Pdl Do Not Work Anymore Even From The Inside?

[SpeedRacer959]

I did a search, (just in case some of you are wondering) and didn't come up w/ any answers to THIS probelm.

I have a 1997 ES300 w/ ~140k miles. She's been very reliable so far, but just recently the power door locks quit working intermittenly. At first I thought it was the remote, so I replaced the battery. Same issues still happened. I remember SK saying somethign about the terminals getting all cludged up w/ debri over time from arcing, so I decided to take the drivers side switch out to inspect it. I found that it was fairly dirty, so I cleaned it w/ WD-40, and di-electric grease where appropriate. I reassembled hastily because I had to get to class. After working on the switch on the drivers door, it now decides to unlock itself randomly. I have since not driven the car for fear it will just leave itself unlocked when it's on the street when I'm in class.

My question is this: For anyone who is familiar with the electronics of this car, would the symptoms that I'm having now be solved if I order a new switch from lexus for the drivers door? Or does the problem stem deeper than this? The switch was $200 last time I checked so I don't want to start the expensive guessing game w/out first checking the LOC experts!

Any advice may help. Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

[gbhrps]

Speedracer959,

Since you've solved half your problem by what you've already done, I'd be inclined to go at it again when you have more time. It sounds like you've got to the bottom of the problem, getting the car to lock and unlock from the remote, but that you may have made your incar door lock switch too sensitive. Could you have bent a contact too far one way? Have you pulled the other 3 incar door lock switches and cleaned them? Does the harness that connects to the power lock in the driver's door have clean contacts? Did you pull the door panel and check the harness connection to the door lock selenoid to see if its corroded? These are just some things that I would try.....before I turned the car over to the dealer to solve....and before I did that, I'd track down a used door lock switch from a wrecked car. Hope this is of some help. Good Luck!

[SpeedRacer959]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try it and let ya know what solves the issue.

Regards,

Jimi

[SpeedRacer959]

Update....bought 2 new switches from a salvage yard off of a 1998 lexus for $80 shipped from www.car-parts.com

Solved problem completely. Highly recommend going used when you can. The switches cost about $300 from lexus.

Saves me money to give to red cross.

-J