door noise problem

I have a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee. About a week ago I started to have a little problem with the driver-side front door.

The door makes a loud-noise whenever I unlock it. It sounds like a loud strugging motor. The noise happens for only a brief period, about 1/2 of a second. There is no noise when I lock the door, only when i unlock it. It only happens on the driver side. Also, even though the door makes a noise, it still unlocks.

I went to a mechanic and had him take of the door panel. I would like to trie and fix this, so that I can hopefully save myself a couple of bucks. If any of you guys/gals can give me some tips on what could be the problem I would really appreciate it.

vlad

The power lock mechanism has a centrifical clutch mechanism that tends to begin slipping more than it should much earlier than it should, what you hear is the clutch slipping. It's the beginning of the end, eventually the lock will begin intermittently not unlocking/locking, then it will stop working all together and just whirrrrr. The power lock mechanism is part of the door latch and would be replaced as an assembly. It is relatively easy to take the protective cover off the motor, and it looks like it would be fairly easy to "jam" up the clutch so it wouldn't slip but i've never tried it. I simply replaced mine with a junkyard assembly and tore apart the broken one to see what made it tick(and break).

Basically what you saying is to just replace the motor. I'm not very much of a mechanic, but I definately want to save myself a couple of bucks. I took off the door panel, and I can see the internal part of the door. I hope I have the tools and the ability to take apart the internal part of the door and take off the motor.


Thanks for the info.

The only part that gave me trouble was snapping the rod retainers off so the rods will disconnect from the lock mechanism. They are snapped on pretty tight. You should be able to replace it using simple hand tools. Taking the cover off the motor mechansm is not too difficult, i used a screwdriver as a chisel, with a hammer, and tapped around where the casing is held to the body just hard enough to break the seal.

Thanks for the help. :)