Driver's door won't unlock

1994 RMW. The lock on the driver's side will lock automatically when I put the car in gear, or if I press the locking button. But it will only unlock if I pull up the manual lever.

I can't get a voltmeter on the motor, because it's too cold to try to take the door off. I'll snap off more of those christmas tree mounting points. So, has anyone seen this before? I'm guessing that the lock motor has died.

Does your car have a remote control box? If so, I had the same symptom on my OCC. Changed the box and it works fine.

It does have a remote control box. I think it's behind the locking box in the bed.

Nick my 91 OCC does the same thing intermiittently.It came with the factory keyless entry which
would never program.I had an aftermarket system installed which worked great until recently.
My problem is a loose wire behind the kick panel that is somehow became loose.The parking brake
seems to be causing a short whenever I use it.Biggest problem is the drivers door lock would
occasionally get stuck and run until my battery dies but I think I have that fixed.Let me know
what you find!
Jim

Nick Danger wrote:

It does have a remote control box. I think it's behind the locking box in the bed.

You are correct it is behind the lock box panel on the wheelhouse. The 94-96 have it stuck on with a couple of pieces of two sided goo. The 91-93 have a nice elegant bracket that it screws to. The 91-93 bracket is removable (but it is a PITA), so if you wanted to install one on your car, it can be done.

Yeah, that's the one. The goo had failed from years of Phoenix heat. I reattached it with a nut and bolt.

GM door lock solenoids have two wires (no ground) and operate up and down simply by reversing polarity. Door and remote switches simply swap negative and positive outputs for up and down, so both positive and negative are provided through whatever switches control the solenoids I'm guessing it's a switch problem.
Does the drivers door switch operate the other doors okay?
Does the problem occur just with the remote, or with the inside switch too?
Focusing on localizing the problem will give you a narrower range of places to look for it.

I still haven't looked at it.

I just asked Mrs Danger for details. She says that if she uses the remote, she thinks that there is a clunk inside the door. So right now, I'm thinking that a mechanical linkage has come apart.

If the linkeage is off it will neither lock or unlock with the solenoid,.
as was asked does it affect all 4 doors or just that one,. module reverses polarity for all 4 doors,.

cheap hair dryer will aid emergency door pad removal in cold weather, btdt.

Nick

my 94 has been doing it for about 6 months and the other day my OCC did it too....then the OCC started working again 15 minutes later. curious to see what you find out. I've been too lazy

phantom 309 wrote:

If the linkeage is off it will neither lock or unlock with the solenoid,.
as was asked does it affect all 4 doors or just that one,. module reverses polarity for all 4 doors,.

cheap hair dryer will aid emergency door pad removal in cold weather, btdt.

Nick

Only the driver's door is affected.

I'm in no hurry to remove the door panel. Mrs Danger is not upset by the problem, and the weather will warm up again in a month or two. I live a long way from Canada.

Nick Danger wrote:

phantom 309 wrote:

If the linkeage is off it will neither lock or unlock with the solenoid,.
as was asked does it affect all 4 doors or just that one,. module reverses polarity for all 4 doors,.

cheap hair dryer will aid emergency door pad removal in cold weather, btdt.

Nick

I live a long way from Canada.

Whats your point?

When I lived in New Hampshire, it was snowy until Easter. I would have been tempted to use a hair dryer. Here, spring will come soon enough that it won't test my patience.