Yesterday morning I was leaving for work as usual and couldn’t unlock the door with the key. I opened it from the passenger side and proceeded as normal. When I got home I tried spraying some lube in the lock but it didn’t help. I also tried a different key, but it does the same thing.

I can turn the key to the left, but not the right. Now when I lock the doors from the inside (or from the passenger side or just pushing down on the shaft), the driver door lock engages and locks, but then mysteriously unlocks by itself (shaft comes back up).

So now I can no longer lock my car. Has anybody else seen these symptoms before? Any ideas what the problem might be? Thanks in advance.

 

So, do all the doors unlock from the pass side?

This could be a few issues - bad drivers door lock, drivers door lock actuator, ect.

 

Well all the doors that lock unlock from either side. Since the driver's door doesn't lock, it doesn't unlock either (except after you try to lock it, then it does by itself).

 

Not sure if this makes any sense...?

There's a "feature" to prevent you from locking yourself out. If the driver's door is open, and you try to lock it while it's open, it'll unlock itself after a second. So what I'm thinking about is what if the locking system "THINKS" that the driver's door is open? That's how it is behaving, right?

Anyone know how that system senses the door open vs/ closed?

 

I think you might be onto something there. I wonder if it has anything to do with the key not turning. I'm going to take the panel off and see if anything looks wrong. I'll also keep an eye out for sensors etc.

 

Well, to get passed that feature - you would hold the drivers inside door handle open and try locking the car.

Even the poor old 3rd gens (86-89) had the feature where you could not lock the drivers door when open - however if you hold the drivers inside handle in the open position it will lock.

 

Take off the door panel and unplug the door key cylinder switch. No see if you can use the key to turn the key both ways. Then try it with the cylinder switch plugged back in. This way, you can see if it may be due to the key cylinder or key cylinder switch; or even rules those two out.

The key cylinder switch can be tested. See attached.

 

I have an update. When I disconnect the battery, the lock shaft doesn't go down at all and the key still doesn't turn to the right. There must be something physically jammed and broken in the door latch assembly. I took the panel off and see a lot of plastic down there - not too impressive. It probably just wore out after 200k miles and 14 plus years.

I'm not sure I'm up to replacing it myself or maybe I'll just bring it in. Has anyone replaced that assembly? Any special tools required (or just really small hands ).

 

Small hands and take your time......as you know from looking there are rods and clips and that in there that you need to take your time so you don't end up breaking more.

All of the parts are available but if you are there on a Saturday afternoon - the dealer might not be open to get "another" clip (or whatever) if you end up breaking something.

 

I ended up taking it to the dealer. It turned out to be actuator and cost $244. I felt that wasn't too bad. It was worth it to me to have it diagnosed properly, and save me the trouble of having to work inside the door. It's good to be able to lock my car again.