dgood

I am finally getting around to trying to figure out why none of my locks work on my car. I wanted to make sure my power door lock and switches worked before working up around the door handle.

That is not a very nice place to work if you have large hands!

Pulled my passenger side door panel then my power door lock motor. There was no voltage getting to my motor. I did have 12 volts on the terminals to the switch and the switch does work but it does not actuate the motor. The wires from the motor go inside the door and I assume go over somewhere and join up with the drivers side door lock switch.

Any idea how the 12 volts goes from the passenger side switch to the passenger side door lock motor? I have not looked at the drivers side yet. Would a bad drivers side switch cause the passenger side not to work?

Any ideas where I should start?

Thanks
Dan

74 LS4-454

Dan, by no means am I an electrican.....but here it goes.....
1- I would also remove the driver's side door panel....
2- check to see if the pigtails that connect to the switches are in good shape in both doors and that there are no breaks in any of the wires.
use your meter to see if there is current.
if you need to remove any of the door switches, I
would disconnect the battery, as to not short anything out.
3- disconnect the plug that goes into the actuator on both doors and look for any corrision, clean out and there are electrical sprays that will clean the contacts, let dry and replug.
4- check wiring harness in door for breaks, frays, etc., repair if necessary
5- purchase a Doorman by Help 49241 switch (Power Door Lock) for around $10 @ Autozone, they fit our cars perfect, this way if you have a defective switch, you now have a replacement.
And yes if there is a problem on one side, it will cause the opposite side not to work.
your actuators may be worn and need replacement, they are on ebay or available from the vendors if needed.
hope this helps to get you started.........................Tom

BTW, if you have large hands, how did you get inside the door to disconnect the actuator and the linkage rod attached to it? My hands are small and I had a hard time doing it.....and you had to drill out the rivets to remove the actuators, correct???

C3 4ME

First, check the ground. it's on the passenger door, bolted to the inner door, behind the door panel.

Tally Ho

One bad switch can cause both locks to be inop. My 82 had a bad passenger side switch causing both sides to not work. I replaced both switches just to be safe.

dgood

Thanks all. My door lock actuator looks brand new, it was held in with nuts and bolts (putting them in will be very fun I am sure). The linkage rod was not attached to the upper part of the door lock so that was easy to get out. I will run up and get switches today and see if that is the problem. The switch on the passenger side was spliced in so I will check those to make sure they are correct. I will pull the drivers side also and see what I find.

The grounds look good, there are two ground wires going to the passenger side door, is the right?

Thanks all

dgood

Tried some more on this door lock issue. I bought new switches and that did not help.

I have 12 volts over on the passenger side switch but not to the passenger side door lock actuator, no power to the drivers side switch or drivers side door lock actuator.

I have continuity between the drivers side switch and the passenger side switch. I am stuck there. I am going to check the grounds now. I did apply 12 volts to the door lock actuators and they both work.

jdp6000

There in series. One broken wire will cause those bizzare symptoms. Do a continuity check on all the wires.

Example. Identify the colors of all the wires at the swtiches. Then check each wire individually from the switch to the door lock actuator.

Going by memory but the wire you really want to identify is the one that goes from one door to the other door. Thats the one thats probably broken where it passes from the door to the car.

Does the above make sense? One switch locks or unlocks both doors. So there has to be a wire to both doors for the back and forth lock/unlock command.

dgood

JDP thanks, I will go out and check it. Its weird that the power comes into the passenger side switch and stops. Those wires go over to the drivers side switch and from the drivers side switch to the two locks. Damn......Ill keep digging

jdp6000

You will notice three wires going into each actuator. Passenger side just grounds back to its self. Power is supplied to both by the orange.

Both actuators run through the driver side switch. It should be a beize and grey. So as above, only a black out of the passenger side. And the beize and grey out of the driver side.

You will notice the difference in wires numbers.

Thats provided the colors are the same as on an 82. Concept should be the same regardless.

PM you email and I'll send you a picture of the schematic. Too much of a pain to post here from an Iphone.

jdp6000

See if this works

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dgood

Thank you. This will be my work for the week. I will keep you updated. My email is dangoodva@yahoo.com

Thanks again

dgood

Did some checks today. Sometimes the drivers side switch will lock both actuators but will not unlock them ever. Sometimes it does not work at all. I have a feeling it is the connectors that go onto the back of each switch that is bad on both sides.

Using the drivers side switch in the neutral position, I have 12 volts between orange and all the other wires (pink, purple, grey and tan). In the lock position, I lose the 12 volts between orange and grey. I the unlock position I lose 12 volts on grey and tan.

Using the passenger side switch in the neutral position, I have 12 volts between orange and all the other wires (pink, purple, ground one and ground 2). In the lock position, I lose 12 volts on pink. In the unlock position, I lose 12 volts on Purple.

Question: Does this sound correct? I think the intermittent problem is the switch back (connector) is there anyway to get rid of that thing and just use some female pins to go onto the male prongs on the back of the switch?

Thanks

jdp6000

Try reversing the switches.

dgood

I reversed the switches and everything was intermittent. Pulled back the black tape on the wires and found a bunch of butt connectors. 3 of them had loose wires that pulled right out 2 on the drivers side and one on the passenger side. I am off to put them together correctly and that will fix the door locks hopefully. I will let you know.

dgood

Got the connectors on and the switches work lock and unlock! Used butt connectors that you heat up with a heat gun and it melts the solder in the connector into the wires. Thanks for all the help.

jdp6000

Nice! Live and learn!