Hi all,

Yes, I have a transmission in my '90 240 but the front passenger's side door lock doesn't follow it's colleagues by going up and down with the rest of them. How can I persuade this little knob to get with the program? Lube shot down it's little gopher hole? Door wiring?

thanks,

Paul

Paul,

I had the same problem, and found this in the archives. The part about the thermistors fixed mine.

>Another factoid for you: The locks are actuated by small motors. The motors have thermistors in them to protect the motor from overheating. (This can happen if you're driving down the road on a warm day, window down, arm out, resting on & pushing down the button for 15 minutes. The motors can't take the current for that long without overheating. The thermistor gets warm and limits the current.)

The thermistor is a small disc about the size of a penny, and is inserted between two clips inside the motor. Each face is silver coated, and after years the coating gets tarnished and won't conduct current -- so the lock motor fails. You can clean the silver coatings by (gently) scrubbing with a pencil eraser. Avoid fingerprints or other contamination when reinserting the thermistor.

When reassembling the motor, be sure to install the rack and gears properly -- otherwise the motor will act backwards. (You only have two choices -- right or wrong.) -->

good luck.

Paul,

How ironic. My '89 has the same quirk on the front passenger side only. Thankfully it will lock when I lock the doors, but it refuses to unlock like the rest of them. I've learned to live with this. :-)

Regards,

Eric Staufer

'89 244DL 114k

check the door lock actuator. This is the electrical motor that pushes up or pulls down the door knob. The plastic gears get stuck and won't rotate freely. Take door panel out and remove actuator. Clean and lubricate gears and make sure motor is working. If motor is busted buy a used actuator. Seen them on ebay for $10 bucks.

Good luck