Face plate of door plate is loose even though back of lock is tight deadbolt. Very secure but combination plate is loose

SOURCE: Loose Kwikset Chelsea Deadbolt

I just had the same problem as samrpetrich with a loose kwikset deadbolt. Here's how I fixed it - on the inside of the door, take off the latch that flips the deadbolt in and out using a very small allen key. There is a round plate cover that is snapped on top of the inside deadbolt mechanism. If you look on the bottom aspect of this round plate you'll see where it snaps on; once I saw where to apply pressure it came off easily - taking off this plate exposed the two screws beneath that were loose. Once I tightened these, I snapped the plate cover back on, but the dead bolt latch back and everything is tight again. Hope this helps.

SOURCE: How to tighten up a

The exterior faceplate is not the thing that fastens to the door, it just supports the lock cylinder and covers the hole in the wood. Inside the door the cylinder has a thin plate with two screws going from the inner door surface into the back of the part you put the key into. Removing the big nightlatch block you will see a metal tang on the inside sticking out. The two screws will be just to the left and right of the tang and so you can draw the lock cylinder inward from there, which will squeeze the outside faceplate bezel into the front door surface. These are great locks, I am installing one from the 1940's which even opens up to let you reverse the bolt angle and make the door open outwards if you want to for big industrial shop doors.