power door lock problems

[johnjon]

I just bought a 00 4.6L and when I use the key less enter fob the doors don't always unlock and when I use the power lock /unlock on the inside of the door they don't unlock at all even though the slide lock moves slightly on the top of the door. I owned a 99 Taurus the made the same problem but never had it checked out. Anyone out there have the same problem and know how to fix it? Thanks

 

[Thermo]

John, it is sounding like your door lock solenoids are getting weak. Known problem with the X's. Sounding like you will need to replace some actuators. Not hard to do, but you will need to remove the door panels to access them. Once you do one and figure out how they come apart, the rest are pretty easy to do.

 

[hovocop]

when getting actuators, make sure you spend some money and get good quality....... they range from $15 to over $100....... I got the cheap ones and they broke in less than a week............

 

[mikeexpedition]

I have the same problem on my back passenger door. But with mine, the handle stopped opening the door from the inside then eventually the outside handle stopped working. If you pulled on the handle too many times it would activate the child safety lock too. Now you can't even manually unlock the door. That's going to be todays project.

I have been able to jerry rig it in the past but it only lasts for a few months. I'll let you know if I can come up with a more permanent solution. (I'd do it right but I have too many other costly things to repair right now and it's my car so I don't have to worry about sitting in the back... haha)

 

[johnjon]

Thanks for your replies guys. I'm going on ebay right now.

 

[mikeexpedition]

Ok so I fixed my locking/unlocking problem yesterday... (Bare with me I don't know all the technical terms for the devices) My locks did the same thing... didn't unlock or lock... the knob would look like it was trying to go somewhere but barely moved.

Turned out there is a rectangle shaped piece in the door that has a wire running to it then on the other side is a bar that runs up the door to the locking mechanism. I noticed on the outside of the door there was a hole where it looked like there would have been a washer or something. Looking at the door on the other side of the car I noticed there is actually a rivet or something that holds that "rectangle shaped piece" to the door. When the locks are triggered electronically the box is supposed to stay forcing the metal arm push and unlock or lock the door. If the metal box is moving it will only push it enough to make it move without fully locking or unlocking.

I put an inch long screw through the rivet hole and into the box and it works perfect now.

Good Luck