XJ-S: Door Locking Problem Found

["Kirbert" <palmk@mailer.gadcomm.net>]

My earlier reports on fixing the little roller on the window regulator were, 
in fact, instigated by a door locking problem; while in the door, I decided 
to address both.

To clarify:  The door locks on the '83 XJ-S are solenoids, making them 
different than those on the later cars with motorized locks.  I don't know if 
they are different than the XJ6, which has more doors to deal with.  The way 
these things work is that each solenoid has two microswitches and two 
capacitors.  While sitting, the capacitors get charged up to 12V.  When one 
lock is manually moved to the opposite position, the appropriate microswitch 
makes a connection, and the charge in the capacitor operates a relay which 
moves the OTHER solenoid to go the same way.  Since the capacitor only holds 
so much power, the relay is only activated for a half a second or so.

On my car, this system has been operating intermittently.  When locking 
or unlocking one side, the other side would work sometimes, and 
sometimes it wouldn't.  This kinda defeats the whole purpose, since when 
locking the car you've gotta walk around to the other side and check it 
anyway.

While in there fiddling, I did find some problems and correct them, 
but my locking problems persisted.  Yesterday, the car wouldn't start.  Yes, 
I finally found the cause -- the battery is a goner!  The locks work 
FINE when the engine is running, but I hadn't thought to try 
that!  Interestingly, with a dying battery, the car still started fine for a 
long time, but the door locks were the first indication of trouble.  And 
yours truly the bonehead didn't figure it out.

I'll bet my electric windows work a lot better with a new battery, too!

 -- Kirbert      |     If anything is to be accomplished,
                 |     some rules must be broken.
                 |          - Palm's Postulate

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