My 81's power door locks seem to drag. I removed the linkage, cleaned and lubed but it still does it. Seems to be when I hook the actuators up the drag comes in. You can move them by hand (if you pull) but the electric side can not get passenger to move and driver barely does. Have thought of leaving electric side unhooked from linkage so it will move. Nothing seems bent or out of place. Any ideas?

 

I just fixed one this week when you have the door panel off, the wire connector was all corroded so I took a brass brush and clean them ,I also took all the linkage off , including the pivot that sits above the electric lock motor, 2 bolts and it's off lub it well , also up were the key goes in the door , the wire connection at the motor was loose too! Ron

 

I dont know your car so I dont know what you have done so far. One of the first things I find on these cars is bad door lock switches. They both have to work together and if one is "leaking" voltage to the other the switch can make the up fight the down. I would if I were you (if havent already) replace both door lock switches with Help # 49241 from Autozone or Advance....they each cost aprox $15. Make sure the connections on the the back are clean. (When you give them the # 49241 they will say that is a power window switch...it is but they wont list the lock switch...the switch will work just fine.)

 

Both doors do attempt to move when the switches are pressed. The driver's side does move enough to lock and unlock. The passenger side moves, but not enough to unlock. You have to pull the **** by hand to finish. It takes a good tug.

What I did was to remove the door lock rods and pivot point, clean and oil them then re-install.

 

I have the exact same problem on my 1980. I think it's caused by old worn out door lock motors that have become stiff. Mine work just well enough to lock and unlock both my doors after I cleaned and lubed everything up, so I haven't replaced the motors. Would be curious to see if that fixes the problem. Keep us posted.

 

I took a door lock actuator apart to see what was causing the stiffness. I found that the motor end bushing was dry. The only way to lube it is to take the motor apart. If you do this watch out for 2 tiny brushes (about 1/8 inch dia and 1/16 inch thick). They are going to pop out when you remove the motor as there are 2 small springs behind them. The actuator worked much better after that.


Dale

 

I can rebuild a V8 but when I mess with little electric stuff, it never works again. Looks like I might want to replace the actuators.

 

Here is a fast easy test. If you use your door key and try to lock and unlock the door . And it is really hard to do so, your door lock actuators are bad, binding or just plain shot due to the rubber seal being dry rotted and allows water and crap to enter the acutator and age. I repair these quite often. The lock switches can also be bad as like earlier mentioned along with corroded contacts. along with the male/female wiring connectors that are by your upper kickplates where the wiring harness from the factory are joined together. But neither one of those is going to change how hard it is for you to lock and unlock your door with the key. If it is really hard to lock and unlock your door, disconnect the rod that is connected to your door latch mechanism that controls the lock and unlock feature. Try your key again. If it is really easy to lock and unlock, replace your actuators. If you need them and if you have an AC Delco dealer near you, Go to them and open the box and feel the smoothness of the actuator. It should easily glide without much effort. REMEMBER you are moving this part with your key so you want it very smooth and very little effort to move. I have gotten some these actuators in the past that were new but were hard to move. I always go to my jobber and pick the ones I want. REMEMBER your door is SMC, and you can seroiusly damage the area around your lock cylinder if you apply to much pressure while trying to turn your key and cause the cylinder to spin in the door. That is a repair that you DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO DO. I do about three a year and it is a real pain to get things right.
Are your black plastic water diverters installed? Keeps water off of teh latch mechanism. If not, you may need to get some used ones and make sure that your latch mechanism is lubricated well. I install about a dozen or so of these diverters every year. They are almost always missing. GMC "DUB"

 

Check the actuator I had the same problem. The passenger side would not work with the alarm. I changed the actuator and it works fine now.. Good luck.