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1990 legacy, possessed door locks...


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All of the doors except the driver's door automatically lock themselves most of the time -- it seems that the lock control on each door is quite biased towards the lock position so if you slam the door, or open the door using the handle, it pops it into lock, even if you left it in unlock. The drivers door is not the original, and it doesn't do it (luckily... a friend has a '91 legacy and it does it with all four doors... has locked the keys in the car many times...)

 

Is this a common problem? And what's going on? I'm suspecting there is something misadjusted or binding inside the door that makes it want to shift the to the locked position, or a spring that's getting weak or something. I'm going to yank the interior panel off one of them and investigate when we get a decent sunny day...

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It's just all the lock mechanisms and rods/links needing lubed. Pull the door panels off and spray it all down with lithium grease. Work them back and forth. They probably are binding and not fully disengaging from the locked posistion.

 

Every gen 1 Legacy I've owned needed this done. There usually isn't anything broken though.

 

GD

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There is a small plastic clip holding the lock operating rod to the door. That clip is meant to provide enought friction that operating the inside door handle will not make the rod move and lock the door. When the friction clip gets worn there is enough friction between the handle and the lock handle to make the lock go on when you open the door with the inside handle.

 

I have fixed a few by glueing a small piece of polystyrene foam to the door between the door and the lock rod to provide friction.

 

Hope that is understandable, hopefully it will be when you get into the door and try working the door handle a few times and see what happens.

Edited by Log1call
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Erm...I had this on my drivers door only.

 

I bought a new innner handle mechanism...and discovered the problem: A little stub had broken off the original.

 

No amount of oil will glue that back on. You need to replace the handles.

 

It might be possible to fabricate something that will allow your old handles to work again, but you'll need to be creative since there isn't much room :rolleyes:

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