Lucille92

My soon to be wife drives a 96 Civic EX coup. Currently it has power locks, but she has almost never used them because she always just uses the key. I'm pretty sure the door lock actuator on the passenger side is toast, and the drivers side one is on its way out (the thing has 230k miles on it). Rather than spend almost $100 on new actuators, I was wondering if there was any simple and cheaper way to make the locks manual.

As of right now you can't lock the passenger door automatically or with the key. When you turn the key in the lock position you can feel resistance (I assume from the actuator). It almost feels like its pushing against the key. I first thought it was the door lock cylinder, but when I disconnected it from the actuator it works just fine. So is there any easy way to just make the things manual, or should I just suck it up and spend the money on new actuators?

ezone

Does she not know how to get the drivers door locked while it is still open?

Pull out on either (inside or outside) handle and push the button, it will lock.
Slam door, walk away.

I might try spraying out the latches with some lubricant first, see if that helps.

1) Remove the latch from the door. (At this point, you should be able to tell if the problem is in the latch, lube it up good and see if it gets better. If it does, then reinstall and keep the power locks.)
2) Remove the power actuator from the latch.
3) Reinstall the latch.

PRESTO! Manual locks.



HTH

Lucille92

I don't know why she locks the door that way, she just always has and for whatever reason wont change. And I have lubed the locks with graphite, didn't help any. I thought the latch for manual and power locks was different.

ezone

At least the keys will NEVER get locked in the car!
You only did that to the cylinders, right?

Hose down the latches with lubricant once you have the door panels off and can reach them from the inside. See if it helps. They might be enclosed or covered, that's why I wrote to lube it after you get it out of the door, see if it helps.

I was looking in the catalog, it shows the same latch is used for manual and power. Only difference appears to be the addition of the power actuator.

HTH