Drivers door will not unlock all the sudden.

[duece1951]

Put truck together yesterday. Drivers door will not unlock, it’s not the key cylinder or actuator. It physically will not unlock pulling up the lock. I have the door apart and the cylinder out. Nothing seems to be blocking it. The actuator is new. Worked fine until til I painted it. But even then it locked and unlocked after and during. Any idea what happened?

 

[legopnuematic]

Have you tried pushing the button on the exterior door handle first, then attempt to unlock?

My 76 is that way. Don’t know why (guessing wear in the various linkages).

 

[Edelbrock]

Put truck together yesterday. Drivers door will not unlock, it’s not the key cylinder or actuator. It physically will not unlock pulling up the lock. I have the door apart and the cylinder out. Nothing seems to be blocking it. The actuator is new. Worked fine until til I painted it. But even then it locked and unlocked after and during. Any idea what happened?

You could try stripping all the paint back off the truck, to see if that helps. I mean, it worked before you painted it, right?

Ha.

Seriously though, I would take the door panel off and reach inside with one hand to grab the lock knob rod. And then push up and down on the lock nob with the other hand. Then follow that rod to the next part, and wiggle the lock nob, and so on. Somewhere the free play stops. That's likely the culprit. Maybe some part of the system got pinched between something. Or a rod came off and got the end stuck in a screw hole or in some other spot. Just got to trace the problem by hand.

 

[stvaughn]

Put truck together yesterday. Drivers door will not unlock, it’s not the key cylinder or actuator. It physically will not unlock pulling up the lock. I have the door apart and the cylinder out. Nothing seems to be blocking it. The actuator is new. Worked fine until til I painted it. But even then it locked and unlocked after and during. Any idea what happened?

Duece, have you solved your problem yet? I’m having the same problem on two doors. I think I have found the cause but not sure.

Steve

 

[DoubleDingo]

Have you tried pushing the button on the exterior door handle first, then attempt to unlock?

My 76 is that way. Don’t know why (guessing wear in the various linkages).

^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^
Mine does the same. A push of the button and it unlocks

 

[Sad Sack]

Are the handles original or aftermarket? I’ve heard of some aftermarket ones having issues.

 

[bucket]

^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^
Mine does the same. A push of the button and it unlocks

Yep. Experienced the same issue on a couple of mine in the past. Oddly enough, they both quit doing it at some point. They somehow repaired themselves.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Yep. Experienced the same issue on a couple of mine in the past. Oddly enough, they both quit doing it at some point. They somehow repaired themselves.

Mine works fine if it's raining, but when things dry out, push the button again. Whenever I get in the doors I'll apply some grease and see if that helps or fixes it

 

[stvaughn]

The aftermarket handles that the PO installed on my 1990 suburban have o- rings surrounding the plastic push button. The o-rings break and cause the push button to not retract all the way which jams up the latch mechanism. If anyone has aftermarket handles that work properly please post up and tell us where you bought them.

Steve