
They seem fine.

When you put the lock back into the door, try locking / unlocking before putting the retaining screw back in... maybe it's misaligned...

CarPark2

Thanks to everyone for the advice.
The barrel manufacturers had advised to only use dry lubricant (graphite powder), so I didn’t want to use wd40 on the rest of the mechanism in case it got into the barrel.
So I squirted some of the graphite around the bolt and worked it open and closed and hey presto, all of a sudden everything working smoothly.
I can’t believe it is finally fixed. It has added five -ten minutes every morning when I was trying to lock the door.
Thanks again.