Old Man Minimalist

I have a strange occurrence that has me stumped. With the key off and out of the ignition my power door locks work fine. Lock, unlock from both the drivers switch and passenger switch.

But when I insert the key into the ignition only the unlock function works. The lock side is dead.

This is with key in ignition in OFF, ACC or ON position, doesn't matter.

Pull the key out and it works.

Any ideas? I did try new drivers and passenger switches and it made no difference so I doubt it's that. Thanks.

tech

Did you look at the wiring that is where it bends when you open and close the door ?

Old Man Minimalist

I had all the wiring out of the doors, cleaned them and inspected them. Of course you know there are a lot of wires so I could have missed one. But they all seemed to be intact.

If the locks are actuating with the key out of the ignition, wouldn't that mean that the wiring in the doors is okay? I would think if I had a faulty wire somewhere in the door, they wouldn't work at all.

exasemech

I suppose you can look at the bright side... you're a lot less likely to lock the keys in the car.

But more useful perhaps, does anything else not work under that circumstance? Wipers, rear defrost, etc etc. If there's something else that would help chase it down.

Old Man Minimalist

I checked the horn, wipers, hazards, turn signals, back up lights, headlights, defroster, rear window wiper, foglight switch(no fogs hooked up yet), radio, blower fan, interior lights. They all work when they should. Oh, and it also starts and runs.

Do these vehicles have the feature where the doors auto lock when you put the transmission into reverse? Is there a wire under the console for this? When I had it out, I recall two wires with bulbs for the indicators and one that hooked to the parking brake assembly. I don't recall others.

Glasply

Door locks should NOT work with key in ignition and door (driver or passenger front) open, this is to prevent accidental key in car lockout. With the door closed the power lock should lock car key in ignition or not.

There is no feature to auto lock doors when transmission is placed into reverse/drive. The only real feature is whether the horn honks when doors are locked with the RKE (Keyless fob), the "how to" enable/disable instructions are discussed in the owners manual.

Old Man Minimalist

Thanks all for the help and responses. It was as simple as closing the drivers door. Everything works as it should.

Next up will be adding a remote unlock kit. I have the transmitter but no fobs and I hear you are better off going aftermarket in this case.

Looks pretty simple to install and I have the dome light out right now as part of my interior overhaul.