Dear Board,

I recently puruchased a 2000 Suburban LT. I love the way the truck rides and drives but I can't take it anywhere and leave it unattended because of several mysterious problems with the power locks.

When I looked at the truck everything seemed to work fine but since purchasing the vehicle several strange things have occured.

I received 3 keys for the truck. All keys work the ignition. None of the keys work any of the door locks or the rear lightgate window lock. I can only open the truck with the remote key fob.

When I use the remote key fob it unlocks and locks all 4 passenger compartment doors but it does not lock the liftgate. The liftgate will not lock for me, period. It won't even lock with the switch on the right rear inside fenderwell. I activate the inside switch and it sounds like all the locks work but when I wait the required 15 seconds after closing the lightgate the alarm sounds and the lights flash when I use the liftgate latch. The liftgate door never locks but all the passenger compartment doors are locked.

I cannot get the liftgate glass to open even when the all the doors are unlocked with the key fob.

I took the truck to a local mechanic and he called me after I dropped it off and asked what my problems were because everything worked fine for him. The key fob opened and closed all the locks and the lightgate glass opened with the pushbutton just like they were supposed to do once the doors were opened.

I told him to keep the truck and try it another time or two during the day. I stopped by to pick it up after he called me and said he tried it numerous times and even drove it a couple of times and everything worked normally.

I picked the truck up and he showed me that everything worked properly. I tried everything several times myself and sure enough everything worked as advertised.

I drove home and tried everything again and once again nothing works properly. The key fob only locks/unlocks the passenger compartment doors. It does not lock the liftgate and the liftgate glass is locked solidly to the door frame.

The fact that the keys do not work the outside locks is something I found out just this evening as I tried to find if there was a way to get things to reset?

I'm lost here, I have a truck that can't be taken anywhere because it doesn't lock properly. Is there something I am doing wrong? I have had cars with keyless entry for almost 20 years and I've never had a problem with any of them locking or unlocking properly. Is there anything specific to Chevrolets that I need to be aware of to get things to work properly?

Thanks in advance,

Tim Murphy

 

Welcome to the forum.

I'm guessing that the ignition lock was replaced and that's why the keys don't fit anything else. As to why it works for your mechanic and not you, well that's another story.

 

Don't you have alarm system? Even if door is not properly locked it would be safe I think