I live in a pretty safe area and don’t bother to lock my car very often, but when I do I appreciate the central locking feature. One day about a week ago while running some errands I did actually lock my car only to find that the key didn’t seem to want to unlock the other doors when I came back. Central locking not a critical function to me, so I figured something had gone wrong with the janky switch on the lock and that I’d eventually get around to repairing it in the future. However, the next day when I went to start my car I found that the battery had been drained. I immediately suspected the lock switch. Sure enough when I opened up the door panel I found that the little plastic tab that connects the lock to the switch had broken, probably because the action of moving it was too hard. This had left the circuit permanently energized, hence my dead battery.
Thankfully the plastic bit hadn’t broken completely. I still had all the parts. I glued the broken bit back together and tried making a new contact that wasn’t as thick to make the action less rough. I was successful at this, but after I reinstalled the switch I found that that dang little piece of plastic just wouldn’t stay on the lock’s lever. In the end I decided to forget about fixing the switch for now. I put the loose parts in a storage box and zip tied the part still attached out of the way of the window.
Door Card Repair
Long ago I had already made a repair to a water damaged section of the driver’s door card. The hard board I used ended up not really suitable for the task. The lack of a good moisture barrier allowed it to get wet and start to disintegrate. I decided to use regular old box cardboard instead. It’s lighter and not quite as thick. This along with the improved moisture barrier will hopefully let it last longer.
The slots where the clips attach had also deteriorated, so I set the clips in the correct place and filled the holes with glue. Once this dried I cut some duct tape to help secure them in place.
Throwing Codes
The car has been running well for the most part but a few times in the last week the car has been a little hesitant after start and even stalled once at a light. I checked the computer and got 3-2-2 on the ECU and 2-1-4 on the EZK. The EZK code suggested that my crank position sensor was starting to fail. Those are not expensive, so I’ve ordered a replacement and will swap it soon. The ECU code was a little confusing. It means that the MAF sensor’s “burn off” signal was not found at some point. My MAF is new, so I’m not convinced it’s got a problem. I could see this code being a false reading related to the stall I experienced or perhaps when my battery having been drained. I’ll keep an eye on it.