Sticky / Difficult door lock operation common?
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 4
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Sticky / Difficult door lock operation common?
My Dad's 93Ruby has both door locks working very slowly as if they are caught on something or are gummed up somewhere. Is this common? The car is a 93 but only has 40K or so on the odo.
You can slide the lock tab manually but it moves with a lot of force required. When using the auto lock switch, you have to push it several times, each time it moves the lock tab a little further until its fully locked. Takes about 3-4 pushes.
What really sucks about this is that when using the keychain FOB to lock the door, the door doesn't lock but the alarm sets. So you end up walking away while leaving the doors unlocked.
I would be interested in taking the doors apart to make the lock mech move freely, but I don't know what I am doing once I am inside the door. Could both lock actuators be going bad? Is it the lock itself that needs to be cleaned up? Would be interested to see if anyone else has same issue and especially if they have fixed it.
You can slide the lock tab manually but it moves with a lot of force required. When using the auto lock switch, you have to push it several times, each time it moves the lock tab a little further until its fully locked. Takes about 3-4 pushes.
What really sucks about this is that when using the keychain FOB to lock the door, the door doesn't lock but the alarm sets. So you end up walking away while leaving the doors unlocked.
I would be interested in taking the doors apart to make the lock mech move freely, but I don't know what I am doing once I am inside the door. Could both lock actuators be going bad? Is it the lock itself that needs to be cleaned up? Would be interested to see if anyone else has same issue and especially if they have fixed it.
Intermediate
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 49
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I had the same issue on my 91. I took the panels off and did exactly what kal did. I sprayed some wd40 up on the latch mechanism and all the moving parts to clean them and then I sprayed some white lithium grease in the same spots. You cant see all the linkage but you can feel it. pay particular attention to the plastic guides that go from the lock lever in the door handle to the bell crank (for lack of a better term) riveted to the door. Work it several times and make sure it is smooth. ALSO, be careful around the POS plastic clips that hold the linkage to the actuator. I broke one because it was brittle. Oh yeah, about the window...I learned the hard way.
