minty Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 (edited) Hello, I have a 1991 Subaru Loyale wagon. When I bought it recently, the only thing wrong with it was the rear passenger door lock would not function -- the person sitting in the back seat would have to use the electric window switch to roll the window down, reach out, and open the door from the outside. Recently, the window has also stopped working on this door. At first I was suspect of the black door unlocking mechanism (since the door wouldn't lock/unlock from the main driver's switch) inside the door frame, just behind/below the outside door latch . But now that the window has stopped working, I am thinking the door lock/unlock mechanism might be fine, and my issue lies further upstream. Thoughts? I am completely new to Subaru. I do have the Chilton manual for it but in this case it doesn't help much. I also don't really know how to use a voltmeter, but I would learn if needed (yay youtube). Just putting this out there in case someone says "yup, common problem, it's this/that...". I tried looking for threads on this topic in this specific forum related to this but the search function only produced ~1600 *pages* of results, of which the first ~10 (pages) proved the search function is useless. Edited March 31, 2019 by minty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Dawg Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Only one way to know first check fuses, then go in and look at it.. I never had any problems with the rear doors per say.. but when installing speakers in the driver rear the plug had mysteriously started to separate the connection... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 These have a child safety "switch" Look on the edges of the door when it's open, above the latch mechanism for a small short toggle lever. It should be up for normal operation, down does not allow the door to be opened from inside. The window, could be in the relay / control stuff, or a broken wire in the cable to the door. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minty Posted October 5, 2018 Author Share Posted October 5, 2018 (edited) The child safety switch was engaged, many thanks @DaveT for that one. No longer have to reach out and open door from outside. I have had my door panels off quite a few times since buying it last April, and when taking the door panel off this time (the rear passenger), I noticed the wiring leading to the window switch was completely unplugged. I was shocked, because like I said, I've had the door panels off a few times and have always plugged everything back in. So, many thanks to @Len Dawg for saying " go in and look at it". I suppose I assumed it was plugged in already. I am down to just the door lock not working. When I lock my door from the driver's seat, it locks all doors except the rear passenger. Because there is only one fuse for all doors/windows (I believe it is the "DR-LOCK" fuse), I don't think it's the fuse, it looks good and clean. I even swapped the DR-LOCK fuse out for fun, with the "SPARE" 20A fuse that is right next to the fuse removal tool. Still no luck. My thought is I need to test voltage on the wires (leading to the rear passenger door) while I engage the lock via driver's door. If I get a reading (would I be looking for 12V?), would that mean the issue lies further towards the door? Obviously.... I guess now that I got the window up right before rainy season in WA, I don't mind so much. Still would be nice to fix the one and only thing wrong with Minty. Edited October 5, 2018 by minty Added image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Dawg Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 (edited) I would suppose scooping out the rod to the lever would be next. There may/may not be a swivel type of connector that snaps onto the rod and holds it in place that the road connects to lever via a loop hole. Yeah don't know why the wires become disconnected.. I had made sure everything moving was waaaay out if reach. Edited October 6, 2018 by Len Dawg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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