Reliant Power Lock Question....

1860 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by RaiRai, Jul 6, 2013

95 T&C

Discussion Starter · Jul 18, 2012

My Wagon has power locks. BTW I never knew power locks even were an option on a Reliant till I found this car...

But back on track. They all work with the exception of the passenger's front door. Which will not lock manually or otherwise. If my memory serves me this condition was usually the actuator has frozen up. So before I tear into the door I would like to have a replacement on hand but I am having trouble locating one from napa or rock auto.

Does anyone know if this actuator is unique to the aries / reliant or does it cross reference to other models?

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95 T&C

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 2, 2012

Well i turns out the dealer gave me the wrong info. The Lock actuator is a seperate screw style motor that is the same part on both sides. Looks like it twas the same part in all K derivities intill 89. I found one from a 2 door reliant at a local u pull it yard. But even Caravans till 90 used the same part.

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Marcos

· #3 · Aug 2, 2012

That screw style design was used for years, and as they age they get very stiff, being all metal. you can feel it when you try to lock/unlock the door manually.

I ended up replacing mine in my '89 Lebaron with the newer style low-friction (mostly plastic) ones out of a AA body. They worked much better, especially in cold weather or when the car had sat for a while and the battery wasn't at it's fullest charge. They were a direct swap-in except for the electrical connector. I used the old lock actuators and the pigtails for the new ones to make short jumpers.

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valiant67

· #4 · Aug 2, 2012

Marcos said:
That screw style design was used for years, and as they age they get very stiff, being all metal. you can feel it when you try to lock/unlock the door manually.

I ended up replacing mine in my '89 Lebaron with the newer style low-friction (mostly plastic) ones out of a AA body. They worked much better, especially in cold weather or when the car had sat for a while and the battery wasn't at it's fullest charge. They were a direct swap-in except for the electrical connector. I used the old lock actuators and the pigtails for the new ones to make short jumpers.

Thanks for that information - I think I'm going to see if this possible swap applies to my old RWD cars as well since the power locks often don't work and they have that same stiff feel to the manual lock/unlock (sometimes to the point only the key will lock or unlock the door).

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RaiRai

· #5 · Feb 5, 2013

The other actuator in my 89 LeBaron Convert finally seized when my car was standing a longer period. I can't unlock driver's door even with a key. The other actuator is still kicking...
I'm wondering, would there be any problems in using universal-type door lock actuators? They are cheaper and more easily available for me at least. Thanks.

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RaiRai

· #6 · Jul 6, 2013

RaiRai said:
...
I'm wondering, would there be any problems in using universal-type door lock actuators? They are cheaper and more easily available for me at least. Thanks.

Answering to myself: Can be done without major problems. I used this kind of universal actuator as seen in the pic.

This was for my LeBaron convert. driver's door. Took out the old one and the "swinging" assembly, had to drill out 2 rivets. This new one bolts maybe couple of inches forward of the original assembly. One hole was there in the door already for the attachment, had to drill another for the lower attachment. This sits there tightly unlike the original "swinging". Measured the needed rod length (about 11 cm) and used the original 2-piece rod shortened. El. wires like for the original, just check that "lock" is not "unlock".
I was a bit afraid this universal can not give long enough movement for the rod but I was luckilly wrong.

Pros:
- availability
- price
- operation equal to original equipment

Cons:
- assembly time (for first timer measuring rod lenghts, testing etc, not much space and hard to see inside the door...)
- durability unknown

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