Why is my buick such a pain? Door lock actuator this time..

[ZMan]

So I'm in the middle of replacing my passenger door. I have to replace it because the thing locked itself shut, so I cut a hole in it so I could access the latch and get the door open. Unfortunately after I got the new door on (with the latch from the new door), it still had the same problem of locking itself shut. So I bought a new lock actuator, the ONLY part number listed mind you. I get it, and its different than whats on my car (and the junkyard door). WHY does no one sell the actual part for my car?

The one from my car is on the left..

As you can see, it has an extra switch/plug. The only thing I can guess is its for the anti-theft system. I will make it work, I snapped it off the old actuator and will glue it to the new one. Just another pain in my ass!

for shit and giggles..

 

[adsm08]

Well, off the top of my head, I would assume the primary issue at hand here is that YOU OWN A GM PRODUCT and it is built to low standards of quality and bass akwards.

 

[ZMan]

Which is why I'm trying to sell it! Main reason I wanted the passenger door to be openable, didn't think it would be such a process though..

 

[adsm08]

Well, if this new actuator doesn't do it (try it without closing the door if you can, something is screaming short circuit at me) just go all Dukes on it and weld the door shut.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Which is why I'm trying to sell it! Main reason I wanted the passenger door to be openable, didn't think it would be such a process though..

Just buy a switch, throw it in the seat and tell them you never got around to fixing it.

I am amazed at the # of non running vehicles in the classifieds that have a fuel pump or some other part thrown in because "before it died it ran great"

 

[ZMan]

I did buy the switch, the only switch available, and its wrong as you can see.

I'm not going to try selling this car the way it is, I want it gone, and having a door in pieces isn't going to make it dissapear. All the people that have called me have enough issues with it having 161k, imagine if I told them the door didn't open or I don't have it together!

 

[snake]

Well, off the top of my head, I would assume the primary issue at hand here is that YOU OWN A GM PRODUCT and it is built to low standards of quality and bass akwards.

Amen!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I did buy the switch, the only switch available, and its wrong as you can see.

Nobody ever cares if the fuel pump is the right one.

I was joking.

 

[ZMan]

Nobody ever cares if the fuel pump is the right one.

I was joking.

Haha ya, i think my main problem is that its a buick park avenue, not a big market for those, especially high mileage ones. Im kinda wishing i never bought it, but oh well, it was a good learning experience. It was my first supercharged car, and i did my first fwd engine swap on it.

 

[snake]

That's how I learned never to own a GM- I had one. ONE. That's all it took. There is a whole list of other cars/trucks I won't own either for the same reason, I got boned by them too. Bone me once, shame on you, bone me twice, shame on me...

 

[kkjb4x4.0]

I own three 4.0's, my favorite by a long shot is the 32 valve northstar v8 4.o in my aurora,,gotta say that car is way easier than any of my fords to work on.

 

[ZMan]

I own three 4.0's, my favorite by a long shot is the 32 valve northstar v8 4.o in my aurora,,gotta say that car is way easier than any of my fords to work on.

Mine has the supercharged 3.8. The original engine spun a rod bearing at 142k miles, I'm telling prospective buyers it was because of leaky intake gaskets. The real story is I changed the intake gaskets at 135k, and for months afterwards I had a strange power loss issue at wide open throttle, I changed a lot of parts and couldn't figure it out, but my educated guess is that I had a bum fuel injector on cylinder 2, and it would run lean, eventually causing the bearing to spin due to the stress. Then the transmission failed at ~150k, that was caused by a broken vacuum line that caused it to shift weird, and driving it 15 miles home burned it up. didn't know it at the time, but it happened again about 4 months later which caused it to do the same thing, I was able to limp it home and fix the vacuum line before it burned up the replacement trans. Which then I managed to brake a planetary gear in that trans when I hit a patch of ice at wide open throttle, luckily the trans was still under warranty! I'll admit, most of the problems have been my own fault, but for as much as I wound out my Ranger it never gave me problems like this car has, I guess they're just built for old people to drive, not kids in their 20s who want to go fast

One of the things that boggles my mind in this car, is the mix of SAE and metric bolts, you would think by '99 they would have been completely switched over to metric, I was going WTF every 5 minutes when I swapped the engine.

 

[snake]

At least they painted the metric ones blue... but still too stupid to not mix and match.

 

[ZMan]

At least they painted the metric ones blue... but still too stupid to not mix and match.

I never really put 2 and 2 together there until you said that.

 

[adsm08]

One of the things that boggles my mind in this car, is the mix of SAE and metric bolts, you would think by '99 they would have been completely switched over to metric, I was going WTF every 5 minutes when I swapped the engine.

Ford did the same thing for a while. The late 90s Mustangs had some mix and match left and the 351 block kept SAE threading up to the end even though the valve cover bolts and such switched.