Power lock help

[tomj1404]

My power locks only work if I press both switches at the same time. Does anyone know what would cause this? Do you think it could be a bad switch? I've checked the continuity of everything and the wiring is all good. All I can think of is that one or both of the switches must not be working right. Any thoughts?

 

[jdp6000]

My power locks only work if I press both switches at the same time. Does anyone know what would cause this? Do you think it could be a bad switch? I've checked the continuity of everything and the wiring is all good. All I can think of is that one or both of the switches must not be working right. Any thoughts?

Thats an odd one. The power lock switches work in series. If one doesn't work usually niether does the other. So I gather what you are saying is if you push both to the lock position at the same time the doors lock and visa vera for open. But if you push one nothing happens. If thats the case I would think its wiring related.

Here is how they work. Orange comes from 25 amp fuse. Supplies power to both. Blue goes from one switch to the other. Black goes from one switch to the other.. The right door switch grounds to the rh door frame. All operation goes through the drivers door switch. My guess is the problem is in the passenger door ground. Or the black wire between the two.

Jim

 

[jdp6000]

 

[jdp6000]

The above is out of the 1982 shop manual. See what I mean by everything going through the left hand switch???? Opps its upside down...

Jim

 

[tomj1404]

I had a different wiring diagram that left out the two wires going to the anti theft. I've checked all the wiring. When I hit the passenger switch, the power goes over to the drivers switch, but it doesn't make it through to the actuator wires unless the drivers switch is also pressed. I wonder if the anti theft system is interfering because I think I was having an issue with the Tan wire, but the continuity was good. My drivers side lock cylinder doesn't turn counter clockwise, and I think the anti theft is disabled, but I did see a tan and a black wire hooked up to the lock cylinder. If the anti theft system isn't working could that cause a problem with the power lock operation?

It seems to me that the anti theft must be the issue, because I've checked everything else; however, after fighting with it all weekend, I ended up taking it in to the dealer today. Hopefully I'll get it back tomorrow. I guess I should have been a little more patient and looked at it again today. (Shh... don't tell my wife that we might have figured it out.)

 

[mkapp7879]

I had a problem with one of my power lock switches. I simply took a razer knife and scraped the contacts. Problem went away! My wife has a "similar" problem with her GE electric oven(stay with me here!). Occasionally it goes into a "code" and won't work. I pull the front panel, unplug the plastic "ribbon" and take a knife and gently scrape the contacts. They don't look bad but it works.

 

[bill81vette]

From what you described in you 2nd post, it almost sounds like it is either losing contact or a bad switch.
I would pull the wiring off the back of the switch and clean them up 1st with either a razor,as mkapp7879 suggests or a small wire brush,then use some dielectric lube on the posts to help prevent corrosion.If that doesn't work,replace the switch.

 

[jdp6000]

I don't think the alarm has anything to do with it. I don't think the theft deterent system prevents the locks from working. Looking at the shop manual...nothing in there to suggest that.

Take a deep breath start over. Power goes to both switches through the orange. switches only trigger up or down. You say when you hit the passengerside switch power goes to the driverside but does not make it through. Everything from the passnegerside goes through the driverside switch. The passengerside switch will not work if the driverside is faulty. That also means if the driverside switch is faulty nothing will go through it properly.

I know you have gone to the dealer but I'm going to guess its the driverside switch. Try and keep your old switches. They are basic inside. I replaced several with new (Made in Mexico) none ever worked for long so I opened up the original switch and fixed the insides.

Jim

 

[jdp6000]

Looking at the theft deterrent diagram. The gray signals armed and the tan signals disarmed. Whats odd is it shows a blue wire in the theft deterrent schematic coming from each door switch and bundling up with the blues from the "T" tops and hatch (only on the collector edition). The blue after bundling up continues to the theft deterent module and plugs into the spot marked "alarm signal". As you see in the diagram above nothing branches off the blue in the door lock diagram.

Jim

 

[tomj1404]

So the dealership said it was a bad drivers side switch, but they were going to charge me $65 in parts and $90 in labor ($90 to plug in a switch!?). So I went to Checker and got one of those $15 switches. That seems to have fixed it, except that the new switch doesn't do anything. I put the new switch on the passenger side and the other one on the drivers side, so now the door locks work from the drivers side switch. That's good enough for me, since what I really want to do is just hook up a keyless entry. Problem now is that I spent my keyless entry money at the dealer. I might have to go buy another switch and see if that will work from the passenger side also. Thanks for all your help!

 

[jdp6000]

Take the old switch and gently pry the tabs back. Open it up. There will be a copper colored flat flexible piece of metal. constant use straightens it out and it fails to make contact with the pin. Bend it back into shape so it makes contact with the pin. Put it back together. Give the tabs a hit with a screw driver and hammer. Should work as good as new...unless something is broken.

FWIW careful when you pull it apart...cant remember if there is a spring in there that sends everything flying...or was that another part I fixed...hmmmm

Jim

 

[craig32]

Hey Tom,
I did the same thing, with the same result. Those switches aren't all the same. You probably got a power window switch, which looks the same but isn't. After I got the proper switch, everything was fine.

Craig

 

[tomj1404]

You're right Craig. I just went and looked at the package and I got the power window switch. I can't believe it isn't the same, it looks exactly the same. None of the parts stores had a matching door lock switch, so I just ordered a new one from Ecklers.

Jim, I tried taking apart my other switch, but it's all plastic and the housing just broke. There were two copper pieces in there, but I don't know how they are supposed to go, so, like I said, I just ordered another one.

 

[craig32]

Hey Tom,
I don't think that switch is 'Corvette exclusive' either. My neighbor had an 89 Blazer with power locks, and the switch looked the same to me. It even had 'LOCK' on the bezel like ours do.

Craig

 

[jdp6000]

Sorry to hear they broke Tom. Keep those parts...ya never know...

Jim

 

[tomj1404]

Well, my new lock switch from Ecklers came in the mail. It had the same sticker, the same numbers, and is exactly the same as the power window switch I bought from checker. I plugged the new switch in and it was doing the same thing, it would work from the driver's side switch but the passenger switch did nothing. Just for fun, I plugged the checker switch into the drivers side and now everything works perfectly. I guess I had two bad switches, which is frustrating because I thought thats what the problem was three years ago when I bought my last set of new switches, but that didn't fix the problem back then. I finally got a set of switches that work though. Thank you very much for all of your help! The next step now is to get my keyless entry system.

 

[jdp6000]

i should have mentioned that. I went through 3 new switches. None worked. I popped open the original one and fixed it. Some of the after market stuff is crap.

Jim