Solutions for “reluctant” power door locks.

[XfireZ51]

Replaced door panels this winter. What a PITA, but I got a great deal on a set of Cognac panels that are in very good condition. I did this in conjunction w installing new gasketing around door openings to cut down road and wind noise.
I had doors and windows adjusted by friend who owns body shop. Also installed Mid America foam barriers between panel and inner door.
My door locks have always been a bit balky and have always required bumping the switch a few times to fully lock door, specially driver’s side.
I know =Jeff= converted his to 94-96 style, but wondering if anyone else has come up w improvements over current klugie setup?

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

Replaced door panels this winter. What a PITA, but I got a great deal on a set of Cognac panels that are in very good condition. I did this in conjunction w installing new gasketing around door openings to cut down road and wind noise.
I had doors and windows adjusted by friend who owns body shop. Also installed Mid America foam barriers between panel and inner door.
My door locks have always been a bit balky and have always required bumping the switch a few times to fully lock door, specially driver’s side.
I know =Jeff= converted his to 94-96 style, but wondering if anyone else has come up w improvements over current klugie setup?

Based on my experience, later model foam liner can interfere with "Z" section of rod between the manual lock to lock mechanism. I would remove panel and make sure the cut on the foam liner is not overly tight.
I need to get in and check what is going on also. For some reason, power lock switch has no problem locking the passenger side lock. However, when the driver side door is shut with ignition key in ignition, passenger side solenoid makes groaning noise and fails to unlock the driver side as it is supposed to. More aggravating is that opening the passenger side door without deactivating the alarm manually using the door key at driver side or passenger side door lock triggers the alarm every time. A real PITA!

[Paul Workman]

Like corrosion on the battery terminals affects the starter, so does corrosion on the lock switch or the log solenoid, I find. (Duh!) Sometimes it's just the simple things!