I've suspected something is wet or gets wet with regard to the power locks since the first rainy night I was in and out of it they worked once, then no more.

What it's been doing now, though, is working when I open the door the first time. I get in and drive and it auto locks the doors sooner or later. Then they won't work from the door buttons any longer; they may click a little but no action. I go someplace and let it sit for a while, and they work again and the pattern repeats.

It's a minor annoyance but sooner or later I should dig into it. I presume it's related to the wiring in the vehicle since it affects all the doors.

I need to do some investigation too as the side door does not seem to have a power lock. This may be intentional since it was caged up in that section; or it may be due to repair to the door latch as I notice these tend to break, I see a lot in the junkyard with the side door bolted or corded closed. IIRC to add one to it would require an equipped door latch plus related wiring.

 

Hopefully someone has the quick and easy answer on the locks. I had the sliding door latch break on mine a few years back and noted that there wasn't much beef to it. So I bought one for stock too. On mine when the slider hasn't been open for a while, the weather strip kind of sticks/ holds the door. Probably a good candidate to treat the rubber .

 

The 3500 I have has a slider and the latch had been replaced when I got it. However it doesn't always open correctly, I find I need to press on the door and press the skin in a little next to the handle occasionally to get it to open.

I know from taking one apart about 10 years ago, someone traded in a nice '97 van as a cash for clunkers and when I found it in the you-pull yard I pulled the power front doors, harness, and side and rear latches. The power lock parts are in the latches rather than a separate solenoid on older ones, but the whole latch unit is a plastic part. I expect when the day comes GM or Dorman or whoever stops making them, the vans will slowly vanish, unless somebody adapts the previous generation G-van latches to their doors. Eventually they will all get brittle and break.

You can convert a non-power window/lock over, it's easier on the 95-back, there is an add on harness across under the dash that is a real bear to remove on the 96-up. I recall having to drop the column and remove the booster and pedal from it to get the harness out. I sold the whole works to a guy who wanted to add the power windows and locks to his cargo van. The '95 van I had I did convert and it worked well.

 

Even today, relatively warm and dry it does it. If I could disable the signal that auto locks the doors I think I would be okay. Going to take some study as I'm not even sure where the relays are in it. Even that is not predictable, it's locked them almost as soon as I start to roll and other times not until I've driven close to half a mile.

Meanwhile I picked up a six way power seat track out of a conversion to add to this. Looks to be a bolt on. I can plug it into the wiring for the 2-way radio this used to have.

 

Which beast of your stable are we talking about? Depending on the year, it is somewhat programmable, as to when the autolock occurs, and it may be able to be disabled. I can say that the door switch's are disabled when the vehicle is in gear.

My 2000 Astro had this, and I would step out of it, leaving the motor running, hit the switch on the door (I had detached the fob!). All the doors would lock, and the drivers door would immediately unlock. It would lock with the fob. But it does seem cars these days are smart. I had a '95 Cutlass that had autolock. It's programmability had a way to change perimeters of it using the fuse box(?). Something like key on, in gear, pull a fuse, swing a rubber chicken over your head singing "Tie Me Kangeroo Down, Mate". Using this method changes whether it locks with it being in gear, or when the engine starts. High tech for a '95.

 

haha! You forgot about standing on one foot.

 

The 2002 2500. It didn't come with a fob although I suspect it may have once had one.

 

You should run the VIN through the VIN decoder (at the top of the page,under "tools"). It should say if you have RKE.

 

I had a very similar issue. I found the wiring harness grounding out against a sharp metal edge, in the lower panel in front of the front passenger. It was near the various computers. The computer had come loose. Tape and wire ties fixed it.

 

Unless something is changed from 97 to 2002, the only computer is on the inner left fenderwell and the power window/lock wiring is an additional harness section.

However you may be onto something with it grounding out. I went to the bank drive-thru and the window refused to roll back up. I pulled out and put it in park and got it halfway up. Then I opened the door, thinking maybe there's an issue with the wires where they get flexed in the doorjam, and then it rolled the rest of the way up. I don't think it's the motor, I ran it back and forth after that and it didn't hesitate or stop. And that is the motor I replaced.

as for the auto-lock, it may be on a timer, because I got gas and took some time to write the mileage on the receipt and before I even put it in gear it locked the doors. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to when it does it otherwise, what speed, how far I've gone. I'll probably have to buy a service manual somewhere and see if this stuff is covered in there.


VIN decoder didn't say, but I have a pic of the RPO sticker handy.

RPO shows AU3, not AU0. So no keyless. AU3 comes up Lock Control, Side Door, Electric


Something's been done there though, no power lock button on the door and it doesn't unlock from the other buttons. Probably related to it being caged in the middle. Doors may not even be original to it, they are not aligned correctly.


Other RPOs decode for the Driver Convenience group but not the second one. IIRC the second one is tilt and cruise, the first one is the power windows, locks and power heated mirrors. .

Interestingly the VIN decoder says it should have a tow/haul button but I don't see one.