FAQ: Power Door Lock Problems

I'm back. Hopefully none of you remember me. After a long wait, the car is back from the paint shop and mechanic which replaced a ton of parts I wanted replaced. Today was/is hopefully the day I can start enjoying the car. Of course, another issue popped up. This time with the windows and door locks. None of the windows will go down or up. The passenger side and driver side switches do nothing. There's no clicking, no dimming of lights, nothing. The drivers side door lock switch also doesn't operate. Everything else on the door works including the heated seat, power mirror, and seat memory buttons. On the passenger side the window switch doesn't work, but I can unlock/lock the doors from the switch on that side. I don't think it's a fuse, because the locks do unlock and lock when in gear and from the passenger side. I'm stumped as to what could be causing this. If anyone has any ideas, I would greatly appreciate it. Hopefully I'll be around here more now that I finally have the car back in my possession. Anyway, Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Kyle

1) please anyway go check fuses and then tell us what you find.

2) my guess is that the connector on the drivers side switch cluster came loose, you have to take the door panel off and press it back in the socket. Watch out for a broken locking tab on the connector - if your connector has no locking tab then tape it together wehn it's plugged in with electrician's tape, elsewise you'll be back in it in a few weeks or months with the same problem as the vibrations from driving will ease it apart again and the windows will quit.

3) Or maybe you have a break in the wiring harness near where it passes thru the door jamb at the front of the drivers door. On your riv (a 98) this is unlikely as the problem popped up fairly early in the Riv run and I think they by and large fixed it on the 97s and later. ou will need a multimeter to test for this.

My wild guess is it's just a loosened connector behind the drivers side window/lock switches.

Albertj

Quote :

2) my guess is that the connector on the drivers side switch cluster came loose, you have to take the door panel off and press it back in the socket.

Bingo, it's happened to me twice, but only the window switch. When the driver side switch becomes disconnected, it takes the passenger side with it, that much I know. I'm betting both the window and lock switches have come unplugged.

Thanks Guys for the reply. I kinda figured that was the case, but the passenger side door threw me off. I'll check it next time I get a chance. I absolutely love this forum. You guys rock!

passenger door lock wont always unlock from any means. had it working with key, locked it, now wont unlock again from inside or out side. door is still open and panel still off.

I hate to say it, but it sounds like you've got an effed-up door latch/lock unit... On these cars the door latch, the power lock, and the alarm and unlock switches are all in one unit. I don't even know if they can be opened up, but when you get the door open again, remove the latch assy from the striker side of the door and see if you can clean/lube it.

if you remove the latch and look on the side of it you will see a white or black plastic arm where one end of the arm fits into a sorta kidney shaped rubber gasket or sleeve or pocket,call it whatever you think applies,occasionally this pocket develops a tear in the corner and allows the "arm " to pop out the sleeve preventing the latch from opening or closing. check it out. this was a problem i ran into and found it to be that.
do you know what a "prince albert" is?

it won't unlock with the power lock button or manually? that is unusual. Please explain.

Albertj

robotennis61 wrote:

check it out. this was a problem i ran into and found it to be that.
do you know what a "prince albert" is?

You and your Prince Alberts... What a perv!

well the passengers door lock will not lock with the remote or switch on drivers door... here is the culprit!!.....



so i replaced it and the solenoide old



and new



NOTICE.. the old had a switch assembly at the top, this had to be carefully cut off, cleaned and super glued on to the new part as it came without it fitted.

The white rubber "boot" for want of a word was split and kept popping out so i hope the new black boot will last.

These are so weird looking compared to the old locks... And I guess they've got a bunch of stuff crammed into one spot: manual lock-rod connection, power lock motor, alarm disarm switch, tamper switch on the cylinder, etc.

Can you tell us which parts are what?

Also Nigel, Can you tell us where you purchased it and what the P/N is.
Thanks

part was on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350295776167&viewitem=

i thorght good value.. its fitted and works well

NOTICE.. the old had a switch assembly at the top, this had to be
carefully cut off, cleaned and super glued on to the new part as it
came without it fitted.

Nigel, can you better explain this statement or do you have pictures of the switch assembly you talk of.

I was wondering the same thing... I can't see it in the photo.

Its the bar like piece at the top of the photo with 5 dimple like marks along its top edge. i will do an edit of the photo later tonight as my comp keeps locking up...!!

the black blob at the top left is the back of the connector plug hole.

Try zooming in and lightening the picture you may see the join

nigelf wrote:

Its the bar like piece at the top of the photo with 5 dimple like marks along its top edge. i will do an edit of the photo later tonight as my comp keeps locking up...!!

the black blob at the top left is the back of the connector plug hole.

Try zooming in and lightening the picture you may see the join

Now I see what you are referring to.
Thanks, it would still be helpful if you have photos of the individual pieces.
Thanks,
Rick

My drivers door won't unlock with the key fob or the switch. I hit the power locks sometimes when parking knowing the lock doesn't work. I figure the alarm will work anyway, then if I forget and grab the door handle I set it off. (dumb)

jimmyriv wrote:

My drivers door won't unlock with the key fob or the switch. I hit the power locks sometimes when parking knowing the lock doesn't work. I figure the alarm will work anyway, then if I forget and grab the door handle I set it off. (dumb)

Sounds like you need to replace the latch unit. It's a little tight in there but not too tough. I did one on my car (pass side) when it failed and had dealer's boy shop do the other when it failed. The new ones were a little different, I suspect it's a one-time replacement.

Albertj

I had this problem with my car a year ago. It turns out that the exterior latch will only lift the linkage and the spring loaded latch must pull the linkage back to the latch position.

What happened on mine was that the linkage under my exterior door handle had corrosion and once the latch was lifted the linkage would not go back to the original position, which holds the latch half open(i sometimes could not get my door to latch shut also). Then you cycle your lock and the latch is not reset and the whole mechanism locks up. Sorry if this is hard to understand but if you take your door apart test your latch mechanism with a screwdriver while it is out of the door and by itself. If it works well on its own out of the door is likely something like what happened to me.

My problem is my door lock. My keypad broke a while back and I've just been doing with out it. My lock problem is when I hit the lock button its dings at me It doesn't lock until hitting it a second time. Having no problems with unlocking from outside or locking back from inside. Any ideas on what caused this or what I can do to fix it?

To paraphrase Microsoft, that's not a bug, that's a feature!

It's called Delayed Locking, so that you don't have to sit there and wait for a passenger to finish exiting the vehicle before you lock the car. Hit the button, hear the chime, and 5 seconds after the last door is closed the car will lock and set the alarm. Ditto, if you have to reopen your own door within that time period, if you forgot something or didn't latch your door all the way...

You'll also find that the driver's door lock button will not work if the key is in the ignition - Lockout Prevention.

Mark's right. This feature also works the same way when you push the lock button on the remote with the driver door open.

It never did this before so I must have done something to make is start again. I'll have to try and see if it works correctly, I've always just hit the lock button twice since it started.

Either you did not notice that it did that before, or you reset the personalization - which can be inadvertently done by pressing combinations of the buttons on the driver's armrest - perhaps during a cleaning or if maybe you or another driver of the car got bored and started pushing buttons.

I really would not worry about it. You can disable delayed locking and a number of other things - best way is to look in your owner's manual for how to re-set the personalization features, which is most conveniently done with a key fob.

No kidding, check out the owner's manual.

Albertj