Keyless entry intermittently re-locks the doors after unlocking with the key.

[smanning]

I have the OEM keyless entry system in my 95, but I always use the key to lock/unlock the doors. Over the past week I noticed that sometimes I'd unlock it with the key, then go to open the door and it was still locked. I kept thinking I had turned the key the wrong direction, but this morning on my way to have some other repairs done to the car I made sure that I had turned it the right way and it was still locked when I went to open it. Showing it to my mechanic he tried it a few times and pointed out the lock peg on the inside sure enough was sometimes going back down after unlocking with the key. He said that the switches in the door need to be replaced. Sounds expensive assuming they're even still available. So I thought I'd see if anyone has had this problem and resolved it without having to replace the switches outright. I've also noticed that sometimes the door courtesy and doom lights don't come on when I open the doors which may be related. There also seems to have been another security system on the car before the previous owner added the OEM keyless entry system that still has an LED that is illuminated when the car is off so I suppose that could be horning in, but I've had the car about a year and haven't had any problems like this until recently. Any ideas on easy things to try? Hose down the switches with DeoxIT maybe? Thanks!

Sean

 

[Old Guy]

I assume that "Over the past week I noticed that sometimes I'd unlock it with the key, then go to open the door and it was still locked" means that you have un locked the car; but, before opening the door the doors have relocked themselves? If you do manage to get the door open, then the relock problem does not occur? If so, try unlocking the car from both the driver and passenger side doors. If the re lock problem occurs on both doors, it is unlikely that the problem is tied to a door switch problem.

If the re lock problem just occurs on one door, it might be tied to the operation of the key cylinder switch on that door. However, if the key cylinder switch was faulty, I would expect that you would be having problems with your OEM security system (or was the original system disconnected when the after market system was installed?).

Is your aftermarket security system still connected? My limited experience with after market systems has not been a happy one. The units I had started operating erratically after a couple of years of operation.

 

[vf2ss]

smanning, check out this thread -->[LINK] See the pics and inspect the swivel mechanism circled in red. If it gets heavily covered with grime over time, say from a compromised weather liner that let dirt in, then when you try to unlock it, the swivel never passes the halfway point due to all the grime friction so it resorts back to locking position. Also this [LINK] has some possibly relevant comments (post #8 in particular).

 

[smanning]

Thank you for the responses. On the advice of my mechanic I am having the door lock assemblies replaced. Presumably that will get rid of the problem in the quickest way assuming that the issue is with the lock assemblies and not the keyless entry module. I don't recall if I have had an issue with both sides or just the driver's side, but I'm having them both replaced as I know the courtesy/dome light issue has happened most frequently with the passenger's side and he said that replacing the door lock assembly will fix that issue also. I've requested that he return the replaced assemblies to me so that I can look at them to see what their problems are. Yes, I was able to get the doors open. They had only just started acting up and generally would unlock permanently after a second attempt. But I didn't want to wait until they became worse and locked me in or out completely. Regarding the aftermarket security system being fully disconnected when the OEM system was installed, I don't know the answer to that as it was done while under the care of a previous owner. He was undoing modifications done by previous owners in an effort to bring it back to stock (just as I am continuing to do) and I believe he had the OEM system installed by the Acura dealership. Although, obviously there is still something of the old system powering that LED on the dash. I suppose it could be attached to the front/rear radar detector that I haven't looked into removing yet, but that seems unlikely. I'll write up what happens with the new switches installed.

 

[smanning]

Had the switch assemblies replaced on both sides. Visible part of the locks when the doors are open is nice and clean now. Doors have a nice solid sound when they close. Courtesy door lights/dome light now work reliably every time they doors are opened. Turning the key gives nice firm feedback. Expensive to replace but it's nice they they all work now. Kept the old parts to inspect, but I haven't taken a close look at them yet. Typical level of dirt I'd say, although I'm wondering if the seals that go around the door windows are allowing any moisture/dirt to get down inside the door and contaminate stuff like the locks. The seals don't seem to fit closely to the glass and there are some little chips out of them. Might need to get on replacing those too.

 

[vf2ss]

Thanks for your followup...glad they're working again!