am I just totally missing something about power car locks?

[claud]

I'd see if you can turn it off. Check the manual.

Next time get a Honda.

We have 2 Hondas, a Toyota and a Dodge. The Dodge is at the mechanic's place more than it's at our house.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
It didn't come with a manual

Gonna check at U-Pull it next time I'm down there.

MIL has a 2000 Dodge truck, they fixed the tranny last summer and then it's sat in the driveway ever since due to some other problem. I forbade DH from getting a Dodge.

 

[CentralKYRedneck]

Quote:
I have had 4 ford Rangers and 2 F-150s. All 6 made it way past 200,000 miles and 2 of them past 300,000 miles without a single major problem. I now have a 1990 F-350 with 100,000 miles and I expect to get a couple hundred thousand more. I cant find a thing to complain about when it comes to Ford trucks. They are built to last. Maintain them properly and the body will fall off long before it quits running. I think a more accurate acronym for F.O.R.D. is Founded On Reliability & Durability

I also have a 2001 Chevy Blazer currently. It has been nothing but a pain in my butt since day one. Been through 3 sets of driver side master window switches, 2 turn signal switches (thats a fun one to replace), 7 alternators, and 3 fuel pumps (they always go out with a full tank, very enjoyable to replace). Not to mention to change the back spark plug on the drivers side I had to pull a freakin motor mount and hoist my engine (yes I know that it can be done by removing the steering shaft, but for me lifting it was easier). Oh yeah and I have a $15 broken part buried beneath my dash, so I get hot air blowing out when its hot out and cold air when its cold. To change it the entire freakin dash needs to come out. My CHEVROLET lives up to its acronym: Constantly Having Every Vehicle Recalled Over Lousy Engineering Techniques. And lately I Can Hear Every Valve Rattle On Long Extended Trips

Dont get me wrong Chevys arent all bad, at least its not a Dodge. Those Dang Ol Dirty Gas Eaters are Dead On Delivery, Go Easy if you have one. Remember Drive Only During Great Emergencies!

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

Sounds like its the owner not the car. If you don't like power locks, pull the fuse. Probably not a good idea to leave the key in the ignition when your at a gas station. Go to this forum to learn how to reprogram. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum32/

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

First thing I learned in collage. Everything wrong with all new care boils down to FRED. What is FRED? Its the computer in all these new cars. What does FRED stand for? F$%& Redicules Electronic Device! My collage instructor did change it to "Fairly Reliable Electronic Device" when his wife was around.

Other collage saying:
Keep it simple stupid.
An
Sometimes ya just need a bigger hammer. (also called a BFH)

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Oh, believe me I would!!!!!!!
I fix anything that I don't like, and make it work to my own liking!!!!
I was just asking if there were any BENEFITS to power locks, because so far they have been nothing but a major PITA to me.

And I never remove my ignition key from my own truck, so like I said, it's just a habit

Problem is that it's DH's truck, that I only occasionally borrow. Like tomorrow I will probably need to take it to town to get myself a new tire balanced (since I don't have the um, level- balance thingy to do it with) and said tire/rim can't be on my truck at the same time....anyway. And he won't let me kill the locks or otherwise re-wire/re-program it. (I'm just waiting on him to get locked out. *insert evil grin here*)

It was also DH that left his lights on and killed the battery. Guess who charged it up for him so he could get to work??? Guess who wasn't thanked for it either

Guess who won't do it next time

 

[Mac in Wisco]

We have a 2000 Explorer, it's a four door, 4x4 XLT. It does have keyed locks on the passenger door and hatch though... The one for the hatch is in the middle of the push button that opens the back window.

It locks when you put it in gear, that's about it though. It shouldn't lock itself otherwise. Check to make sure that it lifts the lock when you open the door from the inside. If it doesn't then something needs adjusted. That or you pushed it down by accident when you got out.

My wife locked herself out one time. Two miles out in the desert when we live in southern New Mexico. She got out to open a cattle gate, drove through and went to shut the gate. She realized she hadn't pulled forward enough to swing the gate past the truck. She jumped back in, pulled forward with the door open and jumped back out. Of course when she put it in gear the door locked again and when she was out closing the gate the wind blew the door shut. Somebody stopped by and said that my wife's truck was out in the desert, still running with the doors locked and nobody around. She had walked back to the nearest building in town, a K-Mart, and I found her there eating lunch....

We bought it new and in 200,000 miles most of the problems have been with the door handles and latches. Not electrical problems, just mechanical problems with the handles, latches, and linkages. The desert dust would really muck them up. I've replaced three exterior door handles, two interior handles, one of the door latches and the hatchback latch. Other than those problems I fixed an intake manifold leak and replaced a seized power steering pump.

The rest has just been routine maintenance. I think it's been through four sets of tires and I've done three brake jobs. I replaced all the lubes with Amsoil synthetics about 4 years ago. That helped clean up some high pitched vibrations from the automatic transmission and actually helped with the gas mileage.

It's been a good truck, the interior is showing some minor wear after ten years, but the exterior still looks like a new truck.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
They do pop up when you open the door, but the rest of the doors do not unlock - only the front ones if you open them to get out.
No idea why it re-locked after I had gone inside. It did it to me twice that day though

That particular day I had used it to deliver pizza. I put the pizza in the seat behind the driver and that door won't open after you park unless you hit the unlock button (I would SO totally kill that lock if I had to drive that truck to work every day!!!) so I got into a habit of pushing the unlock button as I got out. One time I didn't though, and the driver door re-locked itself on me. Hmmmm. I was puzzled, but thought perhaps I had hit lock instead of unlock.

Then that same night it re-locked itself at the gas station --- with the keys in the ignition --- and I KNOW that I did NOT even touch the lock button. Seems that I probably did NOT accidentally lock it earlier then, apparently it locks itself. Funny thing is, DH reports that the key fob clicker will NOT lock the doors if the key is in the igniton(I haven't tried it myself). Weirdness I say.

DH said that it locked itself unexpectedly on him a few days later, but he doesn't have the habit of leaving the keys in the ignition.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Yep, that's become second hand for us.

Perhaps you have a bad power lock switch or wiring in the door that is causing it to lock when the door slams shut.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Ok, I got out the owner's manual. I never realized you could disable it.

You can disable the autolock through the keyless entry pad or else you can do this:

You must do all this within 30 seconds, if it fails, wait another 30 seconds before trying again

Turn ignition on

Press unlock three times

Turn ignition off

Press unlock three times

Turn ignition on

The horn will chirp

Press unlock once

Press lock to toggle autolock on and off, a horn chirp followed by a long honk indicate autolock is on, a horn chirp followed by no honk indicates that it is off

Turn ignition off

If autolock has been changed the horn will chirp to confirm that the procedure is complete


Good luck!