I need an expert!! I have a 99 Runner Limited, the power locks won't lock the doors. It will unlock, with the remote, and both door switches. When I hit the lock button, I can here it triggering something behind the fuse panel, but not very loud. I had found a lot of posts on the web with people saying this is a problem but I have not found any solution...anyone have any suggestions on what I should do?

 

^^same problem here with a '00 limited, hopefully someone can help!!

 

Damn, and I thought I was the only person with this problem. Luckily my locks only give me a hard time when its really cold out

 

I have a similar problem on my driver's door. You can hear it triggering the mechanism inside the door, but it doesn't move the lock post. All other doors are fine. I took my door apart, and man is it a beeeeeotch to get to where the actuator is. My $.02, for one door it's going to cost far more than it's worth- I can stick the key in the hole and turn it a whole bunch of times before I'd drop $4-600 on fixing it, and that's just one door.

 

So you are saying that the actuator in the doors should be replaced? I have read somewhere, that its the fuse box under the steering wheel that gets bad connection, but dont know how its related to door locks...

 

That's my thinking, at least. If it sounds just like the other 3 doors trying to unlock, but doesn't move the lock post, there's something mechanical and not electrical going on. If it wasn't getting power, it wouldn't be capable of trying to fire the mechanism (Again, my opinion, but I didn't find any elec issues when I was poking around with my multimeter inside the door panel). Upon re-reading, it sounds like you and I may have separate issues, though. With mine, the sound is definitely inside the door- you say you hear yours behind the fuse panel.

EDIT: "you" = the OP's situation. Didn't look at who was posting.

 

Our 2000 LTD does the same exact thing. The really weird thing is my remote will at least unlock the doors, but my wifes remote won't even do that.

I've heard that a new fuse box under the dash usually fixes the problem as well, but I don't really want to know what one of those cost. I took my dash apart and tried moving all the plugs that go into that box around to see if I could get the locks to work for a split second, but didn't have any success. Anyone know what one of those blocks cost?

 

On a side note (and not to hijack your thread) but the digital heater controls on ours don't always function like they are supposed to, i.e. you can push buttons and nothing happens, but then you push a couple other buttons and go back and push the original and then it works. Could that fuse block under the dash cause this problem to happen? Just trying to build up evidence that maybe that's it...

 

That is exactly what is happening on mine, wow, i dont believe that noone has found a way to fix it.

 

probably around 500 dollars, i want to find which part it is for sure, than maybe find one at salvage yards.

 

Yeah, the $500 is what I'm afraid of. I've thought about getting one from a junkyard as well, but I'm starting to hear about this problem more and more and I'm afraid that the part I pull might have the same problem as the one I have.

 

My climate control did the same thing too before it crapped out. Buttons would only work intermittently for a couple of weeks and then one day none of the buttons worked at all. Dunno if it related to the door locking problem at all. I think they both started around the same time, but since then (about 2 years ago) I have gotten the climate control replaced to the tune of $560 and only recently did the lock problem start occurring again

 

There may be an issue somewhere in between the fuse box and the lock mechanism in the door itself. All the wiring for each door is bundled into one large group of wires that plugs into the harnesses behind the driver's side kick panel (to the left of the dead petal). Don't some of the fuses in that box next to the steering wheel control 'door' operations (windows, locks)? Maybe the harness is bad or has developed a short

 

Do you mind if I ask if the $560 was for parts and labor or just parts? If that included labor do you know what the breakdown was? Thanks.

 

Part was around $350 and they charged me for 1.5 hours of work at $90/hr. That was a long long LONG time ago. Today I could have done it myself in a couple hours, but prolly not when I was 15 lol

 

Does anyone else know the exact part that is causing the power lock issue? Im thinking about ordering one, or find it in the junk yard, just need to be sure which part it is before i spend the 100s on it.

 

Same thing happened on my 99 limited. I replaced it with a used part from an online auto "recycler" ($180). Installed it myself in ~15 minutes. Very easy.

 

do you know which part it is? and where is it located?

 

Oops, sorry. I should have specified. It is the actual control unit in the center of the dash with the display and controls on it.

 

oh you meant the climate control unit, yea i can live with that, my main concern is the power locks not working