mack1985transam

So I have a 1985 Trans am and the power locks if locked manually unlock but won't lock. I replaced the locked rod oval shaped thing with the spring in it and new actuators and teased everything. IM thinking maybe the latches are bad??? below are pics of some of what I replaced I bought both left and right sides

mack1985transam

Anyone please help.....

lizardkng

Where below?

mack1985transam

This is a smart phone and it didn't upload en sorry

eseibel67

Do neither left or right PDL work? Anything else that doesn't work? Is there power at the actuator when you push the button? There is a relay on the driver's side kick panel.

mack1985transam

There is perfect power at both doors. The actuators are both moving hard and good. When I manually lock the doors the power locks will unlock them. But when I try to lock them with the power locks they move but do not lock the doors. So the locking rod isn't moving all the way when power locks lock the doors. The rods aren't bent and the locking rod actuator pieces with the springs in them are new. The only thing that hasn't been replaced is the latches which are freely moving I don't what in the hell to do!

85FBTranam

iTrader: (3)

Lubricate the heck out of the latch mechanism, make sure the relay is grounded properly. It grounds through the rivet/screw. Make sure there is a clean contact at the relay and actuator.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

I have tried the following:

1) Replaced door lock actuators (both sides)
2) Lubricated with white lithium grease the latches, rods, actuators, etc.
3) Checked for power
4) Replaced power door lock relay (relay is under the kick panel) (sanded around the mounting screw and it's down to bare metal)
5) Replace power door lock buttons and panel with new (on the door)
6) Replaced actual lock button on door with new ones

It still won't lock fully, or unlock fully.. It's a half lock or unlock so it never actually does anything. Installing the relay helped a bit but still nothing.

My next attempt will include the following:

1) Removing the door latches completely, degreasing, and re-greasing them and re-installing
2) Removing the rivets from the actuator and mount them with heavy duty bolts and re-inforce the mount locations with a steel plate so the metal inner door panel flexes less (or hopefully not at all)

LilSki

iTrader: (1)

I doubt there is anything wring with the actuators. I would do as recommended and lubricate everything with white lithium grease. But one more thing to check is the the actuator mounting to the door. If there is any slop in the factory rivets no amount of lube will fix it. You must drill out the rivets and replace them with bolts and nuts. When there is slop in the mount it shifts off to the side not giving it full movement to the mechanism.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

That could very well be my prob then

mack1985transam

Okay hold on a second fellas I will once again retell what I have done. First I have installed new door actuators on both left and right doors. secondly I installed new linkage and greased the living **** out of everything on both let and right sides. I also installed everything with nuts and bolts! The actuators go up and down hard when I say hard I mean like the way mike Tyson used tho hit in thus prime. Everything ifs free flowing but the this just stays in the middlleI'm guessing it has to be mechanical its defiantly not electrical!

mack1985transam

Sorry about some grammatical errors its late at night and IM on my phone using the internet so the keyboard is difficult! But no rods are bent. IDK what to do

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

I used to have to hit the lock button twice to lock my door. One thing I did besides replace the actuators and clean up the rods is I removed the latch mechanism and sat it in degreaser for awhile until all the dirt and old grease was gone. My door locks work great now. It's worth a try if all else fails.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

I have a hunch our latch mechanisms need a good degreasin' and regreasin' lol.

mack1985transam

I don't know what could be wrong I've tried everything is there an insert on the oval shaped mechanism that has the spring in it that goes around the locking rod? Also where can I get a door schematic at I mean a good full breakdown???

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

New latches are like over 250$ each so that's not gonna happen lol. Taking them off and doing a full clean seems like the best/cheapest approach. I like the idea of screws and bolts for the actuator instead of rivets. I hate rivets lol.

LHernandezJr

Not sure if any of the comments I posted to my build log would be of help. I ran into a similar situation and the only way to get the door locks to work was to adjust the actuator rod by bending it which shortened it a bit.

You may want to see the post where I wrote about this: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...3-post420.html

Of course I did all this with the panel off the door, and now that the panel is back, it seems that it applies enough pressure to cause a similar issue. Not a great design to start with so only so much you can do.

Hope this helps.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

Soak the latches in Purple Power degreaser for a little while. Just don't leave it too long because it will strip the cadmium plating. Shoot some white lithium grease in it, and reinstall. You will be surprised at the difference. They will also look shiny and new again which is always nice. Just snap some pics before you remove so you know where all the rods go back.
I would do this even if adjusting the rod fixes it. It will remove all the crud in the latch.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

How long is a little while?

mack1985transam

Does anyone have a schematic on the door???

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

Maybe an hour or two - once you see all the crud is loosened up and you can finish the job with an old toothbrush - take it out. Also - wear gloves. That stuff is nasty.

mack1985transam

Okay this sounds good but does anyone know where I can download or buy a schematic/breakdown of the doors???

88I-ROC

I have the same problem, but have no idea where to start cause I don't know the locations of all the related parts like the actuator for example. In my situation, the passenger side door lock is perfect, however the driver side door would not lock when using the power lock button, but it will unlock perfectly fine.

mack1985transam

The doors have new actuators and locking rod mechanisms in them everything is greased and I am getting very good constant power to the doors and actuators but when I unlock and lock them automatically the actuators move hard but the locking rod doesn't! When I lock/unlock them manually they do just fine!

speedpower09

iTrader: (1)

I got an 88 same problem. I am going to start working on it degreasing. On my car the actuator rod was not going stright but bending toward glass. That why I think on mine is binding but on mine it will not lock or unlock

Adamosm

If anyone else has this problem email me. I had it, found the problem, and then improved it so its less likely to happen again.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

This is an open forum. Why don't you just post your solution so others can learn from your experience.

Adamosm

Hi, I'm just busy and since the posts were old I thought I would wait until someone needed it. I will see what I can do. Thanks

Chad85T/A

iTrader: (1)

.
I'm having this same problem. Mine is binding somehow. I've had this thing apart and cleaned and greased every single piece. I'm at a loss. My driver door works flawlessly, but the passenger door won't completely lock or unlock.

Ron U.S.M.C.

My actuater rod was actually two rods heald together by a loop on each end. There was slop in that conection so I pulled them "away" from each other and screwed in a small bolt that titend it up. No more play, no more problem.
Put the screw in as shown because you want the rods as long as possible.
Anyway I did this about 8 years ago so Im just going by faded memory.

Heres a quick drawing of what Im talking about. =

Adamosm

A. I have a 1988 Camaro, so at this time its going on 26 years old.
B. Part of the problem with the door fully locking and unlocking is that the electronic actuator/switch may not be as strong as it once was, and that it has some wear. I noticed, as someone else pointed out, that when going into the lock position, the actuator moves up and out of its internal sleeve, and that results in it leaning away from its ideal direction and towards the glass. This results in less power available for switching from the unlock to the lock position. This is unlike the unlock action where the actuator moves down and into its sleeve...which will have less slop and stays on axis, so there is no leaning and it works better. Ok, but DON’T REPLACE IT …YET...its too expensive.
In my case I was getting full unlock, but only half the lock movement. On both doors.
C. # 1, take the lock mechanism out of the door. Here is a pic of it and the lock/unlock lever:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg[/IMG]

After getting it out, and before doing anything with it, measure the force needed to unlock and lock the mechanism. I used a spring and a tape measure to see how far I would have to stretch the spring before it completely moved. (I know, it’s a bit much, but I’m a dork and thought it would be fun). Turn the mechanism around and repeat to see the spring stretch distance for the opposite action (locking and unlocking).
Pic of force measurement setup:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image004.jpg[/IMG]
#2. There is a circular spring in the mechanism the controls the force of locking and unlocking. Remove it and repeat the spring stretch tests. In my case, as soon as the spring was out, the was absolutely not force required.
Pic of the spring and its location:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image006.jpg[/IMG]

#3. The locking/unlocking lever that you've been testing connects to several other internal levers, etc., all of which ride on some rods that must be clean and well lubricated. So now you want to clean and lubricate all of these so that there is absolutely 0 force required to move the lock/unlock lever(with the circular spring out). ALSO, clean and lubricate that circular spring.
Pic below:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image008.jpg[/IMG]
In my case, I believe that the spring was dragging on itself, and there was a particle of dirt or metal in the lever pivot that caused my lever to not move smoothly.
#4. Ok, now with 0 force required to move the lever, and everything clean and lubricated (btw, I used in white lithium but I'm sure almost any lubricants will do). Now reinstall the circular spring, and retest the pull distance. For me, and the spring I was using, before I had a distance of 9 3/4 in to lock, afterwards I measured 5 3/4 in. Great improvement! The unlocking spring stretch distance before was 5 1/4 and after was in 4 1/2 in.
This might be enough for you, and probably was enough for me, but I'm a lot **** and didn't want to deal with this again in the future. So if you want more then follow the next step as well.
#5. Ok, so the lever used to lock and unlock on the mechanism has different angles, depending on the position. When unlocking, the lever starts in the locked position, and that position is about 90 degrees to the long rod that the actuator controls.
See pic…not the best angle, but will have to do:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image010.jpg[/IMG]
This is perfect...all the force goes into the proper direction. However, when locking, the lever starts in the unlocked position, and that lever position is abou 45 degrees to the long rod.

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image011.gif[/IMG]

This is a vector that is not ideal. 45 degrees means that only 1/2 of the force is going into moving the lever....that is why the locking is not working as well as the unlocking. Maybe that's not a perfect analysis, or all the factors, but it a significant factor.
Ok, so what to do?
Simplest that I came up with is to just lengthen the lever so that you get more power in both directions. The lever is about 1 in long, and the rod connects to it at about 3/4 in. So I removed the clip from the lever, cut a small rectangular piece of metal about 1 in long and the same width of the lever, drilled 2 holes, the same diameter as the ones already in the lever.
Pic:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image017.jpg[/IMG]

The first hole (left side in pic) is very near the end of your new lever, and the second hole is so that it lines up with the original rod hole in the lever. Note the “teeth” at the right side. There were 2 holes in the original lever. Because I’m only using 1 screw, there is a good chance that this extension lever will rotate. So the “teeth” are really just 2 slots cut so that the middle tooth can be bent down and fit into the second hole on the original lever. Now with the screw and this piece of bent metal in the 2nd hole, there won’t be any way for it to rotate. (the stell I’m using was scrap and about about 1/16” thick)
Fit a screw in the second hole of your lever extension and screw it into the rod hold of the original lever. PRE-cut the screw so that no excess length will interfere with the mechanism chassis. (PREcut cuase you just cleaned the the thing and you don’t need new metal pieces in there!)
Place the removed clip on the end of the lever over your new hole...the other end of the clip should go over your installs screw, but once your rod is in it can't move anyway, so not a big deal if you broke it or it won't connect well.
Heres what it looks like:
Top view:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image019.jpg[/IMG]


Bottom view:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/mcinvale/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image021.jpg[/IMG]

Ok, make sure your rod fits in, and that the hole is smooth so it won't damage the rod or cause movement binding.
Finally install the lock mechanism back into the door. IMPORTANT: IF YOU make you lever extension too long it will hit the inside of the door. My extension lever gave me about 3/8 in more lever length. That's about 50% longer and therefor about 50% more power to move the lever...so less stress on the actuator and more potential to overcome any minor binding that occurs over time.

Adamosm

Wasn't able to imbed the images so to see them you'll have to down load the Word Doc that I've attached.
I hope you find the info useful.
adam

Termn8r

I had almost the same issue. Doors would only half lock/unlock, but I could do it manually no problem. All I had to do was put in new actuators. Heck I didn't even grease anything down. My problem went away. I think you have more than covered what it normally takes. I want to lean towards some kind of play that needs tightened up like is stated above.

camarosource

iTrader: (1)

Hello Adamosm,

I too have the same issue.. Was just about to replace the actuator in my passenger side (original complete with factory rivots in this now 23 year old car [1992] ).. But your article is VERY interesting and just wanted to say THANKS for all the time you took out to not only write but editing the photo's..

I noticed no one said thanks which I am quite surprised!

I will look into this on the weekend and let you know what happens.

Adamosm

Camarosorce, you're very welcome. I'm glad all the effort to document that work is helping people. Btw, I have gotten some personal email thank you's...its been enough to make it worth it.