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Sliding Door lock mechanism malfunction


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Hey gang!

Looking for a bit of help again - in the past week the lock mechanism on the drivers side sliding door has started malfunctioning. When it attempts to lock it makes a pretty loud "whirring" noise like it is attempting to lock but in the end it ends up staying unlocked. This happens when I use the keyfob as well as when the autolock feature kicks in every time I put it into drive and start driving.

Tried searching the forum but didn't find this issue already documented. Any ideas what I'm dealing with?

There wasn't any "event" that I can think of that prompted the issue to begin happening...any thoughts on troubleshooting this issue?

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  • 2 months later...

I have the same problem with my '10 XLT Wagon driver side sliding door power lock. That whirring noise is LOUD. Pretty embarrassing in a parking lot if anyone else is around! I removed the inner door panel and lock, and it does seem as though something inside the power latch/lock mechanism has worn out/failed. There are no screws to disassemble the component itself - apparently they are not serviceable, or no inside parts are replaceable. I haven't found any salvage supplier - the one's I've talked to won't separate the lock from a salvage sliding door. Best price I've seen for this part is about $230 on eBay.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My driver's side sliding door lock started chattering and the first thing I did was take the panel off and tape a dollar bill on the door frame contacts. I was then able to manually lock the lock and leave it locked until I could fix it (OK, I couldn't fix it, because I was scared to get the can opener and open it up, but my brother the amazing mechanic didn't even slow down).

He opened up the tabs on the lock box and fiddled with the motor connection to the lock and got it to work and it's been working for almost a year. You can probably do this too, once you're over the idea that they don't want you to fix it. The thing is broken, so you might as well give it a try.

David

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  • 3 weeks later...

Glad to hear others have had the issue too. One interesting development on my end is that when I first started this thread I described the noise was happening when I was locking the van. Now the loud whirring noise it has switched to occur only when I'm unlocking the van.

David - any chance you can snap a photo of the tabs/lock box area so I know exactly where to start poking around? I'm not afraid. :)

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  • 3 months later...
  • 4 years later...

This is an old thread, but I noticed when I was exploring the same issue I was having, that it had dead ended.

 

My driver side sliding door was locking fine, but when hitting the power unlock, it rarely unlocked.  And I would have to reach back and turn the mechanical knob to unlock.  Whenever it did unlock itself, it was completely by luck.

 

I’ve been going back and forth the past week to a ‘12 TC sitting in a local Pick n Pull.  Suddenly remembered, oh yeah, I should do something about my door’s power lock issue.  Went to the yard today and just pulled the entire locking assembly.  Opened up the panel to my van’s door, plugged it in, and it worked flawlessly.  So I made the switch later today and I have a functioning power door lock again.

 

Here were my findings.  Everything seems to hinge on the actuator physically tripping the mechanical lock (where the manual knob inserts) in order to unlock.  If that mechanical knob is not completely flush to the wall, turning to completion, THEN the lock automatically returns and resets to the locked position.

Looks like the “3 eared retainer” holding the manual/mechanical lock to the wall of the assembly’s housing had broken off, so it sunk in, got catty whampas, and just wasn’t able to achieve full range of motion to actuate the door lock to the unlock position completely.  So in reality, I could have just bought this piece, disassembled and replaced the part.  But I looked at half a dozen exploded diagrams and could not find a part number or description that matched it.  In the end, just doing the whole assembly was the quickest and less time consuming solution.  Also, what a horrible retainer design for a part that rotates!

Photos of my findings attached

245E31DA-400A-4A70-AF09-39A6754196CB.jpeg

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7F84E64C-BF2A-4A6B-9047-2EFA9E117972.jpeg

B7211B14-83E2-4CD3-A08D-44757C468A0D.jpeg

320AC01D-C313-48FF-A74F-958EB5F03F42.jpeg

7BB061A6-5B80-48E3-8B6D-68313EDA3AA5.jpeg

835DEBD2-3C4C-462B-AF01-DF50297C1D85.jpeg

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On 3/21/2016 at 7:25 PM, Bruce2174 said:

I am having the same problem.... with the door & lock noise, I taped off the contact at the door the noise has stopped so how difficult is it to take out the door lock?

 

Really not hard at all.  Panel pops off easily, be gentle as the clips holding it on do break easily.  But they’re cheap to replace.  Then there’s a layer of vinyl with foam backing to peel off.  I used a heat gun set very low and aimed from a distance to just barely melt the adhesive in one spot, then the rest of the edge peeled off fine.  You’ll then have to remove a block of sound dampening foam glued to the inside.  Once that’s gone, pull the manual locking knob out, remove 3 screws holding in the lock assembly, and it comes completely free.  The rest is pretty straightforward.  And putting everything back is easy as well.  I used a hot glue gun for replacing the foam block and parts of the vinyl cover.

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  • 8 months later...

Thanks for the helpful replies!  

 

I'm finally getting sick enough of the intermittent buzzing sound coming from my driver's side, sliding door, to actually do something about it.  

 

Mine locks and unlocks just fine, it just makes a lot of noise when doing it.  

 

I've already replaced both front door lock actuators, so these should be a piece of cake.  

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  • 5 months later...

Hey Jon, thanks for sharing. I'm having problems with my lock actuator as well. Whenever I hit the unlock button, there is a loud grinding/buzzing sound, like the actuator is trying to turn the lock further than it's supposed to go. I got in there and tried to tinker with it, but had no luck. I wasn't able to fully pry the metal casing apart to look inside, like the last few pictures you showed. Any advice in whether this might be a fixable problem or should I just bite the $300+ bullet and order a new actuator?

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