I've got a 96 civic ex. My driver side lock never worked. The last owner was in there to replace the window and messed up the tweeter harness, mirror harness, and who knows what else. God knows what he did to the lock. This is the same guy that removed the alarm system from the car. Awesome...

All the electrical connections and harnesses involved with the locking system seem to be complete and intact.

So the alarm system has been removed and there is no remote. You can't lock the door from the outside with the key, it feels jammed. You can't manually lock it from the inside, it feels jammed. If you hit the switch inside to lock or unlock both doors, it does trys to lock the drivers side but can't. It works perfectly on the passenger side.

I figured if I opened it up, it'd be obvious what the problem is. Then I realized theres an electronic control unit in there, an electronic actuator, a mechanical system that could be jammed, damn, it could even be the alarm that this guy removed. Can anyone use these symptoms to give me some direction as to what it most likley could be? Basically, is this mechanical or could it be some electrical unit thats bad? I'd really appreciate it.

 

Locking / unlocking with the key is pure mechanical, so something in the door is jammed.

The receiver for the remote was built into the stock AM/FM radio that year. If you don't have a stock radio any more the stock remote is never going to be able to work. Sometimes the installer of a new radio will put the stock radio behind the dash and wire it up just so that will keep working. Seems unlikely on you car.

 

Ok, thats what I was hoping to hear. As far as the alarm, I don't even have the remote, I'm hoping its completly eliminated because on my last civic the alarm developed its own personality which wasn't very satisfying. So I am going to continue taking the lock out. Everything is removed, its now dangling from the rod that connects to the outside handle. Can't figure out how to seperate it from the handle nor how to get the handle of the car. Got the c clip out on the tumbler, along with a few other pieces, but its still holding on...more to come soon, thanks for the quick response.

 

So I took everything apart, replaced it with a known working actuator, verified it was all working, then put it back together. Now the door locks and unlocks both manually inside and with the key from outside, which it never did. But only if the door is closed. When the doors open the driver door won't lock before I close it. tho the passenger one will. If I pull the door handle open and try to lock it, it will lock. Anyone ever have this happen to them? The electric locks are going nuts so i disconnected them for now. Again, the drivers door locks and unlocks fine, but only when the door is closed. IF its open, the lock jams unless i pull the handle open at the same time. And advice?

 

That's how it is designed, to make it harder to lock your keys in the car by accident. The passenger door doesn't have that feature.

 

Yeah, all civics do that.

 

That makes complete sense. thank you. quickly, any idea what would make the electric locks want to lock and unlock but not quite be able to? does this certainly point to the control unit in the drivers door? thanks again

 

well I had the exact same problem when I purchased the car. What I did was to remove the lock/actuator unit and modified it with ALOT of trial and error. Now it locks with the key, power locks and by manualy flipping the switch. I really could not tell you exatly what I did cause I spent like half a day taking the unit off and bending the metal tabs and trying again. good luck...

 

From the sounds of it your actuator is getting weak and it don't want to work correctly or you don't have enough power going to it to make it fully lock and unlock

 

Ok, thats what I wa scared of. Thank you for your help everyone. You've been great.