1986 Porsche 951 Door Lock Linkage Repair
Copyright © 2004, Tom M’Guinness
This document can be freely copied in its original
form, for non-commercial purposes only.
All other rights reserved.
There are a number of things that can cause the electric door locks not to work on the Porsche 944. One of the most common problems is the linkage inside the door that connects the electric actuator to the door locks. If the electric door locks are not working on one or both sides, test to see what happens when you press the lock switch above the gear shift knob. If you hear clunking sounds in the door (and/or if you can feel the actuator working about 6 inches forward of the door lock knobs), yet the door locks are not working, chances are the door linkage is broken. The linkage is made of plastic and tends to break when old.
The linkage rod clips onto a little metal ball on the door lock mechanism. The plastic linkage rod has a little clip on the end makes sure the linkage stays attached to the metal ball on the door lock. The problem is that the little plastic clip tends to fall off the end of the plastic linkage and, as a result, the plastic linkage falls of the metal ball. In the picture above, you can see that the used rod on the top is missing the little clip that holds the ball socket tight. The new rod on the bottom shows the little clip (on the far left end) that clips the ball socket tight around the ball.
To replace these rods, the first step is to remove the door panel. The picture below shows the location of the screws that need to be removed to get the door panel off. The orange dots are screws covered in little black plastic covers, which come off easily like press-on bottle caps. The green dot shows that there is a second screw holding a small black plastic bracket to the door -- you remove the second screw once the carpeted pocket comes off.
Start by removing the bottom screws at the bottom of the carpeted pocket. This allows you to remove the pocket, so that you get access to the green-dot screw and to the three screws holding the arm rest in place. Once the other screws are removed, there are still a few snap-pegs holding the panel to the door. You can carefully pull the door panel away to unsnap the pegs. It is safer to use a panel remover like the one shown below, however, which are available at virtually any parts store.
Once the panel is free, you need to slide it up to pull it away from the door. Once you can get behind the panel, you need to pop the power window switches out of their sockets. You also need to pull back the plastic sheeting to gain access to the lock mechanism. Below is a picture of the door with the panel removed.
Once inside the door, you should find an old yellow broken lock linkage rod in the big opening under the lock knob. To remove the old linkage rod, you need to pull the metal clip off the metal hinge pin that holds the rod to the actuator, and then slide the pin out. The other end has the ball socket that clips onto a metal ball on the door lock mechanism. The picture below shows the end of the electric actuator with the linkage rod removed.
And here is a slightly blurry picture showing the linkage rod attached ay both ends. Don't forget to close the little plastic clip on the ball socket end, and replace the pin and metal clip on the actuator end. Also be sure to reseal the plastic liner, to keep moisture out of the car.
