Help! Odd Door Lock Situation

I have a 2007 Tundra Double Cab that has been good to me. Got 137k miles on her and I plan on riding it out until she’s too tired to go.

As with most folks, I’ve had my door lock issues and all of the actuators have been flipped out at some point over the last couple of years. This issue has stumped me, however, as I can’t find any info on this particular issue.

My truck refuses to lock when parked (with or without the key fob). It affects all of the doors and it doesn’t matter if the truck is running or not.

All of the doors do lock, however, when achieving 12 mph as it is supposed to.....and they unlock as they’re supposed to when shifting into park.

I initially thought it was a glitch in the key fob, however, the issue is still there after trying two key fobs and with no key fob remotely close to being in range.

Also, I cannot manually lock the doors with the door switches on the door panel as the doors lock momentarily and pop right back open.

Any advice on where to start trying to track this issue down? Are there relays/fuses/solenoids to look at that could relate to this? I’m stumped!

Really appreciate any guidance anyone can share.

 

Theory: I know with previous cars I have had if the keys are still in the ignition, the doors won't lock. Could your ignition switch still think the key is there causing the system to not lock? The way to try would be to manually lock all the doors, then close the driver door, if it unlocks that may be the cause.

 

That really makes sense...so much sense that I had to go outside at 10:45pm to try it.

Unfortunately, the locks responded to the key not being in the ignition or in the ignition like it was supposed to.

I could manually lock the doors and close the drivers door with the key out of the ignition and it would stay locked.

Manually lock the doors and close the drivers door with the key in the ignition and they would pop open a second or two after the door closed as they were supposed to.

I suppose it could still be ignition related, however, I thought that test would have confirmed it.

 

If there is a switch in the keyed part of the ignition, then it could be faulty. Switch failure could not recognize when key removed.

Never really thought about it before, curious about a switch or sensor.

 

Make sure all doors are closed all the way?

 

Fair question, but yes, all of the doors are closed. Typically, all four doors are opened and closed sometime during an average day between work, school runs, basketball practices and baseball practices for the kiddos.

 

I would recheck the actuators and the driver side main. Have you tapped into any wiring for lights or locks?

 

I am having the same issue with my 2004 DC.
Any solution ?

 

Toyota and door locks....lol.... yes, I've had this issue a few years back with my passenger side door would refuse to lock with or without the engine running.. I think it goes without saying that I'm no mechanic or tech and I don't take responsibility for damage or additional damage in an attempt to repair your won vehicle.

To fix it you will have to pull the door panel and remove the 2 cables attached to the door lock and opener, you may also want to tape newspaper or something behind the cable to cover the glass and below it since it will stain whatever it comes in contact with. You will have to pull on the ball to lock and unlock the door while spraying the cable, this will push lubricant down the cable. You will also have to spray lube on the actuator side of the door lock cable too, and do the same to the ball, unlocking and locking the door to push it lube in the actuator.

I used a lithium black silicon based lubricant I think it was Blaster Garage door lubricant. So far I've had zero issues since then.

If this fails, then you can replace the motor on the actuator itself, and there is a youtube video on a Lexus LS actuator which they replace the motor on it which is about $6 on ebay vs a $250 part.
https://youtu.be/_Eq2OTWuuJQ

 

I think it started when I tried to reprogram the fob. I didn't succeed, not long after that this problem started.

 

You may need a shop manual to troubleshoot the system.. May require a system reset

 

You are now just telling us this? Any other things you did that you did not mention? I think you may need to revisit the key fob reprograming.

 

I tried to reprogram it yesterday and took the battery off for few hours and put it back. So far it is locked. Hopefully that's it.

 

I had the identical problem with my 2005 DC and was lucky enough to stumble in to a temporary solution. All doors would lock with the fob, or with the electronic door switch on the drivers door, but after 5-10 seconds all four doors would unlock.

Was fairly confident that it wasn’t an issue with the truck still ‘thinking’ the keys were in the ignition because it didn’t shoot me that warning when I opened the door. Was also certain it had nothing to do with any of the door switches because the door ajar light did not stay on when all the doors were closed.

I did the whole disconnect the battery overnight thing and still had the issue in the morning.

Then I pulled the drivers side window/lock-unlock control panel from the door and unplugged it. Issue was unchanged.

I then pulled the passenger side window/lock-unlock panel from its door and unplugged it... holy crap... the locks stayed locked using either the fob or the driver side electronic lock. I plugged that panel back in and the problem returned.

I tore that panel apart and all the switches were clean and the circuit board looked to me like a circuit board should. (BTW...that circuit board looked big enough and complex enough to make decisions for a Mars rover even though it’s only functions were to lock/unlock doors and roll a window up and down).

Anyway...I used some multipurpose duster/air-in-a-can to blow the switch contacts, the circuit board, and both connectors (in other words I exhausted my full electrical engineering know how). I returned it to the truck and the problem was back.

I have left it unplugged as my fix for now. I very rarely have a passenger in this truck so the only real drawback of this temporary fix is that I can’t roll down the front passenger side window even using the drivers side control panel.

Quick search and I found a replacement part for the guts of that panel for $20-something on eBay. I realize my testing method doesn’t necessarily mean that the problem is in that part alone, maybe the issue is upstream in the wiring or door lock control or somewhere else I don’t even know the name of, but I’m going to start with replacing that unit and go from there.

I’m a long time user of auto and truck forums like this one and this is the first time I’ve actually come across something that might help someone else out. So...thanks to everybody who authored all the posts that helped so much over the years and I hope this info saves a few people some time/money/headaches!