[DML] Door Locks Locking Up?

["Robert Moseley" <videobob@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Your door seals have you locked in.
Read more to find out what I mean......

Many of us have suffered from frozen door locks.
My drivers side door has always worked fine, but the passenger door
from time to time would sometimes lock, and would need to be flipped
back and forth a few times before you could get it.
I thought that $440 on a Lock-ZILLA with a remote would have solved
the problem but it had no effect.
All it did was lock me out from remote!

This time it locked up good.
I haven't been able to get in the passenger side for weeks.
Today I had to do something about it.
So from the inside I began to rip the door apart.
After messing with for a while it magicly opened.

I assumed, like most of you that the problem was the solonoid,
so I took it out to clean it...but it seemed fine, operated smooth
and seemed to be strong.
It worked strong and quick LOCKING, but UNlocking it sometimes
it would not budge. Even if you dissconnected the ZILLA box and tried
to push it with your thumb it was stuck and would not move.

Well I am here to tell you that after I pulled the solonoid, all the
rods and linkages, and the door latches out and cleaned them with WD40
and then relubed them with silicone and put everything back
together....... NOTHING HAPPENED. It was still doing the same crap!

So I did some major investigation on the door latches and figured out
how they work. I notived that unless the latch was all the way in the
closed position that the mechanism would not allow itself to move
into the UNLOCKED position, or rather allow the door handle rod
linkage to catch the latch release.
With this knowledge being truth, it MUST mean that the reason the door
locks are malfunctioning is because my door is not closed all the way
or at least the latch has not been forced all the way inside by the
striker and the door is being held tight my the rubber door seals just
enough to keep it closed.

Long story short, after making some adjustments to move the striker
pins UP and OUT (about the 10:00 position) the door latches TIGHTER
than it did before and the locks work smoothly in either direction.

YEEAAAAHHHH!!!!

But how did this happen in the first place?
Ok, all of us know what it is like to give someone a ride for the
first time... when they first attepmt to close the door from the
inside they pull it down a little and it catches but doesn't close all
the way. Usually the front latch catches and the back is hanging
becuase of the position of the door handle.
(this problem was solved with the addition of the pull straps in the
doors) ...now you need to explain to them how to open the door and to
close it harder. This time they turn into the Incredible HULK and slam
it down! Same thing when they get out of the car.
Over time the stricker pins get pushed down a little at a time if they
are tightend down as much as they should be.
The pin is too far down to catch inside the latch all the way.
Another scenerio is that the bone head who owns the car, (that would
be me) decides to make some adjustments to the strikers because the
door is rattling. Why would the door rattle?
Because my cheap ass has not replaced my leaky shredded door seals
and now they are flat and not giving pressure to the door making a
good seal, so the door rattles.... so I just assumed that moving the
pins down a notch would make the door close MORE - WRONG.

So I hope this information will help someone having the same problem.
Sometimes the solution is not to replace parts, but to simply adjust
them. 20 something years can do wonders to a car.

If you have some simular experience with this subject I would love to
hear your thoughts.

Hope this helps!
- Videobob
VIN#5278


 




To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address:
moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx

For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com

To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/