Hi All:

'92 coupe with a sticky door lock on the shotgun side. Operates by hand or electrically, but seems very stiff and reluctant. I'd love to give a shot of Tri-flow lubricant in there somewhere. Any thoughts on where/how?

Is it a big deal to take off the door panel to gain access to something squirtable?

Thanks!

 

GM lock actuators are traditionally weak and lube might help. Mine does the same thing on both doors, but the rods were bent to staret with and I have tried to straighten them out with marginal success. I am trying to design a better setup as I have 2 brand new actuators in them now without much help. [8D]

 

Thanks Mech259.

Can I lube the actuators externally somehow...or do I have to pull door panels to access?

 

Actually, you can't lube the actuators. They are sealed. The rods go through a plastic clip on the backside of the inner door panel and, yes you have to pull the door panel. Its not that difficult, the hardest part is getting the locking rod back in the slot in the door panel. [8D]

 

Now, I'm talking about my 86. Are your locks horizontal? If so, then what I said applies.

 

hi,the 90-96 are not the same as a 86 ,but this is what you do take the door panel off ,take off the actuators clean them with a electric contact cleaner ,i use brake clean,then spray it with a penetrating lube to get the gum out then lube it up with grease ,they are not 100% sealed and if you use a spray grease you can force it inside ,then you grease all the rod contacts and your good to go .don't just spray it with wd 40 or whatever it wont last ,i did mine on my 91 both sides and my pass window switch and now its mint.while your in their grease up your window regulators and tracks .good luck and it really is easy

 

You have to be careful using brakeclean on plastic. It deteriorates plastic to the point it may disintergrate. We use a lot of brakeclean around my shop and have had plenty of experience with it.

 

ya ,you can use t/b cleaner or brakeclean it is safe on most plastic ,ya if you spray it on like say the painted or dyed dash parts it will melt the paint ,but hard plastic it has no effect at all it more or less is not good to spray on any painted plastic pieces ,but on stuff like rubber or hard plastic ,like throttle bodies have as do brakes it will not effect them .but i know what your saying one time i wanted to remove a felt marker from a steering column and i sprayed some brake clean on it and it melted the paint.but if you noticed i told him to remove it from the car to do it so he can avoid that kind of thing ,but i think most anybody knows its not smart to spray brake clean on painted or dyed parts.

 

Use some WD-40.