Wannafbody

I had to charge the battery before driving the truck last week. It had been sitting for about a month previously. Well, today I had a totally dead battery. So dead I couldn't unlock the doors. So dead I couldn't unlock the doors by turning the key in the lock. I found a long screwdriver and was able to pop the hood release. Replaced the battery and all seems good. But it's a horrible situation when you can't manually use the key to open the door. Dumb on Ford's part.

Mint13

I’ve used WD40 in the past to get mine to turn. I assumed mine seized since I have never used it before.

If not that then the only other thing I could think of would have to be that your key doesn’t match the lock.

try some WD40 and just spray a bit in the lock and give it a go

jhanna

I may be wrong, but I don't think the driver's manual door key lock/unlock is dependent of battery power.

Like stated above, yours may be frozen due to lack of use. Does it work now with the new battery ?

RL1990

The manual door lock is not tied to any power, it's strictly mechanical. But if you have never used that lock cylinder in years then it's seized up. It's exposed to the elements and have gone through many heat and cold cycles, rain, ice, and dirt. It's a good idea to use the manual lock every now and then or spray a little WD-40 in it.

Wannafbody

Well the weird part is that the door lock works with the key after replacing the battery.

Spiky

I think the lock is electric regardless of how you unlock it. We had angry discussion over this a couple years back. I don't think you guys are correct about the mechanical nature of the locks.

Trio

I can confirm the locks are electric powered, not mechanical. I had a dead battery yesterday and the doors were locked. Had it not been for the hood already being unlocked and then I could jump the battery, I would still be locked out. The key would turn in the driver door cylinder, but nothing happened until the battery was jumped. Then the key was able to unlock the door.

What a dumb***** configuration by Ford. Anyone with a good backup solution?

MPETE

iTrader: (1)

That's funny, because my truck was stone cold dead a couple weeks back and I was able to unlock it with the key with zero issue.

digitaltrucker

More importantly, how old was your battery?

Spiky

Permanently installed battery tender with an accessible wire if your truck sits a lot.
I would guess it was not that dead.