GL/Loyale Broken Power Locks

[SuspiciousPizza]

'89 GL wagon

Last winter we had a cold snap and some component of my power lock system froze. When I unlocked the car in the morning, I heard something break inside the door and my power locks stopped working since.

The locks still work as manual locks. The door lock light on the dash recognizes every lock except the driver door. 

So I took all the driver door lock components out and nothing seems broken. The plastic pieces are intact and the mechanism functions smoothly. I replaced the door lock actuator (unknown condition of the actuator, I didn't pull the part myself) and nothing. No difference. *Edit: I just checked the terminals of the driver door actuator and it's operating as it should.

Fuse is fine, I really don't think it's an electrical issue. Possibly electromechanical.

Any ideas?

:]

Edited Tuesday at 08:39 PM by SuspiciousPizza

[el_freddo]

Have you opened up the locking actuator to see what’s amiss? 

I’m guessing it’s a sealed unit now that I suggested opening it up… does it make any noise when being told to do something?

[SuspiciousPizza]

The power locks use a switch in the driver door that tells the other locks when to lock or unlock. So the drivers door lock is manual and controls all the other locks with that master switch "actuator" (there's actually no motor in it).

I opened the switch and checked the internal contacts. Everything is operating as it should. No cracked solder joints or excessive corrosion. It's nice to be able to open components. 

When I was looking in the FSM, allegedly there is a power lock actuator on the rear cargo door (the car is a wagon/estate). If so, it's never operated as a power lock in my ownership and doesn't trigger the door lock light. I've always used it as a manual lock. 

Perhaps the actuators are ran in series and when one goes bad, the rest don't work (like old school Christmas lights).

The locks don't make any noise. They operate as manual locks and the 3 doors other than the driver door and rear cargo door trigger the door lock light.

 

Edited Wednesday at 03:06 PM by SuspiciousPizza

[SuspiciousPizza]

I had to unjam the cassette ejection mechanism last night. After I plugged the cassette player back in, the rear wiper switch illuminated for the first time in my ownership.

There's some weird electrical gremlins going on here. So maybe the door lock issue is some sort of electrical issue. I'll break out the FSM and multimeter this weekend and check out what's going on. 

Oh I wish it's actually a mechanical issue, those make so much more sense than those invisible electrons.

[SuspiciousPizza]

It was a terminal connection issue coming from the driver's door to the dash harness. 

The hatch still only works as manual. That's less annoying than manually locking and unlocking doors from the inside so I'll leave it for now. 

That breaking noise I heard I believe was a locking rod disconnecting from its socket. One on the driver side was only semi-connected. 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by SuspiciousPizza