I totally MacGyvered my HHRs door locks for cheap

[eljefino]

So the wife was thrilled I fixed her rattling steering intermediate shaft after 60k miles of complaining. And after five minutes of me hating all the other newer cars on the road I decided it was cheaper/ better to fix what I had. So then she snidely asks when am I going to fix her driver's power door lock button? I was on kind of a roll and the weather was nice so I liberated the old one and noticed it was not past saving:



As we look at it it's kinda smooshed. Another view:



It's supposed to look like this:




Turns out the little pips up top don't have enough grip/ depth to snap in and hold things properly.

Ok, so I dig through my pockets and find an earplug and a zip tie. Perfect! Drill a couple holes to feed the zip tie:

Add the ear plug and run the zip tie over it to keep tension on it and the guts:

Reinstall in car and I'm

 

[KGMtech]

Interesting. Is ear wax conductive?

 

[supton]

Nice!

 

[i_hate_autofraud]

Good fix, so I guess the guts had dropped back when the button was crushed, right?

Interesting there's a resistor in there (1,500 ohms I think) is there an LED in the button?

If not, they could be using it to 'snub' the arc from switching the inductive load of a lock motor
or solenoid.

comments?

 

[eljefino]

I think the resistor is for resistive multiplexing, eg a "full pulse" means one thing while a "half pulse" means another. This saves wiring.

A body control module actually runs the locks.

 

[Sayjac]

As usual, nice work MacGyver. It reminds me of the ACDelco Turn Signal Headlamp Dimmer switch I replaced on an 09 Equinox last Thanksgiving. I purchase the part from Amazon because I was only going to have the vehicle for a short time frame and needed to make sure it worked.

I did fix the old one though as a spare. Basically you just reverse the flat leaf like spring inside the mechanism, there's a youtube showing what to do. Honestly never seen anything like it. When I saw it I thought about the term cheap made in China junk. Imo, it would qualify.

 

[KrisZ]

Nice!

I also prefer to fix stuff, where I can, instead of replacing.

 

[kc8adu]

at least its easier than a w body hazard switch.
those have the blinker electronics all spidered out on those copper bars and the solder joints break.
to me its not too bad to fix.to someone without my background and equipment its a loser.
it looks to be designed to fail.

 

[04SE]

I would have used a few dabs of hot glue but then it wouldn't have been MacGyvered.

 

[kc8adu]

ca and zip kicker.
but the rube goldberg method should work fine too.
hot glue might go soft in the heat of a parked car.