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Door Lock and Unlock issue

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Capt Smartjack, Feb 7, 2016.

  1. Capt Smartjack

    Capt Smartjack New Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I thought I had this solved, but now I need some help.

    Recently, I've been having issues with my door locks. When exiting the car, and pressing the door lock on the outside handle, I would here the door lock solenoid fire once, then open, and the door would not lock. Same thing would happen when I used the FOB. The door would not lock. On occasion, I would get the door to lock, and stay locked by using the door lock inside the car when the door was open.

    On the occasions when I did get the door locked, I then had issues unlocking. If I approached the drivers door to unlock the door, the car would just keep repeatedly beeping, and would not unlock the drivers door. But, the back door would unlock, so I could reach in, and open the drivers door from the back.

    I searched on this forum, and general solution pointed to the 12V battery. I took out my meter, and sure enough my 12V battery was only at 8V. I replaced the battery, and everything was working fine, with no issues at all. This has been fine for a few weeks.

    BUT, last week I had my oil changed, tires replaced, and go a front end alignment. Got the car home, put it in the garage (don't lock it in their), and it sat for a week. Went to drive it this week, and all the door lock issues described above are back. The first thing I thought of is that the internal DC-to-DC converter was not charging my new battery, and the replacement was now dead. So, I took my meter to check. Sitting battery was 12.5 Volts, and with the car on, I was getting 14 Volts, so the charger was working properly. So, this does not appear to be a battery issue THIS time.

    Searching the forums have not revealed a solution. I did find a few threads where people had computer issues after a front end alignment, but not door lock issues.

    So, does anyone have some ideas? Is there some sort of computer reset I could do? Should I just try disconnecting the 12 Volt battery again, and see it that makes a difference. I just don't know if this is somehow related to the work I had done last week, or if this is something electrical that got a temporary fix when I replaced the 12 Volt battery a few weeks ago.

    Everything else in the car is working fine. My only issue is the door locks.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    II
    Try just washing the door handles, there may be some debris on there that's interfering with the sensors.

    Is it happening with other doors or just the driver's door? See if things change if you use the other key fob....it may also be a battery issue on the key fob.
     
  3. Capt Smartjack

    Capt Smartjack New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2016
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    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    The sensor in the door is working. When I touch the handle to unlock, the beeping starts, and the parking lights flash, so the sensor is detecting my hand. The other doors unlock, and only the drivers door stays locked. So, I can open another door, and reach in the car to unlock the drivers door. Or, I can use the actual key from the fob to unlock the door.

    I just tried disconnecting the battery again, to see if it resets everything. But, I must not have left it off for long enough, because it didn't even reset my radio stations. I only left it off for about a minute. I will try leaving it off longer later.
     
  4. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    I would suggest replacing the door lock actuator mechanism.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    turn your headlights on and see what the 12v does. to me, if it worked after replacing it, your issue is in there somewhere.