intermittent: power lock not working

Sometimes power locks work perfectly. Able to lock all door locks with button on either interior door panel button... first press gets ding, second press locks all locks.

When not working, no response from either lock button.


Also, when working, the interior courtesy lights 10 second off-delay is functioning fine, otherwise, when not working, the interior lights go off immediately, no delay.

So I can tell if the door locks won't work, as soon as I get in and close the door, if the interior lights turn off immediatly, I know the power door locks will not work.

All other electrical systems work perfect, only these 2 systems seem related somehow


Any ideas what the common link is?

THANKS for helping with a 5 year old problem!!!

I had this issue with my van.

You have a short in the wire harness between the door and the van body. This is typical and was caused by you opening and closing the door. You should have just stayed in the van. :P

Not to worry. The hard part is finding the wire/wires that are broken/braking. the brake will be in that rubber tube between the door and the body. After you find the wire that is broken, all you have to do is splice into it in the door and in the body simply jumping over the brake. Good luck, GM did not make this an easy fix. Lots of stuff in the way and no plugs in the harness between the door and the body.

I also encountered a similar problem. The driver door lock button would not work. Turned out to be a broken (not shorted) wire at the door opening rubber boot area. Splicing in a new wire solved the problem. However, the passenger door and remote fob worked at that time. A few weeks later, your symptoms appeared - neither lock button or the FOB worked to lock/unlock the doors (manual or key use only). Turned out to be the Receiver! The dealer charged $600.00 plus labor to replace that and re-train the FOB's.

Thanks, haven't tried to track the door lock prob yet, now another possible short is occurring... intermittent no heat, ie, fan blows fine, temp control on hot, gets heat, I hear some aux fan, then suddenly that aux fan turns off, and no heat, moving the temp control from cold to hot results in luke warm,,, no change in temp... otherwise, I may have temp control on hot, luke warm, then randomly heat kicks in, blasts nice and hot, I hear the aux fan... seems electrical prob. There's some kind of aux fan in the dash area thats part of the system, obvious when temp control is 3/4 to full hot (and decides to work).