1982 Power Door Locks: Lock but no Unlock

[82ColEd]

Okay, took some time today and took off the interior door panels as my power door locks showed their age:

Only the driver side would lock the car, no unlocking at all from either or locking from the passenger side.

Took the driver side out and all 5 points were corroded, fair enough, cleaned them up, stuck them back in. No change.. ad Ok, off to the Shop Manual, ahh, they are wired together. Taking out the passenger side one, corroded as well. Cleaned it up. Stick it on and now only locking works from both sides, no unlocking. :confused

Tried to swap the switches. Nothing works that way. .

So i check on the ground on the passenger door, take it out. It doesnt really look like it's catching any metal there, but so be it, cleaned it up, nada. To pry off the switch from it's 5 hole brother, i made the mistake and take a flat screwdriver. ZAAPP. 20AMP breaker, toast. Yep. great project so far.. ;squint:

Found an old 20A and stuffed it in and it's back to previous. I am guessing from reading all of the posts about door locks, that one of the cables is either broke and is loosing current? I am a numpty when it comes to measuring this stuff.. How do i measure whether current is flowing through to the door switches? I have a Digital Amp Meter, but someone needs to give me basics pls. Such as: Set Meter to XXmA and put red pin to ?? and black pin to ??...

I dont have another 20AMP to fry. hnoes

Thanks in advance.


-Stefan

 

[damoroso]

Stefan,

I can tell you that I had the same kind of problem on my 81 and it turned out to be the connection at the drivers side switch. Seems if all 5 of the points aren't making good contact you can have this problem. I unplugged them clean them really well and plugged them both (driver and passanger sides) back in, trying them before I put the panels back on. It might be worth a try....

 

[82ColEd]

Okay, project summary, thus far:
1 weekend spent taking apart the doors (Half Saturday, half Sunday), cleaning up lots of corroded parts, putting things back together.

Power Door Locks have no change in operation. Same as before all the work. Though they worked a little better in between. :eyerole

Passenger side window now moves a bit quicker up and down, due to liberal use of WD-40.

Understanding of the door lock switches has increased but not ot the point of being able to fix them. ad

I think, it's in the female side of the connector (the pigtail part in the door). I cant really clean the receiving parts up. And i think the roundish things that are supposed to be making contact with the connector of the switch making shotty connections at best.

Just checked, Zip has the parts (pigtails and switches) for around $100. :ugh Plus shipping and customs. Dunno..

Methinks, i need to take the pigtails apart and get them roundy things cleaned and make sure they get good connections. Is the backing of them cardboard? Thats what it looks like, but i didnt wanted to pry them off and destroying them in the process

Anyone?


-Stefan

 

[bill81vette]

Stefan,My '81 was doing the same thing... 1st was the pigtails( they were the least expensive fix,1st),No change...

I bought new switches at Carlisle last year...Problem solved!!!!

Good Luck

 

[73shark]

Recommend using some more lasting lube than WD-40 before you button up the door panels. Some lithium grease or heavy oil.