Hello guys my 2000 xj8 vanden plas driver side door lock is on the fritz. Somtimes it will work with the fob or with the inside unlock button. However there are days where it does not work and when it doesnt the unlock button inside doesnt unlock the other doors but the key fob does when taken out of the ignition. Its becoming a real pain especially when trying to unlock my doors for my passengers to get in.

I cant open my drivers side door from the inside either but I'm pretty sure its not related, just a bad door cable.
Thank you

 

The short answer is that most likely a micro switch in the door mechanism isn't setting because of the bad door cable on the interior latch handle. The cable runs from the handle all of the way to the lock mechanism and up onto a pivot. When the cable frays and quits working it effects the latch position.

 

Awesome thank you! I would have thought it was unrelated. Gona get a cable asap then.

 

Well I changed the cable and no luck the drivers door lock still doesnt work with the key or the button inside. So I'm going to order or got to the junk yard and try to find the whole actuator unit. Does anyone know if theres a cheaper ford part for this unit?

 

Assume you are not getting a warning that the door is open ? The mircro switch is a known fault path and Jaguar does not sell the switch as an individual part .... if it's seeing the door open it will not allow the locks to work.

When you use the key in the lock you are moving both the lock and the actuator ..... May try looking in the wire diagram and see if the micro has two pathways ... my friend was getting the dash warning w/ no locks working .. so it was easy to tell that the door micro was not working.

We did as you and got a working unit from a wreck.

 

Yup no warning light that the door is open at all. Its strange, and somtimes it will work on occasion then stop.

 

Now that you have eliminated the cable problem, open the door and heavily spray down the latch assembly with WD-40. Also, spray the through the keyhole. Then exercise the door handles and the key to lock and unlock. There is a chance you can free up a stuck micro-switch.

 

Will do thank you for the response guys! I appreciate it especially since I cant afford to have a mechanic take a look at the problem.

 

What happens when you open the door -- does the warning work? I would check the wiring diagram -- if the micro is only 1 or 0. It's working if you get the warning ... If two pathways -- then it's still possible.

 

Two things come to mind from a similar issue I had several years ago:

Do a hard system reset if you haven’t, and also, a weak battery will often cause funky electrical glitches. I would check these two things first before spending any money.

 

Yeldogt, yes the warning light does come on when the door opens. I have done a reset on the vehicle and bought a new battery a few months ago.
However, the door will no longer open from the inside after switching out the cable, it was working fine after the new cable opening the door and unlocking it. Now all it does is unlock the drivers door but doesnt let me open it from the inside I have to roll the window down and open from the outside again.

 

Once I get off work I'm gona soak that whole area with wd 40 and hopefully that will loosen and lubricate everything in there

 

I had similar problem as OP, replaced cable and still the system wouldn't unlock. Did your WD-40 trick, worked like a charm! Thanks!

 

I had a similar micro switch issue on drivers’ door. It killed one battery and was working on another! I found a remanned unit online. Problem solved. Don’t recall the name of the supplier so check my posts. Really fast service. I think they were in the upper Midwest.