Have come across my first issue, bit of an annoyance as i only just bought the car. A few times now all the doors will lock for no apparent reason while driving down the road, then unlock a couple hundred metres later.

Then today pull up in the garage and place the shifter in "P" was enough to lock all the doors again.

The rear driver side door has that small child lock left on at all times, could this be making things play up?

Strange that. I bought a TL with the fuse for the door remote locks missing (20A fuse in the car). When that was replaced, it did the same sort of thing. Locking itself straight after unlocking with the key or remote, locking and unlocking while driving, that sort of thing.

Pulled the driver's door trim off, to check everything, bit inconclusive really. Did help me work out how the locking system works though.

It started to work properly all by itself after a while, or it might be that I replaced the remote battery?

Probably a stiff door lock somewhere, they have switches that tell the BEM if a door is properly shut or open, if one of them is stiff, the BEM might think one door is still open, and try to lock it.

Try opening and closing all the doors a few times, might loosen things up, and cycle the lock/unlock with the remote a few times, and work those child locks a few times - not very helpful I know - good luck.

(All the above assumes the 380 system and third gen system work the same. If it really drives you mad, you could always find the relevant fuse and pull it out. But then you will need to lock and unlock each door manually, either with the key for the driver's door, or from inside the car. Painful having to do that!)

Thanks mate, come to think of it, it even locked itself in the garage overnight once too

replacing remote battery may be a good idea.

Sounds like the plug going to the central locking motor in the drivers door.

If you unplug it, all the doors lock.

Maybe check that plug is secured properly etc.

Mike

interesting, will check

my 380 DVD manual turned up today so i can finally work out how to pull things apart in this car, starting with the damn courtesy lights !!

Sounds like the plug going to the central locking motor in the drivers door.

If you unplug it, all the doors lock.

Maybe check that plug is secured properly etc.

Mike

Definitely worth a check.
I forgot to mention that on my TL, when I pulled the inner skin off the door, I found a plastic protector plate over the arm that connects to the internal lock. It's flimsy and was drooping down, interfering with the movement of the arm. I moved it around to get it out of the way. I don't know if moving this, or wriggling the plug, or changing the remote battery fixed the problem, but it hasn't come back.
Worth a check anyhow.

(Once again I'm assuming the 380 inner door workings are similar to the TL.)

thanks mate

ok changed the remote battery, inspected the plug on the window switches, no change.

however ive found if you give the drivers door a good slam it will set off all the door locks. I could also trigger the locks by shutting the door normally, then banging my fist against the outside keyhole part in the drivers door.

opinions?

I had a similar issue.
I was told it was the actuator......
My auto electrician replaced a part of the door locking mechanism that was not working properly and the issue went away.

I would be going with the actuator as the probable cause as suggested by The_Guru if the doors are all cycling on and off at randaom. Many years ago I had an EL falcon that had the issue of doors locking and unlocking at random times. It was a common fault with that model and I actually had two occassions where I needed an actuator replaced.

thanks for the advice

ok so i had a look at my ebay workshop manual, and theres fault finding section for the central locking system. Another symptom is the key only manually locks the drivers door. Have narrowed it down to one of 3 things

* ETACS - ECU which runs the central locking system
* Door lock key cylinder
* Wiring between the two above

Need a proper tool to use on the OBD port to check if the ETACS ECU is getting pulses from the key barrell in the door. If it is, then ECU is at fault. If no signal then theres an ohms test to do on the 3 pin connector going to the barrell to see if its faulty. If the barrell check outs ok, then theres a wiring fault between the two.

I might just get around to doing the ohms test on the key barrell, as im nearly positive its the problem considering you can lock the doors by banging your fist on it lol

. . . . considering you can lock the doors by banging your fist on it lol

Yes, open up the door and have a look. Something is not right there.
When my TL had this problem, I worked the lever inside the door manually several times and found that a plastic shield - probably there to make it tamper proof from outside the car with the old wire coathanger trick - had drooped and was stopping the lever on the solenoid control from making its full movement. Moved the shield to back where it was supposed to be, and it's worked fine since.
While you are in there you can operate the interior door lock with the doors closed and see if all is ok.
(Assuming 380 door setup is similar to TL.)

yep gotta have a snoop around to see if theres anything physical setting it off. Thing is, the control switch panel unlocks & locks the doors fine, it seems as if the door key barrell is shorting out randomly and giving signals to the ECU to lock the doors, which should only happen when you literally push the key into the barrell and turn clockwise 2 times to inititate

hopefully i can get the door trim off without snapping many of those STUPID claw clips. I already snapped one pulling the switch panel off last time.

Ha! You gotta laugh . . . .
Mine is acting up again, probably due to the hot weather here in SA.
It's cycling full lock/unlock several times, until the protection circuit kicks in. Looks like the problem in the driver's door has come back, or one of the other doors, or the tailgate . . . . some surgery coming up!

EDIT: nope, it has come good again. No point operating on it until the problem is consistently there. Might just pull the driver's door actuator and door lock out to see what is happening there though.

Nope, it went stoopid again.
Got annoyed with it, pulled the driver's door activator out, worked out how it works, cleaned it up, increased contact spring pressure, put it together, put it back in. Now working. Only took 3 hours. lol

The plastic shield is quite solid, wasn't the problem. Electrical contacts inside the actuator, is where the problem was.

If it stuffs up again, I will investigate the cost of a new one, if available.

ok good to see you got it working.

ok good to see you got it working.

I usually get my act together when I get really pee'd off with a car problem. lol

Will provide details of the process if you want to tackle the job yourself. But as you have a 380, it may not be of much help.

TL one looks like this:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Magna-TH-W-Verada-KH-W-Front-Door-Lock-Actuator-RHS-/190753973892?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c69d2a684

He may also have the 380 version.

no worries dude, but again, mine isnt a problem with a single door locking/unlocking, the symptom is that all the doors will lock at the same time......... and stay locked. Also the the car should be able to be fully locked/unlocked with 2 turns of the door key barrel, but mine only will lock/unlock the drivers door. It looks like an ECU fault, but then smashing the key barrel sets it off

i know what you mean about dodgy actuators though, my 1995 falcon's locks would dance all the time lol

This can be a feature of a lot of newer cars! Our Hyundai i40 locks all the doors when it reaches 10 or 20km/hr

You could turn it into a feature..... ;)

Helps to prevent Madmax style muggings....

Don't mean you Madmax!

no worries dude, but again, mine isnt a problem with a single door locking/unlocking, the symptom is that all the doors will lock at the same time......... and stay locked. Also the the car should be able to be fully locked/unlocked with 2 turns of the door key barrel, but mine only will lock/unlock the drivers door. It looks like an ECU fault, but then smashing the key barrel sets it off

i know what you mean about dodgy actuators though, my 1995 falcon's locks would dance all the time lol

lol The driver's door actuator affects all of the doors. Mine was locking/unlocking all of the doors, including the tailgate, in perfect synchronisation.

If you don't want to tackle any repairs, just live with it, or hand the job over to your frienfly local Mitsu dealer.

Don't mean you Madmax!

No problem.

lol The driver's door actuator affects all of the doors. Mine was locking/unlocking all of the doors, including the tailgate, in perfect synchronisation.

If you don't want to tackle any repairs, just live with it, or hand the job over to your frienfly local Mitsu dealer.

I sense a bit of arrogance in that post, i dunno why because i assume you understand how the actuator works, and im trying to explain to you the switches & barrell key send different resistance values to the ETACS-ECU to tell it to lock everything instead of a single door. Setting off the driver's actuator with the inner door handle lock only locks the drivers door, not the whole car. I guess if your not inerested in throwing around ideas, and possibly learning something new thats up to you.

Anyway, pulled the door trim off and now pressing on the back of the door key barrell sets off all the locks so i can confirm its the problem. I tried measuring the specified resistance between the 3 pin connector, and its all over the shop, sometimes its ok, then other times its just an open circuit. Now i gotta figure out how to pull this barrell out.........

The switch clips onto the back of the barrel in the TL and can be pulled off without removing the door handle or door lock. See if the 380 is the same. You could also try to disconnect the lock switch, and see if everything behaves itself just using the remote. This would isolate the door switch as the problem.

(Arrogant? Me?? Surely Not!!!!! No way!! Oh, ok, I confess, just a little bit . . . . . lol)

thanks mate, you took that quite well. Im still not 100% convinced the barrel is the problem, but it defintely looks a bit dodge !!! Zip ties holding the switch on......... and when the key is turned the switch flexes away from the shaft and sits in a different position than what the key barrel is.

so i think i will get it replaced rather than trying to bodgy it up like someone else looks to have done. It was quite a bit of effort for me to remove this stupid thing. Im going to have to remove a window guide to get it all back together, are the window guides ina fixed position? Or am i possibly going to mis-align it?

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/716/001xob.jpg http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/577/002cyx.jpg

Those pictures explain everything, really! lol

Obviously the door has been apart before and someone broke the switch putting it all back together. It looks the same as the TL bits, and I did manage to dislodge the switch when I put the lock back in the key hole. A new switch from Mitsu or Madmagna, some careful reassembly and everything should be ok.

Don't know about the window guide. Didn't have that problem with the TL.

the switch was salvagable believe it or not. I improvised a better fix that shouldnt have me worrying about it for a long time. I managed to squeeze a socket past the window guide to do up a door handle bolt, so no dramas there.......... just waiting for the black goop to dry for the foam cover befor ei put the door trim back on.

im glad i gave it a go, and hopefully this will fix the issue. Tip of the day is........ acuator arms have heaps of play in them, so dont be afraid to pull the door handle from the car a fair bit to make life a little easier :0