Driver's Side Mechanical Door Lock...

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

I installed Pelican's door arrester/strap today and noticed while installing the door panel that I couldn't turn the door lock knob. Then found out that the key wouldn't lock the door either. I finally removed the window frame to get at the door lock, grrrr... Degrease the lock and re-installed. The key works just fine now, but the interior knob will not lock the door.

My question is, is this so you can't lock yourself out, or is my door lock mechanism faulty? I've had the car for nearly 6 years, but I've never noticed whether this is a feature or the door lock is broken?

BTW, the door arrester works great, I used the supplied pin and "C" clip which worked just fine. John Walker suggested using a 6mm bolt, but I had some play w/ the 6mm bolt so I stayed with the furnished pin and "C" clip.

Thanks,

SLR · SLR's Garage

The drivers side door lock knob will not lock if the door is open.
Do's it lock the door when the door is closed?.

Good luck with not the best place to work on the car. me having to
Replace the glass rail inside the door next week.

JoeyD911 · JoeyD911's Garage

I've got an 82 SC. I also never noticed the lock feature and when I discovered it I was sure something was wrong. If your door will lock with the knob with the door closed and not when it's open, it's working right. Yes, it's an "anti-lockout" feature forcing you to lock the drivers door with the key.

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

SLR and Joey,

The interior knob will not lock the door in either position, open or closed. However the door key does lock the door. I've looked at the entire mechanism and cannot figure out what's wrong. I could probably live with the way it's working, however I hate having something on the car that doesn't work correctly.

Thanks for your replies...

Mitch Leland · Mitch Leland's Garage

After your replies I went back to the car and figured it out. If I had the door key working, why wouldn't the interior knob work? The answer was that I was working the door latch while the door was in the open position, and I had only turned the latch to the first position. In other words the door has to be completely closed for the interior lock knob to work.

I was working the latch with the door open since the window glass frame was out. I didn't want to be slamming the door with the window glass w/o any supported.

Thanks,