Door lock cylinder interchangeability?

[Freight]

For whatever reason, my drivers door uses a different key from the rest of the car. Wondering if I can just swap it with the passenger door lock cylinder? It sounds like the cylinders are prone to breaking, so I’m not about to pull them out just tk  see if they can be swapped. 

[4DSC]

This diagram suggests that left and right are different. I am not sure this is possible but you might want to try rekeying it to match the passenger side. I have done this on the glove box lock which a couple years ago you could buy a whole cylinder assembly for. The kit came with shims that you would install inside to match your key. Maybe if you are lucky and the cylinder in the doors is the same style, you can remove it and rearrange the shims already in there to match your key. IIRC there are not a huge amount of combinations. Looks like the door cylinders might be NLA new but maybe a chance you could use the shims in the glove box lock.

[4DSC]

Or a better idea, forget about the key and install keyless entry. The $20 Amazon kits work just fine, not super difficult to install, and documented in threads here. Did this last year and happy to help troubleshoot if you need it. I also wired it to the hazard switch to get visual confirmation from the turn signals.

[Aldo525]

It's very easy to remove the driver's door cylinder and also disassemble the cylinder to fit a new key, like the one that fits in the ignition switch or the passenger door. These are small metal bars that can be swapped around and then filed down slightly until they fit the new key. I've done this many times; it's not necessary to buy a new cylinder (unless it's damaged inside, but I understand it works with another key).


It looks something like this, e30 cylinder as an example. There are small springs and the bars are all different; they can be repositioned and adjusted with a file if necessary.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/blog/the-key-to ... 0-cylinder