Picked... permanently?

[jbearnolimits]

I have an old padlock that still worked. The key felt normal going in and it could be turned right to unlock.

After picking it a few times I've noticed there's no longer any binding when I try to pick it. The pins just seem to be set already.

You can now literally drop the key into it and it falls in with no resistance. It I push the key down away from the pins it seems to not be able to turn. But if I push it up against the pins it opens. It no longer matters if I turn it left or right.

The strange thing is I can sometimes just put the tention wrench in a turn the lock open without even touching the pins, and sometimes not.

So I am wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what has happened to it? It's as if it is now permanently picked but opens with tention randomly.

[Raymond]

This sounds as if the top pins have been pushed up too far, and because there was a lot of gummy dirt, the top pins are stuck. Try soaking it in a strong solvent to loosen up as much as possible. After a day or so try the key again.

Let us know what brand of lock it is.

[stratmando]

Great input from Raymond as Usual, may smack against a piece of wood to get pins to move back. May rotate keyway a little to get over any lip.

[demux]

If it's a rekeyable lock, you should also be able to remove the cylinder for a more thorough cleaning if needed. If it's something other than dirt (e.g. wedged spring or something) some disassembly may be required. As Raymond said, if you let us know the make and model someone here should be able to provide some more specific hints and even possibly disassembly instructions.