Hi everyone,

I have been having some frustration with my central locking in my 96 TE for the past few weeks. Seems that when I use the remote or the driver door lock button, all the doors either lock or unlock except the front passenger. If I use the key in the front passenger door it will unlock/lock all the doors, and I can manually lock/unlock the front door from inside, it doesnt seem to be stiff.

Sometimes when I am locking/unlocking the doors with the driver door lock, if I look over at the front passenger door, I can see it make a minor twitch. Has anyone got any idea what could be causing this? Is it something I will be likely to fix myself by taking the door trim panel off (Im not overly technically minded though ;)) or should I just purchase a new remote locking kit and have it installed?

Thanks for your advice,
glenb83

As its been explained to me, its usually because the owner before you had someone waiting for the door to be unlocked and tried to open it just as the unlock button was pressed. Doing this repeatedly messes with the mechanism.
Ford has some big issues with that one with their fairlane. Do it a few times and then BAM, no passenger door unlocking. My magna also does that from time to time.
No idea how to get it fixed. I'm terrible with electronics.

sorry teh-magna-fanatik I seem to be following you this afternoon....

It sounds like the actuator for that door has had it, you should be able to fix it yourself by confirm that its the problem first by removing the door panel and having a look. You should be able to pick one up from the wreckers to replace it.

sorry teh-magna-fanatik I seem to be following you this afternoon....
No no, its fine. Especially when you know more about it than me :p
Was my logic correct? Is it people trying to open it just as it unlocks?

sorry teh-magna-fanatik I seem to be following you this afternoon....

It sounds like the actuator for that door has had it, you should be able to fix it yourself by confirm that its the problem first by removing the door panel and having a look. You should be able to pick one up from the wreckers to replace it.

Agreed.

If you open the door you can actually see the actuator struggling to turn the gears which nudge the mechanism that switches the lock. If not, could be electrical side or jammed mechanics, but I'm strongly leaning towards actuator failure.

does anybody know if the actuators are a normally open or normally closed type?

Thanks for all the replies guys, I will take the door trim off next weekend and see what I can see. Stupid question though.....
What does the actuator look like?!?! Can someone post a picture of one, even better if the picture shows where it is inside the door trim :)
Also, if I were to pick one up from a wreckers, how hard would it be to replace?

Thanks again for everyones help