Power door lock problem

[jimEMT]

Recently on my 2005 Sport Trac started having lock/unlock problems. The driver side will lock all doors, but in order to unlock the doors I have to reach over and use the unlock button on the passenger side. Which can be annoying. Passenger side will not lock door. The key works fine in both doors and the keypad works fine also. Remote works as it's supposed to. So.... driver side locks doors, passenger side unlocks doors.
Any known fixes for this before ripping things apart?

Did you find a solution to your issue? I don't know if it's an actuator in my truck...if it was, wouldn't the driver's door lock not lock or unlock? Only thing that fails to work is the drivers' door unlock, all other functions (other doors, keypad, keyfob) work fine...thought it was isolated to a bad switch but it's fine....any ideas?

 

[brett072588]

I have a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport And the power locks wont lock or unlock the doors and the key wont lock or unlock the door either i just replaced the battery.... U can hear it click when u click the button but nothing happens... So does anyone know what it could be?

 

[F15E_WSO]

I had a similar problem with my '01 Sport which I only fixed a few minutes ago. In my case the driver's side door had difficulty unlocking but no problems locking. This happened when using the power lock switch, exterior combo pad and the key (bought my car used and didn't come with a remote).

The basis for this problem is that the exterior door handle is supposed to be at the resting position (down) in order to unlock the door. That is, if you lift the handle and try to unlock the door it won't happen. There is a thin metal rod that gets pushed downward when you lift the handle which blocks the locking mechanism in some way. When you let go of the handle the rod rises a couple of centimeters and disengages this safety feature. The rod is shaped like a hook at the very top which is hooked onto the door handle through an oval shaped hole.
The problem was that that the door handle wasn't fully pulling this rod back up into place because thes oval hole is too large and allows to much wiggle room (bad design I guess). Unfortunately I could barely see this rod through the openings in the metal door let alone get easy access to it so that I could properly fix it. Instead, I tied a length of picture frame wire to the bottom of this rod (there is a plastic piece attached to the rod that was ideal for tying the wire to) and tied the other end nice and taught to an area of the door handle that I could reach (make sure the handle is in the resting position when you do this, you may have to hold it down). Ghettofabulous I know and a bit of a bandaid style solution but it's all I can do for the moment and now the lock works fine!

I don't know if any of what I just wrote makes sense as it is kind of difficult to explain. It took me a little while to even get a mental image of what was wrong with it since I could barely see anything in there. If you're still confused let me know and I'll try to draw a simple diagram. I've noticed in some other threads that some explorers use a spring or wire and seem to be much easier to get at.

Cheers.

This worked for us, same problem. Used some picture frame wire (braided), fastened it into a loop and around the yellow plastic on the threaded rod that moves up and down. Then looped the wire through the oval in the door handle, all the way at the top, then back down avoiding the wire bundle from the keyless entry and looped it tightly around the metal support crash/tube that strengthens the door panel. Once the wire was tightly fastened and tested a few times (Keep in mind your power window needs to clear everything) then I duct taped (yes duct tape) the wire to the tube, to itself etc etc. This is a very lame fix but I suspect it will hold and serve the purpose. No one will ever see it and the "fail" is goofy and a real nuisance on the driver door. Props to the Original Poster that made solving this a cheap and easy fix. Well done.

I took a photo but no longer feature member so can't post. IF someone will PM me I will send the photo and you can post it here.