95 Grand Am GT lockout?

You might try putting a new battery in the remote. The remotes for my '97 Firebird started acting a little hinky - had to push the button 2 or 4 times to unlock the door, etc. - and a new battery fixed that problem. The battery in the car shouldn't have gone dead in 2 weeks, but if it is the original, it could have died as well.

Tom S

You would think though, that the KEY would unlock the door?

I was under the assumption (my mom has a 97 Grand Am) that if one replaces the battery in the dongle, the codes reset and you have to take it to the dealership to get them in sync again.

Thanks for the reply, but my real question is why isn't the key working in the door?

Tom S wrote:

I didn't have any problems when I replaced the batteries in my dongle ('97 Firebird), just popped new ones in and used it the next day.

If you are physically putting the key in the keyhole and it will not turn, then something is frozen or binding in the cylinder or some other part of the lock mechanism. The first thing I would suggest is to get some graphite into the cylinder mechanism and try to free it up

- move the key in and out and try to rotate it. If it is not too frozen, this may lube it enough that you can get it working again.

If the lock cylinder turns but the door doesn't unlock, the control arm from the cylinder to the actual mechanism is broken or has come loose. You'll have to go inside the door to determine if you need to buy a new one or just re-attach the existing one. Be sure to get plenty of your favorite adult beverage and practice your cursing before attempting to remove the door panel and work inside the door. You will have plenty of opportunities to indulge in both. ((^:

Tom S.

On BOTH driver and passenger door? And all of a sudden? We can't get in the car to open the door panel. That's the thing. The dongle doesn't work, nor does the key - and it worked 2 weeks ago! :(

Stupid car.. Does it need power to unlock the doors?? Thats why we tried to jump it.

You don't need battery power to manually un-lock your doors. You would need battery power for your remote to un-lock them, but not with the key. It's very hard to believe that both doors will not unlock with the key, when they both did 2 weeks ago. You need to find someway of getting those doors open, and get the panels off and look inside. Does your car have the fold down seats or anything? Someone small enough may be able to fit in there and un lock and open the doors from the inside. Just be careful. As for one of your earlier posts about resetting the remote after replacing batteries, that shouldn't be required, and if it is, it's usually done by holding the Lock and Unlock buttons at the same time for a few seconds.

If the key doesn't work, maybe the ley is too worn to work. If you can't get in, then why not call one of the services that come out to you and get the door open with a slimjim or whatever will work.