Pull the fuse?

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From: "PB" <pbrattan@GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2010 1:25 PM
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Subject:      Electric door locks out of control!

> Last December, I had a remote installed for my electric door locks at
> Fry's
> in Burbank, CA.  It worked perfectly until yesterday morning when I
> arrived
> at work.  The passenger door suddenly wouldn't lock, either with or
> without
> the remote or the key, so I left my Westy unlocked in the fairly secure
> parking lot.  When I came back out and tried to use the remote, the lock
> would unlock, then quickly lock again before I could open the door, but if
> I
> "timed" it right, I could open the door before it locked again.  The next
> thing that happened was that while the door was open it would continuously
> lock and unlock.
>
> I took it back to Fry's.  The technician removed the remote device but
> even
> with the remote removed, the doors locked and unlocked continuously, so
> the
> guy then disconnected the electric locks.  Then the locks wouldn't budge!
> I
> could neither lock nor unlock the doors with or without a key!  The tech
> somehow was able to forcefully pull the lock stem unlocked, but I told him
> to stop that and leave it alone, (already panicked) because forcing may
> ruin
> something.  So for the rest of the day, I had to climb in and out through
> the passenger door or the side door.
>
> I 'll be taking it to the mechanic (Bela) this Tuesday.  Bela says he will
> probably be able to troubleshoot and fix the electric locks.  Could the
> remote unit have harmed my electric locks?  I really enjoyed having that
> remote.  Would it be too risky to have it replaced (somewhere other than
> Fry's,)  or was it just time for my electric locks to go bad?  Or should I
> just give it up (the remote) and be glad I have electric locks?
>
> Patti
> 90 Westy Automatic