Hi all:

Although my van has been hit in the back hard enough to slightly dent
and push in the tail gate, the lock has continued to work OK.  That
is, it did until the other day when it absolutely refused to unlock!
After trying everything (lube in lock, using all the copies of that
particular key, etc.) I finally broke down and removed the interior
panel so I could get at the latch mechanism itself and get the door
open.

(As an aside, I'd never looked at this lock before and I'll describe
the mechanism for anyone that's curious.  The key cylinder itself has
a "tail" that's about an inch or so long.  When the lock is in the
"unlocked" position the tail is in the position to actuate the
spring-loaded latch mechanism itself.  That is, when you push in the
chrome button on the outside the tail pushes the latch, releasing the
door.  When the lock is in the "locked" position the tail is
positioned *above* the latch mechanism, so pressing the outside chrome
button causes the tail to "miss" the latch, and you can't open the
door.)

Anyway, after opening the door I tried to unlock the lock... and it
unlocked just fine!  Tried several times locking and unlocking,
closing the door, opening the door, etc., etc., and everything seems
to be copasetic.  Before I order a new set of clips for the hatch
panel (I ended up having to bust them off since I couldn't seem to get
them to "unpop" from the door without risking tearing up the panel
itself) does anybody have any insight as to what might have gone wrong
here?  I'd hate to have to go through this whole exercise again.

TIA.
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Tom Young                      tomyoung1@home.com
Lafayette, CA 94549        '81 Vanagon
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