Door Locks On J

[alex61089]

Hey guys there has been this problem that has been increasing over time..When i get in my car and i go to unlock all the doors with the drivers switch the doors do not unlock or lock except for the drivers side. Sometimes if i lock and unlock really fast by pressing the switch fast the other doors will start to work again.. Sadly this has not been the case so now i can only use the master switch to unlock my side (drivers door) and i have to manually unlock the other doors.

anyone know why it is doing this? and of course.. how can i fix this : ) thanks!

[The Argus]

Just got my 1993 j30 yesterday. Having the same problem. Guy who sold it to me conveniently failed to mention that. Any help would be super.

[Victor]

Almost all old J30s have trouble with the door locks. There are many threads on the problem, do a search.

[driverdriver]

Like Victor siad this is a very common age related problem. The main culprit is either the door lock timer and/or under dash actuator.

[craze K]

Mine did the same thing, First it was just sticking and I hit the door near the lock to open it, then it stuck completely. My advice would be to fix it now before you have to destroy your door to get at the inside. My driver door was locking on me and unfortunately I did not fix it when it was open so I had to tare apart my interior panel to get at the lock. I had to break the selanoid to get the door to open. Personally I would prefer manual locks. These power locks kill me.If you get your door open, take the interior panel off and check it out. You'll find the culprit towards the bottom of the door near the lock. Mine was white in color. Thats what was stuck on my J30.

[coolyun_98]

Like Victor siad this is a very common age related problem. The main culprit is either the door lock timer and/or under dash actuator.

under dash actuator?? isn't the actuator in the door??

[TheJapJag]

Mine did the same thing, First it was just sticking and I hit the door near the lock to open it, then it stuck completely. My advice would be to fix it now before you have to destroy your door to get at the inside.

Definitely true, that.I'm on my second J30 and most of the time, lock problems are not electronic/electrical. If you can see/hear all 4 doors try to unlock, then it's probably not electrical.

To restate the symptom: door won't unlock. It tries, but immediately returns to locked position.

What's probably happening is a physical obstruction that is causing that lock to give up and return to "locked".

If it is physical as described above, it's inside the door. Inside the door are long, thin steel rods, like long chopsticks that transfer the movement from the handle or the lock to affect/move another part that might be about 16 inches away, all inside the door.

Some of those rods are suspended in place by plastic hinges and clasps that guide them, hinge them, or vector the motion of the rod as needed. (Sorta like a stick-puppet, with rod to control the limbs). The plastic hinges & clasps are weak, and they fail after about 10 years. If the plastic hinge fails, the rod comes loose. A loose rod can eventually find its way into trouble where it can jam into a position that completely jams the function of the door until you can get the interior panel off.

Banging the door hard (near the handle) can free a jammed rod. Sometimes.

So when this starts happening, (any door unlocks and immediatley relocks) do not delay. At least get someone to take the panel off. If the panel is off, you won't have to damage anything when it jams really bad.

[bang4dabuck]

My problem was a little different. My key would get the drivers side door BUTTON to pop up and down but lock would not engage. Passenger side not a problem.

The solution was to pop the door panel off and spray the lock linkages. I had to tear the plastic wrap off to get to the locking mechanism itself. I believe this to be the main culprit. I am not sure I used the proper spray though. I used Sea Foam Deep Creep. I am having no problems now but it was really screwed up at the time. Once I figured out that I had to get the door panel off, it took me about 20 minutes to fix and this was at 8:30 at night with a flash light. No other tools needed. Another set of hands would have been good to get the panel back on.

[Victor]

I found this procedure for taking the passenger side door panel off. Does anyone have a procedure for the drivers side door panel, or at least the additional steps needed?http://www.fuzzycats.com/docs/...l.pdf

[yodawill2000]

Pretty much the same.Just a few more connections to unplug.