2002 Driver's door locks self when opened.

[1998rollover]

I unlock the doors and when I open the driver's door it locks itself. Just that door, not the others.

 

[Markek]

I have pretty much the same problem with my 2001.

Most times when I open the door or shut door my locks will lock. This has happened numerous times getting out of the truck with the keys still in it. Luckily I have the keyless entry. Saved me so many times.

 

[koda2000]

I have pretty much the same problem with my 2001.

Most times when I open the door or shut door my locks will lock. This has happened numerous times getting out of the truck with the keys still in it. Luckily I have the keyless entry. Saved me so many times.

Yep. My 2000 XLT does this quite often. Thank goodness I have the keypad on the door to let myself back in. None of my other trucks has ever done this.

 

[Kjhadfield]

I don't recall this- I think normally the doors should only lock itself (while running) after all doors are shut and you engage into drive but not just after/while you open the door still in park.

I wish my keypad would work 100, every digit illuminates/can lock doors via keypad but the code never works to unlock

 

[Markek]

Mine seems to be something with the interior door handle engaging (or not engaging) all the way. I'll try and monkey with it tomorrow to see if I can duplicate the problem.

 

[1998rollover]

It does it when I open the door with the outside handle. It's unlocked, I open the door and it locks.

 

[koda2000]

It does it when I open the door with the outside handle. It's unlocked, I open the door and it locks.

mine does it when I get out of the truck with the engine running and shut the door (like when I get out to open/close my gate). it doesn't do it 100% of the time, but pretty often. PITA.

 

[Markek]

mine does it when I get out of the truck with the engine running and shut the door (like when I get out to open/close my gate). it doesn't do it 100% of the time, but pretty often. PITA.

Koda,

Yours sounds about exactly like mine!!

It seems like mine is the inside door handle. When I open it from the inside sometimes it doesn't return all the way. I'll check again when my son gets home with it.

 

[Kjhadfield]

Is it possible the locks are jammed up just enough for when it engages, either that or has to be some electrical- cause I'm pretty sure it's definately not normal.

Im pretty sure the auto door locks is a safety feature that only is supposed to initiate when in drive. I also believe that feature can be disabled w/ some crazy reprogramming (raise your hand, stick tongue out then hop in a circle on 1 leg) kind of thing

 

[koda2000]

Koda,

Yours sounds about exactly like mine!!

It seems like mine is the inside door handle. When I open it from the inside sometimes it doesn't return all the way. I'll check again when my son gets home with it.

On mine it might have something to do with my lock actuator on the driver's door. It's rather weak. When I first bought the truck the PO had even unplugged it and he never knew the keypad code. Hmmm. Sometimes I have to hit the fob button several times to get the door to unlock, or even use the key. IDK if that might have something to do with it. My inside door handle works fine. Maybe if the actuator doesn't disengage all the way it relocks itself ???

 

[1998rollover]

I have two 1998 Mountaineers and on one it takes multiple hits of the fob or inside unlock button to get the driver's door to unlock. On the other one the driver's door always unlocks but makes a loud grinding noise.

 

[koda2000]

I have two 1998 Mountaineers and on one it takes multiple hits of the fob or inside unlock button to get the driver's door to unlock. On the other one the driver's door always unlocks but makes a loud grinding noise.

the grinding noise is the nylon gears inside the actuator stripping. on my ST the passenger front door makes this noise, but the gears are completely stripped, so the door neither locks nor unlocks. The actuators just eventually wear out.

 

[bdmaash]

the "door locks itself" and "multiple attempts to unlock" is part of the broken springs in latch/handle area. the door latch spring fix (sticky thead) may fix the issue.

 

[Markek]

Checked mine yesterday and the problem i have is only with the drivers door. Seems the lock button sticks or hangs up sometimes and doesn't go all the way up. When i close the door it goes back down to the lock position.

 

[koda2000]

Checked mine yesterday and the problem i have is only with the drivers door. Seems the lock button sticks or hangs up sometimes and doesn't go all the way up. When i close the door it goes back down to the lock position.

This is quite possibly what happens with mine, due to the weak actuator usually pushing the button up far enough to open the door, but not enough to put the latch lock rod in it's full up/open position. I will say that I've tried closing the door very gently and only to it's partially latched position, but that's really the only explanation that makes any sense. I don't think it's electrical. I've noticed that if I remove the black plastic lock button the actuator works much better. I've even mounted the button in my drill and sanded it down a bit to reduce the friction on it in the door's eyelet and put a few drops of oil on it. This helps, but not enough. I should probably remove the interior door panel and see if any adjustment/alignment of the lock rod and/or lubrication will help. I should just install a new actuator, but I just don't have the time or ambition right now. Too many other more pressing projects with my ST.

 

[sr139fox]

Have you checked the wires at the door hinge? Exposed wire could be shorting out when the door is opened causing the lock to activate. Dave p.

 

[Kjhadfield]

This is quite possibly what happens with mine, due to the weak actuator usually pushing the button up far enough to open the door, but not enough to put the latch lock rod in it's full up/open position. I will say that I've tried closing the door very gently and only to it's partially latched position, but that's really the only explanation that makes any sense. I don't think it's electrical. I've noticed that if I remove the black plastic lock button the actuator works much better. I've even mounted the button in my drill and sanded it down a bit to reduce the friction on it in the door's eyelet and put a few drops of oil on it. This helps, but not enough. I should probably remove the interior door panel and see if any adjustment/alignment of the lock rod and/or lubrication will help. I should just install a new actuator, but I just don't have the time or ambition right now. Too many other more pressing projects with my ST.

Both you and markek probably have a broken spring (or worn out spring) like bdmash just mentioned. My locks before, had trouble fully engaging or disengage and when I looked at the thread bdmash linked, I noticed my spring wasn't broken so I didn't do the fix but still had same problem. I added a spring to the yellow clip and attached to inner part or exterior handle and it worked (so my spring was worn out).

It can be more than 1 thing- for me it was that spring, the actuator rivet and broken wires in the door jam. All of which I fixed for probably under 5$

 

[koda2000]

Both you and markek probably have a broken spring (or worn out spring) like bdmash just mentioned. My locks before, had trouble fully engaging or disengage and when I looked at the thread bdmash linked, I noticed my spring wasn't broken so I didn't do the fix but still had same problem. I added a spring to the yellow clip and attached to inner part or exterior handle and it worked (so my spring was worn out).

It can be more than 1 thing- for me it was that spring, the actuator rivet and broken wires in the door jam. All of which I fixed for probably under 5$

I don't have a floppy exterior door handle if that's what you're referring to. My '97 had a small broken spring inside the latch mechanism. This prevented the door from unlocking, as I recall. You couldn't even open it with the key unless you played with it. Since the tiny broken spring was removed, I've never had a problem with it. That was over a year ago.

i'm experimenting with checking and pulling up the black plastic knob now to see if it still seems to self-lock.

 

[Markek]

Not sure if it's a cure all but put a little wd40 down the drivers lock button and it seems to solve the problem of the drivers door relocking when I get out and shut the door.

 

[koda2000]

Yeah the WD40 helps some. I even put my knob in my drill and sanded it down, which also helped. I've be keeping a close eye on mine over the past week or so. I'm convinced that the problem is that when you get out the knob doesn't pop up all the way. Then when I close the door the knob drops just enough to lock the door. I've noticed that 50% of the time my knob is only popping up about 1/2-3/4 of the way. Is that a latch or linkage issue? I'm not sure. I'm thinking latch.