Power Door Locks - Lock 'Em Up!

Here, the ability to work by feel alone is required. Sometimes a little body English is helpful in undoing the stubborn connections to the latch mechanism. A small pocket screwdriver often helps pop the lock-rod retaining clips from the four rods (door lock, inside handle, outside handle, and lock button).

With three of the four connections to the latch undone, the large retaining screws on the end of the door are removed.

With the screws removed, the latch falls into the door where a final connection to the lock cylinder is released. Once that's accomplished, the entire latch assembly is carefully extricated from the door shell, as seen here.

Out on the bench, the old and new latches look almost identical except for the actuator and mounting plate. We want to keep some of the original fittings, so all of the old nylon bushings and metal keepers are removed from the old latch.

We transferred the other carryover fittings onto the new latch. The attachment of the lock-cylinder pushrod completes the latch preparation.

The new mechanism goes into the door. It's a bit tighter squeeze than the old part because of the additional actuator, but it's still an easy fit.

In this photo, the new latch is going to seat, but first the connection to the door lock cylinder is made. Once the mechanism is seated in the door, the connections to the interior release lever, lock button, and outside release button are completed.

With most work in the doors complete, we turn our attention to the wiring. There's a lot of room behind the stereo for the relays and wire harness; here we remove the aftermarket stereo unit. Other alternative mounting locations include the driver's kick panel, on the firewall, and under the console.

Here's the complete wiring harness with lock/unlock relays for the power-lock unit. Once concealed in the dash, there will be wires heading to both doors for the actuators and the center console for the lock switches. If you desire, the lock switches can be mounted into the door panels, which works well if you have power windows, too.