Driver Side Door Wont Lock

[unoahnoah]

My drivers side door will not lock! Even when the rest of the car is locked the drivers side can be opened. What could be causing this? how can i fix this?
It is the 1996 Explorer XLT with keyless entry

 

[91exploreron37]

My mom's and a coworkers 2nd gen explorer does the same thing maybe theres a recall?

 

[Blee1099]

Check the door actuator if that checks out okay then it may be one of the rods that have slipped off.

Does the door lock when you press down on the lock tab?
Can you hear the lock actuator move when you press the power lock button or the remote lock button?

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

that suxs man

 

[unoahnoah]

when i press down on the lock tab it makes a really loud buzzing noise? sounds really bad.

 

[cgolden]

check to see if the rivit next to the door panel is poped out

 

[The_Hammer]

I have this same problem. I tried reading through the other threads about driver side door lock problems but it seems like most are associated with the door not unlocking.

My problem is that I can't lock it. Driver side door can't be locked by any method: keyless, power lock, manually. You can't even manually push the lock rod down, it has alot of resistance like it wants to go down but just pops back up again.

I assume that some sort of rod or something is seized. I sprayed the crap out of the latch mechanism with lubricant and tried jiggling it but nothing.

I am going to take the panel off and have a look, but any advice would be great. (I just bought this last night and already on day 1 had this happen).

 

[gmanpaint]

when i press down on the lock tab it makes a really loud buzzing noise? sounds really bad.

Your lock actuator is messed up. The gears are probably stripped out, I am going thru the same deal on mine. Need to replace the actuator, but my hands are too dang big to work on it. It is a tight space and I am going to have to take it in to have it replaced.

 

[The_Hammer]

I hope that mine isn't the actuator haha. Because there's no way my big gloves are going to fit in there. Mine doesn't make a buzzing sound when i try to push down the lock though, it just purely won't push down.

 

[mixellmaster]

I doubt it is the actuator. If it was, you would still be able to manually lock the door. Sounds like a bent rod or broken clip, since it kushes down hard and goes right back where it was. Something is physically blocking movement.
Does the lock turn freely? Does that still activate the lock/unlock when you turn it twice?

 

[The_Hammer]

When you try to lock/unlock it manually from the outside the key basically moves freely from side to side and doesn't seem to do anything. When you manually push down on the lock it has alot of resistance and you can kind of push it down part way then it kind of springs back up a bit, you definitly can't get it to fully push down to the lock position.

 

[The_Hammer]

Well I figured my problem out last night. I don't think it is the same fix as most people door locking problems but I will post it regardless.

If you want to know the issues you can read up a post. I took the door panel off and realized that one of the connecting rods was just hanging there. I looked at the diagram for what the latch mechanism should look like, and the lock cylinder. There is a yellow clip attached to the end and I realized the rod was supposed to be connected to it. It is kind of hard to reach your hands in there, but you can do it by feel. The rod just popped back into place and it all works perfectly now.

Pretty easy fix in my situation.

 

[mora20164]

Same Exact Problem

I have a XLT 2000 and mine is doing the Exact same symptom. Keyless entry closes all the doors except driver side, but when closed the keyless entry can open it. Hammer, do you have a link to the diagram you were describing in your post? I will work on it this weekend when I have more time.

Thanks.

 

[gmanpaint]

I got a new actuator in myself a while back. It was a tight fit for my hands, buy I got it swapped. Works like a charm now, and very quite. I cant even hear the locks opening or closing now.
I learned that you do not have to drill any rivets at all to do this. The actuator is held in by a mount that has 2 holes in it. On the sides of the actuator motor casing, there are 2 black plastic pegs that simply fit into these holes. Pry the mount apart, slide out the actuator, slide in the new one, hook up the rods, connector, and your done.

 

[Peacock]

sorry to bump an old thread, but I need that same diagram from Hammer or someone else... My lock problem is EXACTLY like Hammer's.