Door lock operation.

[David T]

Yes that is possible. The solenoids have two coils. One for lock the other for unlock. But then a connection to that second coil could also be bad. If you have an ohm meter you can test that the coil is not open or shorted.

Actually there is only one solenoid coil in each door. The polarity is reversed to make the coil act one way or the other. You can only check for a short to ground or an open coil, you won't measure if some of the turns are shorted. Since you were messing around it is probably just a dirty contact in one of the wiper switches. Shorted coils will cause a reduction in the power of the solenoid and a big increase in the current.

[Elvis]

BS !

there's two coils !

wanna see pictures ?

[Elvis]

Sorry for the confusion in my original post. The driver door will lock the passenger door, but not unlock the passenger door. The passenger door will lock and unlock the driver door. I checked continuity for all wires leading from the door lock module harness connector to both lock switch harness connectors as well as the solenoids harness connectors and they seem to be continuos. I also checked both the lock switches in their two positions and they seem to be okay. Is it possible for the passenger solenoid to be functioning in one direction, but not the other?

Like thousand times repeated the relays tend to stick together and burn the coils.

you can NOT measure a burned coil with a regular multimeter !

when it's burned inside, it may or may not produce enough force to move the locks.

Known problem, this is why we always tell people to install a 10A fuse to exactly prevent
the coils from burning.


Another problem I saw was - oxydized connector in the roof box.
a good thing to look in there for rust, many cars have a rust problem up there.
very often - but not always - the lock or unlock coils in both doors are burned,
as they are connected in parallel.


by the way - it can be helpful to push the relays by hand to analyze the problem.
BUT not much more than a second - and close the doors before doing it !

[dblincoln3]

I just plan on replacing the solenoids with actuators now anyway, since the doors are already apart.

[Jonathan]

Question:

Not sure what I did

Answer:

I plugged everything back together

Might have just been that your electrical connections weren't good.

Our cars have a reputation for fixing themselves... which you would think is magic, but it's probably just the corroded terminal Gremlins that are actually fixing it for you.

[Elvis]

I just plan on replacing the solenoids with actuators now anyway, since the doors are already apart.

Why ?

if the solenoids aren't burnt (because of the bad relays and the owner who did not install a fuse) - there is absolutely
no reason to replace them.

[DMCMW Dave]

BS !

there's two coils !

wanna see pictures ?

Agreed. That's why you have to replace both at once if you are changing to actuator motors, because the motor-type do get reversed so an electrical change is needed.

The OEM solenoids each have a lock coil and an unlock coil, and they can burn out individually. The original coils have two wires, one is lock and one is unlock, the ground is the common point between the two coils.

Actuator motors have two wires and are not grounded (well -they are but for "lock" one wire is grounded, and for "unlock" the other wire is grounded, and the + side is reversed as well).

http://www.dmcnews.com/Techsection/s.../Rewinding.htm has some good photos of what is inside and you can see what a burned coil looks like vs a not burned coil.

[David T]

BS !

there's two coils !

wanna see pictures ?

I stand corrected, there is one "solenoid" but it has 2 coils internally. There are 3 connections to it, 2 wires and the ground.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Not sure what I did, but it is all working correctly now. I tried testing the solenoid with an ohm meter and I didn't detect a break or short. I plugged everything back together, tested the switches again and now it works. I wish I knew what I did to correct the problem, but I guess the important thing is it is working now.

Locks that "fix" themselves are generally loose or dirty connection problems. I'm assuming you cleaned and checked all of the ground and voltage terminals involved so it sounds like a weak connection at one of the bellcrank point contacts...most likely the driver side. I recommending a slight "tweaking" of the contact arms to give them a little more tension agianst the points.

When upgrading locks I prefer rebuilt solenoids over actuators as they are more powerful and very reliable when properly rebuilt with upgraded bobbins and windings. Actuators are comparatively slow and weak in the applications I've seen and never operate with the authority of a good solenoiod IMHO.

Rob Grady

[ALEXAKOS]

Actuators are comparatively slow and weak in the applications I've seen and never operate with the authority of a good solenoiod IMHO.

Rob Grady

I'll second that opinion with Rob!
I have switched to actuators... The delorean door needs muscle to pull on those door locks.

Actuators are very weak. Plus if they loose their perfect alignment they stop working....