The title pretty much says it all. I have an 88 XJ where I need to change the lock cylinders for driver door, but I went to the junk yard today to get both front doors, rear hatch, and the glove compartment lock so they all match. Does anybody know how to actually change them? I broke things getting them out, and would obviously like to not break things getting them back in. Thanks!

 

After you pull the door panel off there should be a clip holding the cylinder in. Clamp some vice grips onto it and pull it off, it'll probably take a decent amount of force to pull it off. Then remove the rod that is attached to the tail piece. Just be careful because the clip holding the rod on is plastic. The lock should then just fall out of the door. To reinstall everything, just do the same thing backwards.

 

I did all that by hand at the junk yard, but could not figure out how to take the door panel off. Is this a huge project?

 

The panel comes off really easy and should take less than 10 minutes. Remove all the screws. There's 2 on the instrument panel that toggles the windows. There's another 2 screws on the arm rest. If you have manual windows you'll have to remove that before the panel comes off (I can explain that if you have manual windows). After those are all removed, use a flat head screw driver and slowly pry the panel off. It is held on with clips so they should just pop off. Once the panel is loose, feed the little instrument panel through the hole and slide the panel towards the edge of the door (away from the hinge) and lift up. The panel just hangs on the top of the door and is held on with the clips so it should come off with relative ease.

As for putting it back on. Slide it on, feed the instrument panel through the hole and press it onto the door. Put the arm rest back on and all the screws back in.

NOTE: Do not muscle it. Be gentle with it.

 

Thanks very much. I will try that when I get to it. I also just saw last night that they changed locks between 1990 and 1991.... I am pretty sure I pulled them off of a 1993. We will see....