Power door closes then opens back up... annoying

Ok, we've had this problem ever since we bought it. We have a 2006 Pontiac Montana SV6 with the passenger sliding door powered. About 1/3 the time when we close the power door, it gets almost all the way closed and then it starts dinging and opens back up. Gets annoying when we just want to leave somewhere and we mess around with the door for 2 minutes trying to get it to close. We bought the car from a GM dealer and we have a warranty on it but they can't figure it out. In my opinion, if they can't fix the door, they should replace it with a new one. If that doesn't fix it, then they should cut off that side of the car and put a new side on it. One of the two has to be bad. But I doubt that's going to fly with the dealer. They keep telling us they're "adjusting" the door to fix it but their "adjustments" never fix it. I'm pretty disgusted in the dealer and figuring if I ever want it fixed, I'll have to figure it out myself. Any ideas how to fix it? Where are the adjustments? Is this a known issue?

There's also sometimes I swear the door doesn't unlock so when we try to get it to open, it won't. Not sure if this is my imagination or if it's really not unlocking.

Also the door rattles. You'd think the rattle would be related. The dealer says the rattle and the door not closing are two separate issue... but the rattle could be because the door is loose and the looseness is causing it to not follow the tracks right and then binds... I don't know. We brought it in for the rattle once and they said they fixed it but they made it worse. Can't believe they didn't drive it before giving it back to see if their fix worked.... but what can you do. As you can tell, I'm very disgusted with the dealer but I've come to the conclusion if I want it fixed, I have to fix it.

Within this mini-van forum and many others, I've read a high number of problems with electric "power" sliding doors on both Uplander and Montana vans. Some say that wiping each door's electrical contact pins with dielectric grease helps. Some say if wiring under the rug getting "too wet", it might be the source of the problem. And for some vans, the door being "out of adjustment" and binding too much is the problem. And for many others, they cannot find the root cause of the problem. I remember reading one post where the power door was activated and some kid got their fingers in the door. Instead of disgaging and releasing, their van's power door crushed 2 fingers - with no effort at all. Yes. This one still touches my heart today. And on some vans, there sliding door auto-opens when van is moving - like its "over binding" safety switch activates. Very scary when kids are in the middle seats and one is driving down the fast highway. With these high number of incidents in mind, I purposely bought my new 2009 Monana van "without" power sliding doors. Less power items the better. IMO.

As a suggestion, is there a way to disengage your van's power sliding doors? Is there an off/on switch or perhaps a fuse that can be pulled? I know. Not the solution you want (especially since you have your heart set on power doors). But to me, manual sliding doors isn't that hard to use. And being pure mechanical (instead of mechanical & electrical), one might have much less frustrations with it. Especially with kids are around the van's side doors.

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There is a way to disengage it... but it's my wife's car. She loves the feature. I disable it and she re-enables it and then gets all ticked off when it's not working. But we just bought the stupid car a few months ago... I paid a lot for that van. I would like for it to work.

I have the same problem with my Van, and every time it is the same issue causing the door to reverse. The lower weatherstrip on the body comes dislodged (from the kids climbing in) and binds against the lower front arm. Will not cause to reverse every time, but this is issue I find.

Simple fix if this is it, and would not be the first time I have seen a dealer overlook something this simple.

dorlow,

There is very little change in the way these power sliders work regardless of year.

I used to have a 2000 Olds Silhouette and as a result have a Haynes repair manual which says

among other checks, " If the door reverses direction while opening or closing, check the actuator motor tension cable adjustment".

The actuator motor is the thing I think the dealer has been playing with. They keep on saying they don't want to make it too loose or something like that. But the problem has gotten significantly worse in the last week or so. The door is pretty much unusable. Even with the door disengaged and closing by hand, the back end of the door doesn't go in. You have to slam the door shut while pushing on the back of it to get it to close and it usually takes a few times. We have an appointment next week for the dealer to look at it again. We'll see what happens.

The power sliding door control module has self-diagnostic capabilities.

A trouble code may be stored in the control module memory.

Make certain the power sliding door CHILD PROOF lock is in the OFF position. You know the one on the front edge of the door?

Perhaps the power sliding door override switch is faulty.

If they don't fix it this time around, take it to a reputable independent shop.

Maybe they're giving your van to the same tech and perhaps he simply doesn't know what to do?

Or, they're waiting for the warranty to run out.
Does it cover all these costs to date?

I'd rather not take it to another shop. We have a $100 deductible per visit but seeing it's the same problem, we don't have to pay the $100 again until this is fixed. I don't understand why they're having so many problems. I've bought two cars from them. About 3 years back, I bought the first car. Before I bought it, I went to another dealer. They had this big sign that said they were the number 2 dealer in the area for customer satisfaction. I looked at who was number one... Sparta Chevy (which happened to be the dealer in the small city I lived in.) So I walked out of their dealer and went to Sparta Chevy and bought my car. We bought the van from the same shop. They were supposedly number one a few years back. Don't know if that has changes since.

Seeing the warranty we bought on the car was a non-GM warranty, I don't know if I can take it to another dealer. When I bought my other car new, I bought the extended 5 year 100,000 mile warranty. I've since taken it to many different dealers. But I think the warranty on the van is different and it's only covered by the one dealer.


The power sliding door control module has self-diagnostic capabilities.

A trouble code may be stored in the control module memory.

Make certain the power sliding door CHILD PROOF lock is in the OFF position. You know the one on the front edge of the door?

Perhaps the power sliding door override switch is faulty.

If they don't fix it this time around, take it to a reputable independent shop.

Maybe they're giving your van to the same tech and perhaps he simply doesn't know what to do?

Or, they're waiting for the warranty to run out.
Does it cover all these costs to date?

I agree with MntBikeMI, I would also clean the contacts on the door and on the vertical beam using a dollar bill which will help clean the contacts.

Well I would say that if the contacts are making contact with the post and then it closes then yes make sure they are clean.

I think the problem is the cost to actually fix it is more than the cost of the warranty. They most likely need to replace the whole unit and I believe reading on here the parts are like $1,000.

Take the tail light off on that side and mark it so you know but they most likely won't notice it and then take a picture of it and then demand they replace the unit, once they have and you get it back home check it to see if your mark is still there.

Ok, we've had this problem ever since we bought it. We have a 2006 Pontiac Montana SV6 with the passenger sliding door powered. About 1/3 the time when we close the power door, it gets almost all the way closed and then it starts dinging and opens back up. Gets annoying when we just want to leave somewhere and we mess around with the door for 2 minutes trying to get it to close. We bought the car from a GM dealer and we have a warranty on it but they can't figure it out. In my opinion, if they can't fix the door, they should replace it with a new one. If that doesn't fix it, then they should cut off that side of the car and put a new side on it. One of the two has to be bad. But I doubt that's going to fly with the dealer. They keep telling us they're "adjusting" the door to fix it but their "adjustments" never fix it. I'm pretty disgusted in the dealer and figuring if I ever want it fixed, I'll have to figure it out myself. Any ideas how to fix it? Where are the adjustments? Is this a known issue?

There's also sometimes I swear the door doesn't unlock so when we try to get it to open, it won't. Not sure if this is my imagination or if it's really not unlocking.

Also the door rattles. You'd think the rattle would be related. The dealer says the rattle and the door not closing are two separate issue... but the rattle could be because the door is loose and the looseness is causing it to not follow the tracks right and then binds... I don't know. We brought it in for the rattle once and they said they fixed it but they made it worse. Can't believe they didn't drive it before giving it back to see if their fix worked.... but what can you do. As you can tell, I'm very disgusted with the dealer but I've come to the conclusion if I want it fixed, I have to fix it.
It sounds like you definitely have an adjustment issue. But I have a 1998 montana and there is a procedure in the owner's manual where you remove the radio fuse for a minute and replace it and then open and close the door a couple of times that nobody has mentioned. I believe the computer "learns" how to open and close the door, and this knowledge is stored somewhere. When you remove the fuse, you wipe it out and it has to learn again. Anybody else know what I'm talking about?

Well, we just got the van back from the dealer. I've never been so disgusted with a company. (I will never consider buying a car from them ever again.) But they said they found the problem with it. But it was going to cost them $800 to fix it. But seeing we just bought the car from them 3 months ago, they would cover 50% of the cost and it would be only $400.... This car is a money pit. Everytime we take the car to the dealer, it's a $100 deductible. We've had the car for less than 3 months and had to take it in 5 times now... So we're at around $500 in repairs in 2.5 months on a car with less than 40,000 miles. (BTW, their name is Sparta Chevy.. don't buy a car from them.)

But there's two problems according to them... One the back latch is, for some reason, in the wrong spot and needs to be moved. I believe that is the problem too. For some reason, the back latch, when it messes up, you can see the back of the door not go in.

The second problem is the power locks actuator isn't unlocking the door sometimes which causes the door not to unlock and the door won't open. It's the door lock actuator that they won't cover and is $800 to fix. The back latch would cost me $100 to fix. But still this is getting insaine to fix this car. This door is the worst thing GM must have ever made.

But, does anyone know where to buy this door lock actuator that costs less than $800? Also, has anyone ever fixed the back latch or adjusted it? Why would it be off?

Also, does anyone know how to calibrate the door? That may be all that's wrong with the back of the door.

I just got a subscription to All Data and part of them manual says this...

IMPORTANT: By installing the 15A fuse, the low current logic power will be restored to both the LH and RH PSDMs and the
PSDs will be operational. However, both PSDMs will have to learn the full open and full closed positions of the PSD. Refer
to Actuator Control Module - Power Sliding Door (PSD) Programming and Setup.

I don't see anywhere on the website that it says how to program the door.

I looked in the owner's manual for the car and found this to recalibrate the door...

Resetting the Power Sliding Door
The power sliding door may operate incorrectly or not at
all because of the following conditions:
• A low voltage or dead battery
• A disconnected battery
• If the instrument panel PSD/fuse 21, LHPSD/
fuse 24 or RHPSD/fuse 25 are removed or blown.
See Fuses and Circuit Breakers on page 5-98 for more
information.
If any of these conditions occur, the power sliding door
may need to be reset. If your vehicle has the dual
power sliding doors, both doors will have to be reset.
To reset a door, do the following:
1. Check to be sure the power sliding door is unlocked
and securely closed.
2. Turn the ignition to LOCK.
3. If the power sliding door overhead console switch is
in the override (deactivation) position, return to the
activation position.
4. Open the sliding door using the remote keyless
entry transmitter, overhead console switch, or
passenger switch. Allow the door to travel
fully open.
If the door does not travel to the fully open position,
press the overhead console switch to the override
(deactivation) position and slide the door fully open and
closed. Check for foreign objects in the tracks. Repeat
the procedure starting with Step 1. If the door resists
travel to the fully open position, see your dealer
for service.

So, basically it's saying to put the car key in the lock position and open the door with the button on the ceiling of the car. If there's something blocking it, remove it and try again. How in the world is that calibrating anything? That's just opening and closing the door. We do that 5 times a day as it is. So everytime I open and close my door, I'm calibrating it? Geesh, I must be a genius. I'm so smart I've been calibrating it 5 times a day and didn't even know it. I'm sure I'm overlooking something or reading something wrong.

I have a 2001 montana and the outside door handle stop working. We could open the the door with the electronic buttons but not the outside door handle. If you are comfortable taking the inside door panels off it could be easy to fix some of these problems.

The problem with mine was the rod that connected the door handle mechanism to the the back latch was slight bent and won't release the back latch with the outside door handle.

I went to the junk yard and pulled out a used opening actuator for $5 and bent the rod correctly and have not had a problem since. It did cost $10 in new christmas trees to replace the door panels back on.

If not comfortable taking the inside of the door apart go to the junk yard first and rip a few apart first.

I think things can get bent inside the door when kids yank on the outside door handle. it is the only thing I can think of that caused my problem. It is really quite simple once you get inside the door.

I looked in the owner's manual for the car and found this to recalibrate the door...


There's something missing in your description, I think. I have a 1998 Montana. The battery died in it once. We replaced it and shortly thereafter, the single PSD did not close properly. It would almost close and then reopen. We were on vacation and were on our way trying to find a dealer (it was still under warranty) when my wife found the Power Door Reset procedure. Your description is the "Recalibration" precedure, not the "Reset" procedure. The "Reset" part happens when you pull the fuse, wait a few seconds (30) and then put it back in. Then you "Recalibrate". Once we did that, it worked great. I think the parameters for the first succesful open and close after the fuse is inserted are stored and used from then on. So you are not really calibrating 5 times a day. You are just causing the values that are stored to be used. You need to pull the fuse to wipe out those values and then get it to fully open and close. Assuming you do not have anything that is blocking the travel, according to my description, you insert the previously pulled fuse and then try opening the door with the button. Then you go ahead and close it. In my case, mine did not close the first time, but rather reopened. So I went ahead and tried closing it again. It closed. Then I opened it. It opened. I then was able to close it and it was fine after that. If you imagine the way a computerized system works, you give it a default value to start with, say 7.6 seconds. The program reads the user value and finds that it has never been set, so it goes into "Program Mode" and uses the default value. So when it is in program mode and commanded to close, it says, "Okay, I'm going to run the 'close' motor for 7.6 seconds to close it". So it does and it reads all of the sensors and determines that that was not long enough, and it reopens. So it adds a little to it and the next time you go to close it it runs it for 8 seconds. Now it finds that it actually closed in 7.8 seconds. So it stores this value. Now that this value is stored it will not enter program mode again. You need to pull the fuse.

So, when I got the car back from the dealer a few days ago, the door at least works. It actually has been working pretty good. But there's one huge problem with it still. When the dealer put it back together, they somehow put the door back on wrong to where the door is way too close to the car when it's open. It's so close, it's rubbing against the plastic on the car and putting marks on it. If I look at the other door, there's tons of room.

I'm still sort of in the mindset I want to just fix it myself. I've gotten so pissed off at the dealer that I wonder if they're purposely sabotaging my car now. I mean, I'm not someone to get pissed off and I didn't yell or say anything I regret... but I definitely expressed me being disappointed in their service so far.

So, today I decided to loosen up the bolts on the door and see if I could adjust it. I see all the bolts. I took the trim off the door and loosened them all up. The door moved all over. After doing that, I noticed it was a lot more difficult to get things lined up than I thought it would be. For about a half hour, I thought I wasn't going to be able to get the door back on myself. I couldn't get the door to line up with the latch at all for a while. Well, I kept on trying to figure it out and I got it back working exactly how the dealer had it working where it's rubbing against the side of the car still. My plan now is to take it to them and I doubt they're going to be able to tell that I had it off.

The only thing I can think is the track inside the side of the van is off but I'm not sure how to adjust that. I think the track back by the rear tail light has to come out so when the door goes back, it doesn't rub against the back of the van. But when I took the tail light off, I didn't see any adjustment allowed there.

But I'm pretty sure I'll at least have to take it back to the dealer so they can fix the side of the car where the door has rubbed against the van... but if I could figure out how to fix it, that would be my ultimate goal seeing I'll be lucky if the dealer can just get it as broke as it was when I first brought it to them. So does anyone know what I need to adjust to move the door out away from the van yet still work and line up so it closes correctly?

make sure the door ajar switch is not binding[you can see it with the power door open] as now days they don't lube anything .if it binds when you push it in .there is a hole on the bottom side of the rubber that is over it,spray some wd-40 in the hole and work it in and out.next take a piece of fine emry cloth and shine the contacts on the door jam and the tips of the door switches. spray some wd-40 on the door switches where they go in the door and work them in and out.i have had to do this numerous times when my power door goes nuts.this will cure anything from the door acting dead ,to not locking or unlocking, to the backing up thing.also spray wd-40 on the latches one on front and especially the rear one on yours.the plates and switches g.m. used are junk.i think that the adjustments as far as lining the door up are done at the 3 tracks.the only adjustments at the rear of the van are the torque on the cable and this is under the storage bin on the right side panel. you take four screws out and you can see the motor and adjustment nut.too lose and the door won't shut--- too tight you break the cable

Well, I went to AutoZone and bought some JB Weld Garage Door Track Lube stuff. I thought this door rides on a track... WD-40 I didn't think would withstand weather, whereas garage door stuff should be made to. I sprayed that stuff on and the last few days, it hasn't messed up once. We'll see how long this lasts.

if the lube works then it should last a long time on the tracks. it could have been hard to slide on one track and the door thought it had hit something.the door is supposed to back up if it hits something in its way.

Well, today the door acted up again. My wife thinks she found a pattern to the problem now. When she tried to close the door, it was on unlevel road. Think she said the car was leaning sideways (instead of like it's going up or down a hill.) She couldn't get the door to close. Then she moved the car to level ground and was able to get the door to close. Does this make sense? Is there an adjustment for this? Maybe there's too much play in the track? Why does the door that isn't powered work so nice? Never binds up. Even the power door sometimes won't close manually either.

the cable tension or torque adjustment is under the rear right [passengerside] storage compartment which is right behind the earphone jacks. there are four screws to take out and i read on one post that you turn the adjustment just a little to the right. then work the door a couple of times .you just don't want to turn it too much at a time as too much torque will break the cable. the adjustment is on the side of the wheel looking thing.

the cable tension or torque adjustment is under the rear right [passengerside] storage compartment which is right behind the earphone jacks. there are four screws to take out and i read on one post that you turn the adjustment just a little to the right. then work the door a couple of times .you just don't want to turn it too much at a time as too much torque will break the cable. the adjustment is on the side of the wheel looking thing.

Do you believe tightening this up would fix an issue with the door not closing when the car is sitting on an angle?

Bump

you might try to tighten it just a little and see what the door does.

So, there's no chance this problem could be caused by anything other than the cable tension? When the car is on an angle where gravity is pulling the door towards the car because of the angle of the parking lot, the door actually falls into the opening. It doesn't move in controlled... it just acts like there's nothing stopping it. It moves from the back position to where it's going to move in fine but then instead of moving in slowly, it just slams in. If the car is on the opposite hill where gravity is working against it, it doesn't have enough power to pull it in. But you'd think the track would be the right width so the wheels would be in it and no matter what angle it was on, the track wouldn't allow the play to be there to let the door move. I can't imagine why cable tension would fix that. It seems like the track is messed up.

dorlow,the tension of the cable moves the door too little tension the motor doesn't hold the door back on an incline. then as yours does it will just about shut on its own. too little tension will not let the motor/cable pull the door shut if it has to pull it shut on an incline.the bottom,top and rear rollers/tracks all steer the door into place .but the motor moves the cable which moves the door.as i understand your saying the power door works like the manual door as far as shutting with a slam on a rear incline and you have to help it shut on a forward incline.the dealer must have took some of the tension off the cable or someone did.adjust the tension a little at a time too much will break the cable.:runaround:

So, the door messed up again. the door wouldn't close at all today. so, i took off the inside panel (which I never took it off before but makes it easier to adjust) of the door and adjusted the bolts holding the door again (marking their original location first.) i see now how on the side of the van is a plastic cover over the cable. under the tail light, the cable is all the way loose as much as i can tell. i did try adjusting it. i dont see how i can adjust it tight enough to break the cable. but i was very cautious when moving it around.

the biggest change i made today was loosening and adjusting the 4 bolts that hold the door on. ever since we bought the car, i've noticed the upper left corner of the door pulls way too far in and has rubbed against the back panel of the car, but i cant figure out how to get that corner out without throwing everything out of alignment.

Also the left side of the door (towards the back of the car), the door doesn't seem to be 100% flush with the back panel. There are some high spots and some low spots. But it isn't like the top is high and bottom is low. It is a little of both. The other door on the other side is perfectly flush. The passenger side isn't enough unflush to notice by looking at it, but rubbing your hand over it, you can feel spots where it's slightly higher or lower in spots.

when i got it all back together, i thought it sounded more "healthy" when it closed. I tried it quite a few times. but it did mess up once again when i put it back together.

it just seems like there has to be a better trick to getting the door on right other than trial and error. i cant imagine body shops spend days getting these doors on. are there anybody that reads this forum that happens to work for a body shop so they can tell me their secret?

So, to clarify about the cable tension, when I take the rear light off and loosen the bolt where the cable goes around the pulley, the only way I could see getting it tight enough to break, I would have to pull on it pretty hard. So, right now, it's pretty loose but even when I pulled it semi-tight, it didn't look like it was anywhere near breaking condition. So, the only thing I can think of when all you are saying "too loose and it'll slip and too tight,it will break" that I have to have it a lot tighter so I can have at that small margin between too loose and too tight. I don't know. I'm pretty frustrated with this door.

Dorlow,
You still having problems with this sliding door?

If so, remember you MUST disconnect the power and be able to open and close the door MANUALLY before adjusting the cable.

I didn't re-read all the posts so I don't know for certain if you have a Haynes repair manual. It shows and tells you how and what to do. Pay particular attention to details.

No, I don't have the Haynes manual. I have alldata info, which has some stuff on the door.

So, sorry for the duplicate post... but I posted another forum question with just where do I get a haynes manual for a 2006 Montana and no one seems to know. I've tried Pep boys, ebay, amazon.com, and just searching google. There isn't a haynes or chilton manual for a 2006 Montana. Any more suggestions?

Dorlow,
On the manual....try your local library.

Most have shop repair manuals for different vehicles or at the very least have websites for you to look at.

BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104

I was kind of wondering if anyone knows how to permanently disable the power door so it works as manual as the driver door? Even when you disable the power door with the switch, there's more resistance when closing it than the manual door has. I just think to get this door to work right,I need to simplify the way it works.
BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104

I was kind of wondering if anyone knows how to permanently disable the power door so it works as manual as the driver door? Even when you disable the power door with the switch, there's more resistance when closing it than the manual door has. I just think to get this door to work right,I need to simplify the way it works.
BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104

I know that by switching the overhead power door override switch ON , manual opening and closing of the door is aided with power assist. When the override switch is OFF the door operates manually.

You could remove the cable and see.

dorlow,
If you haven't tried the reinitialization procedure yet, this MAY fix it.

I don't know if GM changed the power door operations when they brought out the Montana SV6.

This is from my Haynes (up to 2001) Olds Silhouette repair manual.

If you are not getting continuity at the overhead open/close switch fix that first.

Anytime power is lost to the power sliding door control module (battery discharged/disconnected or RADIO, PSD, PWR SEAT, B/U fuse blown or removed), the reinitialization procedure must be performed to ensure proper operation of the power sliding door.

Make sure the ignition key is in the LOCK position and the sliding door is fully closed, latched and unlocked.

Turn the sliding door lockout (overrride) switch OFF.

Remove the RADIO fuse from the UNDERHOOD fuse panel. Wait 30 seconds, then reinstall the fuse.

Wait 10 seconds, then switch the lockout (override) switch ON and open the door with the open/close switch.

Wait 5 seconds then close the door with the open/close switch.

Cycle the door open and closed 2 more times, allowing 5 seconds between each operation.

Finally, open the door and check to make sure the door is in the fully open position.

Close the door and check the operation of the door using the manual latches, inside and out.

I hope that helps.

I don't know if anyone can offer more suggestions. We've been just living with the door messing up for the last many months. When we close the door, we just have to stand there and make sure it closes. If it opens back up, usually if we hit the button again, it closes.

Well, now the door is stuck shut. We can't get the door to open. I know it's a different problem to why the door won't close. The dealer says that problem is the actuator. The door is locked and they want to replace it. (This is what they told me a year ago or so.) But I just got to thinking I don't believe it's the actuator. The door won't open today because the lock is in the locked position and I can't get it to go unlocked. In the past, when this happens, I have to somehow get the door apart from the inside with the door closed, then loosen the door up a little and then shake it and get it to unlock. It's somehow binding and the actuator isn't strong enough to unlock it. But I can't get it to unlock just by moving it manually, so I doubt changing the actuator will fix it.

A few times in the past when we had this problem, if we'd drive the car, it would bounce the door around a little and free up whatever is messing it up and the door would start working again. It's not working today and it's still stuck shut and the door chimmer constantly chimes while I drive, which is really annoying.

I really don't want to take it to another shop. I know they're all fixing it to the book. The whole problem with the door is the design is flawed, so it can't be fixed by the book. Something in the basic design has to be changed. I don't know how I'm going to jimmy rig it yet, but I need to figure out something.

Does anyone have one of these cars where the doors just work flawlessly? I try and buy american. Ticks me off when I see someone with their Japanese car and their door works fine and I had to buy american so I sit in the cold and mess around with my door for a half hour to get it to close.

I have a '98 with the passenger side power door. It has been marginal throughout the years until recently. Now it does not work any more. When you hit the button, it just clicks. I don't know if I can fix it anymore. As far as comparing to other manufacturers, I would have to compare it to a '98. I don't see too many of those. I can't tell what year cars are anymore. They all look the same.

Ok, the door messed up again today. I took apart the door further than I ever have. I finally found the problem. It's that stupid actuator in the top of the door that opens the door automatically. Sometimes it gets stuck in a position that causes the door to lock and not be able to unlock. If you force the actuator, then the door unlocks. I then saw when the actuator was too far back when it was closing and when it got all the way closed, it binded up and backed up. I then moved it by hand and it closed fine. So I guess I need a new one.

Ok, an update... I bought the actuator for the door (the one that tells the door to open and not the lock one.) I think the door opening back up after closing is fixed now. But I still had it happen a few times where the door won't open because it stuck locked. I'm 99% sure the lock actuator needs to be replaced now. For now, I just unhooked it so the door will always be unlocked unless manually locked. I'll see if it's fixed for now. If it doesn't act up for a few weeks, I'll replace that one too and plug it back in.

I need more ideas. I replaced the actuator for the door lock in the power door and it didn't fix anything with the door not opening. The door still gets stuck in the locked position and you need to manually unlock it. So, the previous actuator probably wasn't bad either. I don't know why about 50% of the time, the actuator doesn't work. I mean you hear it try to unlock the door but it doesn't. The only thing I can think of is the angle of the actuator to the door lock where it hooks to it is off. It's too much of an angle and it's binding and it doesn't have enough power to pull the door lock to unlock it. But I'm kind of iffy about messing with factory stuff and changing it to the way I think it should be... redrilling factory holes in different spots.

Hi Dorlow, I just read what I've gone through for the last year with my Saturn Relay power sliding door in your posts. Unfortunately I have no answers at this point in time.
Mine will stay closed at times no matter what I do, when it decides to open it will do so while I'm driving or will just work normally one day.

Sometimes it will not stay closed, and I am stranded; unable to leave my van! I've noticed that when it opens it does not open as far as the other good working the door (the passenger side, rightside). Also the cable does appear looser on the dysfunctional side compared to the working side.

I've taken it in but it works fine everytime the service shop has it.

Keep me updated please. I plan on purchasing a Hanes Manual soon.

Hi Dorlow,
First, thank you so much for posting your progress with the door issue.

I bought a 2005 SV6 and it had 2 miles on it so I have driven it since it was brand new from the manufacturer.

About 2 years ago started having strange problems with the driver side PSD. Sometimes it just doesn't fully close but after retrying it will finally close.

Now it is starting to chime thinking the door is not closed but it really is. I hope it doesn't continue to have more problems but after reading your posts I am afraid my troubles have just begun. Reading through everything you posted has helped me understand all of the things to check.

Thanks again for your posts here. I truly appreciate it.

So, ever since I replaced that last actuator, the door actually has been working really well. The only problem I'm having now is when the door closes, the motor usually runs for a few seconds after the door is closed. You can hear it straining trying to close it "thinking" it's not closed yet. I'm pretty sure there's programming that can be done to retrain the car to know where the door is open and where it is closed.

The only problem I'm having now is when the door closes, the motor usually runs for a few seconds after the door is closed. You can hear it straining trying to close it "thinking" it's not closed yet. I'm pretty sure there's programming that can be done to retrain the car to know where the door is open and where it is closed.
Mine does this too. But it does it more often the colder it is outside. When it is warm, or hot, it doesn't do it. I have had mine all apart and cannot figure out why it does it. When it does it, the alarm will go off when you put it into drive indicating that the door is open. But it isn't open. I can hear relays or solenoids clicking around in there when the door is closing and it has reached the end of its travel. I think there is something with the relays/solenoids that goes wrong when it malfunctions.

Strangely enough, mine does this too. But it does it more often the colder it is outside. When it is warm, or hot, it doesn't do it. I have had mine all apart and cannot figure out why it does that. When it does it, the alarm will go off when you put it into drive indicating that the door is open. But it isn't open.

Mine doesn't not do it in winter months... weather temp doesn't make a difference. The alarm should only go off if it thinks the door is still open, which means the contacts are dirty or not fully making contact... usually. Who knows with this crapy design though. But over the past year or so, I know more about sliding doors on vans than I ever wanted to know.

I performed the re-initialization procedure on 3/18/10. Today is 4/1/10 and I have not had one single problem with the door since it was reset. I was having problems consistently before the reset procedure was performed.

I was noticing the motor sometimes did keep running well after the door was either open or shut. I think the reset sequence recalibrates something within the door motor so it "knows" where to stop running.

Anyway, I just wanted to post my results. I was having alarms and door not closing fully issues but after resetting everything is good now. I did clean all contacts with a dollar bill at the same time I reset the doors. Maybe that helped too.

This thread saved me from taking it to the dealership. Thank you all so much!!!!!

Most here are traveling down the wrong road.. when power doors on a mini van get a little ware on them they tend to slouch a bit, and the more they slouch the more this problem will occur. The simple fix to keep your door closed is to locate the lower slide on the front of the door. There are 3 bolts on this slide that hold the slide to the door (the top one is behind a plug in the door trim use a slot screw driver to pry this plug out). using a 1/2" socket on a 3/8" drive ratchet loosen these three bolts and slightly adjust door down in the bolt holes in the bracket (by sliding the door down it actually adjusts the door up when tightened)After loosening the bolts, I used a 2lb hammer and lightly tapped the bracket that holds the slide to the door with my knee under the door to hold the door up. Then I tightened the bracket back up. I did this till the door stayed closed when activating the door close button. my door now stays shut when closed.:smile:

I don't know if my advice will help. I had this problem when we first bought it. One of the first times, my wife couldn't get the door closed. It would just reopen automatically. She drove the car to the dealer with it opened and demanded they fixed it. They couldn't figure it out either. I was wondering if the door was not lined up right. I heard the trick with wiping the sensors. I couldn't get mine to work. So, I did something really stupid. I loosened up the bolts for the door to the track for the front and back of the door so the door was moving all over. I learned real quick that getting those bolts back in the right spot is extremely difficult. After hours of trying different spots and nothing was working (I was thinking I was going to have to have my car towed to the dealer and say I was an idiot for loosening the bolts.) My door was way off where it wouldn't even start to close. I then just took the dirt marks and tried to line up the door with where the dirt marks were at and after playing around with it more, I finally got the door to close again. But somehow that fixed it. Ever since doing it, for some weird reason, when closing the door, the motor runs for a second or so after the door is closed like it thinks it isn't closed all the way. But, other than that, it has worked almost flawlessly (for years now.) It's extremely rare we have problems with that door. Sometimes we have issues with the door not opening. That's the lock. Sometimes the door doesn't unlock. So, I just have to reach to the manual unlock button on the door and make sure it's unlocked to open it. I guess I'm not suggesting you just loosen up the door guides... but I guess take the logic into consideration. Maybe there's something I could've done less drastic to accomplish the same thing. I'm sure the door is just in a slightly different position that it was before I loosened it and that's why it's been working flawlessly.