Central Locks, continuously locking?

[Phaplumb]

Hi, I am driving a '95 L400 and the power central locks do there thing within the first 10 seconds of being in drive, then they will continue to lock at what seem to be 2-3 minute intervals.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Another power locking issue I have with the van is the sliding door is no longer locking/unlocking
with the others. It worked fine for the two months I've owned the van but lately stopped.
It always made a really solid "thud!" when it went through the locking process.
Luckily it can still be locked properly manually.

[mrdueck]

I'm still getting us to mine (2 weeks old to me) but what I did notice with my doors it that once I changed my batteries, the ongoing lock check stopped. The passenger door locked once in a while with the old batteries, now it AWAYS does. How good is your battery(s)?

[luckydad]

My L400 does the same thing. As soon as it hits 20kph, it auto locks the doors except the front passenger door. That one has to be locked and unlocked on its own. The ongoing check lock happens but not on a regular interval. It bugs me but I have not done anything to correct it. Will eventually install an aftermarket central door locking system.

[K-Factor]

Usually this is due to a bad connection on the door. Note that the door has contacts on the leading edge of it, and also that it never locks unless it is fully closed. Try cleaning the contacts, it may help.

[mararmeisto]

Doesn't sound like a problem, sounds like a "safety" feature to keep the door from flying open while the vehicle is moving at speed.

Years later this feature was seen as desirable to counter the car-jacking trend in the US.

For the sliding door, clean the contacts and then protect them with a light coating of silicon. Don't buff them down too much or you'll lose connectivity (which may already be the case due to wear).

[FalcoColumbarius]

... As soon as it hits 20kph, it auto locks the doors except the front passenger door. ...

Sounds like a "James Bond" safety feature, just in case you don't like the passenger. Is there a seat ejection button somewhere amid the instruments? Maybe under a hatch......

Falco (sorry Luckydad, I couldn't resist... grins).

[Phaplumb]

Thanks for all the tips.
I tried cleaning the contacts in the sliding door and found the five pins that compress when the door is closed are on a plastic piece that also can be moved in and out to make a proper connection.
This fixed the problem of the sliding door locking with the other locks and I assume will be related to the continuous locking. Can't wait to drive tomorrow to find out.

Thanks for the help all. Its all about taking that first little step. I'm stoked.

[tonydca]

Phaplumb, do all 5 of your door pins stick out when the door is open?

On my L400, the central 3 pins stick out, but the upper and lower are constantly compressed; I assumed this was normal, but perhaps not...

FWIW, my doors have no auto-locking-at-speed feature (Exceed trim level), but the cam that pulls the sliding door shut only seems to engage if the door is closed gently; if you slam it - engaging it by physical force - it does not then try to engage itself electrically.

[Phaplumb]

hmmm, I did notice that exactly(top and bottom were compressed). Wasn't sure if that was the problem or not.
Pulling all five out on the plastic base seems to have fixed the continuous locking though and the locking of the sidedoor.
I also added some dialectric grease when buffing up the contacts.