Approx 8 months ago I've noticed something about the power locks on my car.

I have Power door locks and my alarm is configured so when you turn off the key, the doors unlock. Turn the car on and the doors lock. Turn off the alarm and the doors unlock and turn on the alarm and the doors lock. Now the problem.

If I just turn on the alarm, the doors locks will attempt to lock the doors. The passenger side is perfectly fine. The driver side on the other hand seems to not have the power to lock it fully. I have to manually hit the Lock button on the door to lock the doors and then shut the door.

What would be the reason that if you manually press the lock button on the door that it locks fully. But if you use the alarm to lock/unlock the doors that the driver lock appears to not have enough power to the motor to lock the driver door.

The power door lock was replaced before..

 

a few things... are you sure it's only when the alarm does it. try putting some lithium grease on the mechanism....

did it ever work properly with the remote or alarm? if so then that should be the problem...if not then the installer hooked it up wrong and it's not getting the juice it needs. it doesn't take much but if you wire it backwards that can happen.

 

I'm heading out the door to go out. I'll see what happens when I turn on the key, and off. This locks and unlocks the door. I'll see if the driver door fully locks this way or is only occuring when you use the alarm on the remote to arm the car and the door locks.

 

You know what, forget what I originally posted. It just occured to me that it has nothing to do with the alarm.

The driver power lock appears to stick as the majority of the times when you lock the doors with either the alarm, turn on/off the car with the key, or use the door lock button on the door to lock the doors, the lock attempts to lock and you see a 1/8" - 1/4" of the red still showing and you have to use your finger to push it completely. OR if you press the door lock button a few more times it will ease forward and lock completely.

This lock was already replaced.

I remember opening the door and trying the lock. I noticed the entire motor was moving in and out. Like pivoting. I remember being able to hold the motor from moving and the door locked completely however thought this was normal as their appeared to be no breaks in the frame and it didn't look like there would be a way to prevent it from moving like that.

Does anyone have some GOOD, CLEAR, SHARP, CLOSE UP pictures of the power door lock in the door? Looking at the rod, how it's rivoted on the door, etc.

 

sounds like the mechanism is sticking....you can have a good motor and just need to grease it up. try doing something to loosen it up. worked for me.

 

1. If the lock motor itself is moving around on whatever is holding it in place, that's one problem you need to fix.
2. Go out to NAPA or somewhere and get a can of PB Blaster. Used it when my passenger door didn't lock AT ALL and it works great. Even though this stuff is considered a penetrating oil, you need to use white grease afterwards.

If you replaced it before, then you should already know how to remove the motor again. If not, some idiot didn't install the motor properly and left you with a half-a$$ install so thieves could get in. Look for stretched bolt/rivet holes and see if the bolts are coming loose or something. Use locking compound on the threads if you have to.

 

Can't seem to get it to do it today.. It seems to also occur more when it's cooler out. It's HOT now and it's not doing it.. If it were raining it may.. Don't know if that helps to diagnose it.

 

My locks did the exact same thing (The halfway thing that is) when I first got the car and I just sparayed everything down with white lithium grease and now they work like new! I would imagine that is all your problem is. At least try it since there won't be an easier or cheaper fix. Later and Good luck!!