problems with auto locks after door installation

[Deryk69]

Hi all,

I'd first like to thank all the members of this site. I have used this site for many past repairs on my car, and would of been lost without it, Thanks a lot guys. Hopefully I can pull through this one too.

I have 2 Legacy Turbo's. One I drive, and one is for parts. I just recently switched the front driver side door, due to a rusted through hole underneath the sideview mirror. And now, I have problems with my door locks.

I'll start off by telling how I switched the doors. I removed the door from the hinges (leaving the hinges attached to the car), and unplugged the two electrical connectors leading from the door, and off comes the door.

After re-assembly, I noticed that the other doors weren't locking/unlocking when I locked/unlocked the drivers door. I also noticed my passenger side door will not lock, it is stuck in the unlock position. I have tried REALLY hard to force it locked, but it wont lock. The 2 rear doors lock/unlock independtly just fine. My power mirror works fine as well.

The only differences from the two cars are as follows:
- The parts car is from Canada and has an automatic transmision
- The car I drive is from the States, and is Standard transmission

I figured the 2 doors would be transferable with no porblems. The only thing I can think of that could of caused this, was that I never disconnected the battery when I removed/connected the 2 clips from the door.(should this really matter?) Maybe I blew a fuse (is there one for the door locking system?), or blew something else.

Any help would be much appreciated, as right now I can't lock the passenger door. If you need any more information from me, I will be checking the site quite frequently so just ask.

Thank you very much.

[Manarius]

I had one of problems you described...my passenger side door got stuck in the open position one time...I had to slam the door pretty darn hard to get it unstuck (it refused to go into lock until I mashed the door pretty hard).

Maybe the actuator on that door is stuck...try spraying some lubricant into the handle on the inside...

[Busdriver]

have you taken off the door panel to look at the connecting rods? they might have come undone from the little plastic clips.
also on the note of the auto door locks not working, apparently a little spring breaks off the plastic holding pin right behind the inside door handle.
There's a website around that explains the steps to fix this in great detail. I don't remember the site, I'm sure someone here does...

[Manarius]

Here's the site: http://www.geocities.com/hobiegary/locks.html

[Deryk69]

Thanks a lot guys!

I will take my door apart sometime in the next few days and take a look. I will post my results after I hopefully solve the problem.