I have the same temperamental problem with the sliding door. On the door
there's a flat contact plate, on the body there is a contact plate with
4 pins. When you close the door those 2 plates come in contact acting the
actuator. I removed the contact plate on the body, cut a piece of plastic
from an old credit card, put it under the contact plate (4 pins) and put it
back.
Works well, problem solved.

On Tue, Aug 22, 2023 at 8:19 PM John Rodgers <jrodgers113@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have replaced the electric locks on my 1991 Carat with the green ones
> from Van Cafe. Installed new factory links that connect the lock
> actuator to the window button. Replaced the short connection cables with
> new as well. I simply unplugged the hatch look and do not plan to hook it
> back up. Prefer the manual locking operation for the hatch. I tested all
> circuits to be sure I had power to the appropriate places. All good.
>
> Key will unlock the driver side but will not lock or unlock the passenger
> side from the driver side, even though it should. Sliding door some
> times will and sometimes won't. Even had a professional mechanic look at it
> and he was stumped. was no a Vanagon man, however.
>
> Any ideas?
>