# Power door locks & rear defroster not working



## caps620 (Dec 18, 2006)

Hello,

I have a 2001 Chevy Impala and the power door locks and the rear defroster stopped working. I think these two are controlled by the body control module but not 100% sure. 

Thank you


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## bruiser (Jul 30, 2005)

Have you tried replacing the circuit breaker in the fusebox?


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## caps620 (Dec 18, 2006)

Hello bruiser,

I didn't think of that. I checked the owners manual and I see a rear window defogger circuit breaker but no power door lock one. There are fuses for the BCM, locks and defogger - all good.
It seems the power door locks didn't just stop working one day, they faded away over a few weeks, may seem odd I say that but let me explain:
As time went on the power door locks didn't seem to have that same clunk when they locked and unlocked. Sounded to me like the power applied to the lock solenoids was diminishing. Sometimes would work to lock the doors but not to unlock them till complete failure.
I couldn't tell you anything about the rear window defogger except one day I noticed it did not work. 
That peculiar lock behavior is what's leading me to the BCM.

Thank you for your reply.


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## bruiser (Jul 30, 2005)

I think it's two separate problems. Try this for the door locks. Take the handheld remote apart and clean the contacts in it. You can use a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol. I bet lots of black gunk will come off the contacts.


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## 8210GUY (Aug 29, 2006)

I think 2 problems as well, was going to suggest the fusebox above but didn't have time, the doors IMHO are more likely to be the mechanisms inside the rear door panels, just like an electric window motor they get tired and run down then just stick.

The heater should be on a seperate curcuit if I'm right, not sure if you may also have a seperate solenoid for that as well as the fuse ? if you do may be worth checking that, also where does the window heater connect ? 2 visible connections ? if so stick a meter in there and see if the power is getting through, if it isn't you'll need to find the weak spot, been a long time since I messed with these things but I know there are larger metal cases that are as good as fuses as well, look in the book to see if it's so in this case, that may well be the weak spot, but with the doors my money is on needing new solenoids or something inside the panel.


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## caps620 (Dec 18, 2006)

Thank you bruiser and 8210GUY, I'll take a look at these and post the results.


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## Midnight Tech (Dec 31, 2001)

Locks getting slow and sluggish over time? Might want to check the grounds (earths for our British folk) in those doors... sounds like some corrosion has gotten somewhere it shouldn't be.


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## caps620 (Dec 18, 2006)

Yes the locks seemed to get sluggish over time, all four of them, so I might assume there is a common ground point that goes to all four lock solenoids. 
If so, I just have to find that point and check it.
Thank you.


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## dhd (Jan 24, 2007)

I'm having a similar yet different problem. The keyless remote will open the driver's door but none of the others. Once inside the car, the unlock switch on the driver's or passenger's door will not unlock the other doors. Actually, it flips the switches to unlock, but they all return to the locked position.


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

Midnight Tech said:


> Locks getting slow and sluggish over time? Might want to check the grounds (earths for our British folk) in those doors... sounds like some corrosion has gotten somewhere it shouldn't be.


one way i like to test for bad grounds, is i have a 20 foot long peice of fairly fat (10 gauge) wire, with an alligator clip on one end, and a larger clip on the other end. i attach the larger clip to the negative battery terminal, and then i use the other end to apply the ground to the part i suspect has a bad ground, and then i check to see if the problem still exists.

(most of my favorite tools are this simple)

in the case of your power locks, i'd connect the aligator clip to the door, somewhere on a clean screw.

that would assist in ruling out a bad ground. (earth)


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