The Subaru SVX World Network   SVX Network Forums
Live Chat!
SVX or Subaru Links
Old Lockers
Photo Post
How-To Documents
Message Archive
SVX Shop Search
IRC users:

Go Back   The Subaru SVX World Network > SVX Main Forums > Technical Q & A

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 11-23-2012, 07:41 AM
Dominus's Avatar
Dominus Dominus is offline
Homo Sapien Superior
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 106
Unhappy My Door Hath Screwed Me

So my driver's side door won't lock. Apparently the automatic door locking actuator (or whatever it is properly called) has broken or seized. The door won't lock, I can't press down or pull up on the inside button, it seems stuck in the middle. This is very annoying.

What is more annoying though is that for some reason this problem is drawing power from the battery and draining it so every time I return to it after a night it is totally dead.

So what I am wondering is; Is there a way to disconnect the automatic door actuator so it won't drain the battery, is there a way to do this so I can just lock the car with the key, and is there instructions anywhere for this.

I would really appreciate some help with this asap. I live in the city and can't leave my car unlocked and of course with it draining the battery constantly I can't drive it without jumping it.

P.S. Is there a fuse I could remove that would deaden the door actuator so it stops draining the battery?
__________________
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-23-2012, 07:47 AM
Dominus's Avatar
Dominus Dominus is offline
Homo Sapien Superior
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 106
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

I have the 1992 SVX by the way. Dark Teal
__________________
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-23-2012, 12:36 PM
FM977 FM977 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 70
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

Yes, there is a fuse in the box under the dash on the driver's side. Once the fuse blows the actuator will seize. Replace the fuse and you should be good to go. I just had the same problem.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 11-23-2012, 12:46 PM
Dominus's Avatar
Dominus Dominus is offline
Homo Sapien Superior
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 106
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

What kind of fuse do I need to get to replace it?
__________________
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 11-23-2012, 12:50 PM
Conn SVX's Avatar
Conn SVX Conn SVX is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NW ,Connecticut
Posts: 2,833
Registered SVX
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

I pulled my fuse to deactivate the locks. Try removing the fuse guessing # 13 auto lock
__________________
When I was in school I sucked in sports. Then I found out I can buy trophies and now I am great at everything.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 11-23-2012, 02:16 PM
Dominus's Avatar
Dominus Dominus is offline
Homo Sapien Superior
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 106
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by FM977 View Post
Yes, there is a fuse in the box under the dash on the driver's side. Once the fuse blows the actuator will seize. Replace the fuse and you should be good to go. I just had the same problem.
Was your battery being drained when you had this problem?

I'm going to have to jump this car just to test this out. What a pain.
__________________
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 11-23-2012, 02:58 PM
Blacky Blacky is online now
51 Club
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: LSM, Quebec
Posts: 2,534
Registered SVX
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

In the short term just disconnect the negative battery terminal.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 11-24-2012, 07:25 AM
dcarrb dcarrb is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: none
Posts: 3,430
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

If the fuse were blown it wouldn't be draining the battery.

dcb
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 11-24-2012, 09:18 AM
Dominus's Avatar
Dominus Dominus is offline
Homo Sapien Superior
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 106
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

Yes, It doesn't seem like it was the fuse. I took it out and it looked brand new. I replaced it anyway, but of course that didn't fix anything.

Can I just removed the fuse to keep it from draining the battery?
__________________
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 11-24-2012, 09:22 AM
Conn SVX's Avatar
Conn SVX Conn SVX is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NW ,Connecticut
Posts: 2,833
Registered SVX
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

If you pull the fuse it will dissable the solinod and release the lock
__________________
When I was in school I sucked in sports. Then I found out I can buy trophies and now I am great at everything.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 11-26-2012, 12:51 PM
Dominus's Avatar
Dominus Dominus is offline
Homo Sapien Superior
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 106
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

Okay I took the Door Lock fuse out of the box and that released the door locks. So now I can open and lock them using the key.

Unfortunately there still seems to be a power drain that deadens the battery. I even took it out and drove it for like twenty minutes and disconnected the negative cable so it wouldn't be drained, but it still was. The battery seems to be completely and totally dead, it won't turn on lights, radio or anything. The battery though is only a year old and the rest of the system seems fine as it starts right up when jumped.

What do you think? Do I have a power drain somewhere or will this battery simply not hold a charge anymore even though it is only a year old? Should I disconnect the wire to the auto locks?
__________________
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 11-26-2012, 02:48 PM
Conn SVX's Avatar
Conn SVX Conn SVX is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NW ,Connecticut
Posts: 2,833
Registered SVX
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

Ok I will shoot for 2 in a row. Remove the neg terminal of the battery. Touch the + of you multi meter to the battery - terminal and the - to the removed cable. In the amp position see what the draw is ( be sure your meter will handle 10 amps. ) there should be a slight amp showing. my guess is the trunk light. I had an old cell phone connector draining mine. YOu can start pulling fuses one at a time till the meter drops. Pull the clock fuse 1st.
__________________
When I was in school I sucked in sports. Then I found out I can buy trophies and now I am great at everything.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 11-27-2012, 04:40 AM
wdb wdb is offline
dances with roads
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 630
Registered SVX
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

Twenty minutes may not have been long enough to recharge a fully dead battery, but it is not a good sign that you disconnected the negative terminal and the battery was still dead when you came back.

Have you put a voltmeter on it?
__________________
1995 Caterham 7 Twincam
2002 Porsche 911 targa -- now with FSI 4.0L power!
2007 BMW 328i Cabriolet
2012 Tacoma 4wd v6 Access Cab
2013 Mercedes E350 4Matic Wagon
2005 STi - totaled after 10 great years
1994 SVX LSi 5spd - sold but not forgotten
2000 Legacy GT 5spd sedan - gone after 150K miles of bliss
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 11-27-2012, 01:17 PM
Dominus's Avatar
Dominus Dominus is offline
Homo Sapien Superior
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Vienna, VA
Posts: 106
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

I took the battery out and charged it overnight. The multimeter said it had 12 volts. I put it back in the car and it started fine.

Thinking I might have a bad fuse I checked all the fuses with a multimeter. They all appeared to be fine.

Do you think the battery was just super dead and perhaps I don't have a drain besides the door actuator which shouldn't be drawing any power with its fuse removed?
__________________
“Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 11-27-2012, 02:28 PM
icingdeath88's Avatar
icingdeath88 icingdeath88 is offline
some sort of nerd. some sort.
Subaru Silver Contributor
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 3,560
Registered SVX
Re: My Door Hath Screwed Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominus View Post
I took the battery out and charged it overnight. The multimeter said it had 12 volts. I put it back in the car and it started fine.

Thinking I might have a bad fuse I checked all the fuses with a multimeter. They all appeared to be fine.

Do you think the battery was just super dead and perhaps I don't have a drain besides the door actuator which shouldn't be drawing any power with its fuse removed?
Yea I would bet that the actuator drain just slowly drained down the battery, and then the near-dead battery caused the rest.
__________________
'94 Laguna Blue LSi ~159k.......JDM ultra short-geared 3.900 STi Version 7 6-speed w/ Cobb shortshifter, ECUtune 244,8.1mm/256,9.1mm i/e cams, group N motor mounts, '97 grille, JDM clear corners, Momo JDM Legacy GT steering wheel, apkarian's LED tails, silver STi BBS wheels, PWR radiator, redstuff pads f/r, drilled/slotted rotors, bontragerworks rsb #18, Koni/GC 450f/375r coilovers, Megan Racing adjustable lateral links, KMac c/c plates, Stebro exhaust, ECUtune 1v5, Optima battery in the trunk where it belongs. Turbo project

'97 Ebony LSi ~137k #036.......Power mode mod, JDM clear corners, BBS wheels. AUX/pocket mod

Now a mod "over there" ............Photo album
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:30 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
© 2001-2015 SVX World Network
(208)-906-1122