Driver Door Lock

[nousablenames13]

I'm having troubles with my driver door lock. The locking mechanism won't stay locked. Anyone know of a way to fix it or am I going to have to take it to a dealership?

[Manolito]

Do you mean that the the door unlocks by itself while the car is parked or while you are driving? I have never heard of that happening. All doors or just the driver door? I would start by examining all the wires in that door, looking for damaged insulation.

There is nothing in your door that you can't fix yourself. The only special tool required is a Torx head screwdriver to remove the two screws that hold the inner door panel to the door structure. Be careful with the snaps coming off, and more careful going on, as both the snaps and their anchor points can break if you abuse them. You can see a door being taken apart on my web page.

Cabin_Filter (not sure why this URL ended up with that name)

The most common failure is the actuator. That can be removed and replaced fairly easily once you get the inner door panel off. Note that the actuator and the lock must be in the same 'mode' (locked or unlocked) so that the levers match up with the slots in the actuator when you snap the new one in place. On a '96, nearly all the electrics have been incorporated into that removable actuator, so there is rarely a need to take out the key lock or the latch mechanism.

If you have to remove the latch mechanism, that is a bit of a PITA and requires patience to remove and replace because there are several linkages that have to be manipulated simultaneously, but it is doable. I did one recently on one of my '97s because I did not realize that I could replace the actuator without removing the latch mechanism. It is not a job you want to tackle outdoors in the weather, and you need a good light to see what you are doing with those linkages.

[nousablenames13]

The driver door is impossible to lock. When you push the pin down it just pops back up.

[Manolito]

When you press the pin, its linkage moves a pair of levers within the lock mechanism which in turn slide a switch in the electronic actuator. The switch then actuates the electric motor in the actuator that locks your door, and it sends a signal to the central locking mechanism to lock the other doors.

It is possible that something has hit your button hard, and the linkage or one of those levers has gotten bent and won't move the switch far enough to actuate.

It is more likely that the microswitch in the actuator has failed. That was what was wrong with mine. The way to test that is to remove the actuator, plug its wire back on, figure out which lever is the lock (look in the door as you move your lock button) and then move the switch with your finger and see if the motor in the actuator reliably functions.

I opened the actuator and could not even see a part number on the failed microswitch, so I bought a new actuator on line for about $60. I think they are around $100 at the dealer. It was a little tricky to get the actuator and levers all lined up so it would snap down on the lock mechanism properly, problem was exacerbated because I was outdoors in poor light, and it was starting to rain, but it went on and all works fine now.