The lock on the drivers door does not work. When I insert the key in the lock, the key will turn both left and right, but door will not lock or un-lock. I have to press down on door lock to lock the door.

The power lock works on the passenger door for all the doors with the exception of the drivers door. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

The problem may be a "dead" actuator. I've had failures on both rear doors on my 1996 Explorer. Ford wants an arm and a leg for a replacement After the second one failed I did a little searching on the Internet and found suitable replacments from a1electric.com (I'm not sure if that is their website -- I received e-mail concerning my order from miles@a1electric.com)

They provided actuators which I readily modified to work for my application (2 actuators for $42.00 -- Ford wanted more than twice this for one and they didn't have it in stock, of course).

If your problem is a defective actuator (in my case the electrics were good, but the plastic gear mechanism was stripped)you can probably also find other actuators meant to add aftermarket power locks. This is going to require a little work to adapt for your application, but I don't see the need to buy another copy of a poor design from Ford. The fix that I've described has worked well for approx. one year now.

 

Would you happen to have the part # and manufacturer of the door lock actuators you installed?
I'm looking for these parts, but for the driver's door lock actuator.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Art

 

Sorry for the delay in responding. I did not have an actuator problem. When I removed the door panel I found that there was a smaal plastic piece that had come loose from the locking assembly and once I snapped it back in place the lock has worked fine.

Johnny