2001 Explorer Sport. Locking problem.

[20sportman01]

my 01 sport has automatic locks with the key pad on the door n locks when u put it in drive n such. when its locked u can still open the doors from the inside. though every so often for a few days at a time i will have to pull the handle on the driver side twice from the inside to open it and in order to unlock it from the outside i will have to keep turning the key and lifting up on the handle to get the door to unlock......it will do it for a few days and then be perfectly fine................ whats wrong with this??

 

[1Aauto]

welcome to the site

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the stock 95-01 section.

 

[Facimeor]

my guess is you have the typical broken spring in the latch mechanism. Its a pretty common problem.

here is a common fix some people do:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207373&highlight=door+lock+spring

there is actually a tiny little spring in the latch mechanism that breaks and its a pain to get in there to replace it so the thread above is an alternate method. Otherwise I recommend replacing the latch.