so lately my car is acting wierd. When im sitting inside the car at any point, stopped running, off, running going, etc. I hit the unlock button and instantly after I let go it locks... I have to hit unlock on my aftermarket alarm to get it to stay. any ideas what it is? aftermarket alarm or is it the solenoid controlling the locks itself?

 

Time Control unit...

 

hahaha.
Maxine.


Mine does the oppisite. When I get in it locks. Which is pretty cool. haha.

 

it aint gunna let you out lol i love mine it dont let me lock the keys in it if the key is in the ign.. and you try to lock it it unlocks its self

 

Here's my part of story. My lock and unlock they would work for maybe 3 to 4 days then stop at a no where. Then some how they start working and then they stop. It really annoying i have prestige keyless alarm and when i press lock on the remote i would like for the door to be locked, but instead i have to manually lock everyone of them. internetautomar mentioned time control unit. Where is it located it and can i clean or fix it or do i need to replace it.

 

http://www.thewardrops.com/maxima/

That explains it all pretty well.

 

Oh Thanks a lot Gunther for the link really appreciate it.

 

No problem, its on my to-do list, along with a growing number of things

 

Nice work gunther..adding this thread to the general maintinance sticky..

 

thanks man, guess this next week when im on vacation im fixing that.

 

The locking system is partly governed by the power window master controller on the driver's door. I know this because I designed my own replacement given the genuine Nissan beast costs 3x as much and is overcomplicated, unreliable crap (I've been through 2 of them in the past 15 years). On both occasions, it has screwed me over only with the rear right window (driver's side in my case being a RHD model) and loss of auto roll-up/down of the driver's window. Why on earth Nissan (or Niles in this case) made it so complicated is beyond me. The passenger windows all need +12V to roll up and +6V or less to roll down (as the window signal from the master controller travels to each window with its own dedicated single wire).

Anyway, getting back to the locks, the same logic IC which failed in mine controls the locks as well for the Australian model which has the timing built into the subswitches, whereas you guys up in the US have them controlled through the time control unit dedicated to the locks (my locks have never suffered, mind you). What you should try doing if the lock time control unit doesn't sort it out is taking the master window controller out of your door, pop the beige back cover off it (it's simply clipped in) and then pop the circuit board out (the connector has two notches similar to the back cover which hold it in the actuator housing). Once you have the board out, get some isopropyl alcohol or methylated spirits and with a cotton bud/cuetip, gently clean the surface of the top two carbon pads which are your lock/unlock pads. Don't go crazy on them or you will strip an unreasonable amount of carbon rendering it almost useless. Once you've given it a clean, do the same to the rubber keypad just in case and then reassemble and test. That should resolve it.

If you have a digital entry system as well, maybe it is causing you grief and can be checked by simply unplugging it from the system while you test your master controller. Most likely it is your door's master controller though, as history dictates.

And if anyone's curious about my design, it's very simple although the board layout is a ***** because I'd have to redesign it for the LHD vehicles (different button placement) which means getting a guinea pig unit for me to make the appropriate measurements and modify the PCB artwork accordingly. That was a ***** just do to my type, let me tell you. At least I don't have to worry about it for a long time now.

 

Gunthers link doesn't work. I can get to the control unit and everything. I just wanted a picture of the circuit board that had the common bad solder point circled. Anyone with the picture could post that would be awesome.

 

what year 3rd gen you have?

 

master control unit @ the drivers door!

 

Link is more than a year old, may be that's the reason.

The lock is driven by electric motor with gears and sliding position sensors. In my case the problem with the lock was due to bad contacts of the position sensor's contacts inside the unit. As far as I recall there're 2 of them and in order to fix the problem you have to clean both. This involved desoldering the small circuit board inside the unit in order to access the bottom one. It is doable and lasts: it's been close to 2 years in my case and it is still OK. It requires though certain level of soldering/desoldering skills and proper equipment. I also put electric grease on the contacts after cleaning.

 

92 se, dohc, autotragic

 

dohc autos are not autotragic , a term used to describe failure prone autos (such as the vg-auto)

 

so sell it to me. I'll give it a good home.

 

The tragedy is the owner who expects perfect functionality after 15 years of total abuse.

Lube? Smtg politicians need. Change? ...just babble.

 

its a 92 so...almost 17 years of abuse now.. oh wait, ive had it rebuilt 3 years ago...so 3 years of abuse.

I just think the power of the dohc should of only been equiped with the 5spd. unless you want to go the route of getting the valvebody recalibrated to shift faster. all that trouble id still rather have the 5 spd, and i think most of you would prefer 5spd dohc over auto dohc.



sorry, all the work and money ive put into this car over the years, its worth more to me than what I could get for it. ST springs, koni's, lightened udp, CAI, strut bar, full exhaust, bmw e36 headlight brackets and e36headlights w/halos, full stillen kit, + countless repairs and new parts.
my buddy just traded in his 91 vg auto yo the dealer and they gave him $3000. the bastard bought the car 5 years ago for $3000. Was suprised how much the dealer gave him for a 17 year old car, bone stock, given the market these days.

anyway back to my question, if anyone had a pic of the circuit board of the control unit? not the master unit at the door.

 

unfortunatly, i think i just jacked my driver side lock up trying to turn the key. I think it was frozen this morning...

 

I'd rather have an A/T.

anyhow, your buddy getting 3k for his car just means that they jacked up the price of what he bought by 2k or so.

 

IMO the hp/torque gains with VE (dohc) aren't enough to alter life of a reasonably maintained auto vs. manual trans. No doubt it's not as exciting as rowing thru gears WOT, but the torque multiplication offered by the T.C. can increase light to light runs. Finally, my Max (92 VE,auto) has a limited slip diff. That definitely improves performance off the line!! Good luck with door locks, I am going out to pull my T.CU. right now, BTW I wasn't clear about "clicking" when working switch, mine does this, I assume it's the lock relay-does it serve any diagnostic purpose? FSM doesn't help much. Thanx to all contributors!

OOPS!! no sooner than posting this I notice threads/posts about "5-spd vclsd"! My bad, I've focused on my problems(classic hesitation among others).

 

i second that, i had the same problem

 

I HAVE A DOOR LOCK QUESTIION:

When you unlock the driver side door, and all of the locks unlock. Is the passenger side door supposed to stay locked???

 

nope. unlocking either front door is supposed to unlock all 4. unlocking the back doors is just that one door tho. but of course you can't JUST unlock a rear door unless the window is down or someone's in the car, etc.

 

so what would be the prob??? Cuz i mean, i can go over to the passenger side and unlock/lock it, but none of the other locks unlock/lock. hmmm

 

i know there are several sensors that are supposed to detect the status of the lock and door handle, and also the lock motor itself. one time i had my door panel and handle off and my passenger bend the rod and the door thought it was open... so the door wouldn't lock. so those sensors play a big role in when the door is allowed to lock and unlock. I would just suggest performing the Power Lock diagnostic procedures outlined in the BF section of the FSM.

 

Trying to attempt to get my door locks running perfectly before I attempt the aftermarket alarm install

I resoldered the points. no difference. what my issue is that I have to press the 6 pin plug in HARD before it actually works properly. doing this also causes the locks to lock on hard press... figuring this I also tried to ziptie the plug into the door lock timer. no go when I put it back where it goes. won't even lock/unlock.... I swear I got the electrical demons on this one.

dielectric grease? snip a new pigtail from the yard and solder it to my existing wires? this is my 2nd door lock timer. first had same issue.

 

your talking about the 6 pin plug that goes on the time control unit?
I would check the wire harness for corrsion, doubt it being inside the car but who knows. Also the female connectors inside the harness could of got pushed back.

Did you check out the driver door window/lock control unit? I had the time control unit problem a couple years ago, soldered it and it worked. Then a month ago it started again so I checked my solder and re-did it, still no help. I looked at the window switch/lock control unit and noticed one of the things on the circuit board was broke off and i couldnt solder it back on, got one from the yard and it works perfect.

 

Yeah, 6 pin plug.

I dunno... I'll clean it up... it seems like it's making REALLY bad contacts. could be a combination of the timer and master control.

 

couldnt hurt to pick one up from a JY. I got a master control unit for driver door, time control unit, and a few other misc things in the engine bay for $10.

look inside the harness to see if maybe you can bend the contacts so that when you plug it in they make a good contact with the 6 pins, use a tiny screw driver or sewing needle.

 

I was having problems with my locks. I had to replace the master switch twice. The locks started to go crazy. I would lock the door for the night and go inside, then when I come out to the car in the morning, all the doors would be unlocked! Now my keyless entry panel wont work or do anything but beep. And when I unlock the driverside door, the lock wont come up all the way, so I have to open the trunk, or the passenger side door just so the alarm wont go off. Now it seems that the inside door lights have a mind of their own! when i go over a bump at night, i see then flicker on like the door is open, and then go off. Sometimes I can park the car, shut the door, lock it, and the ring around the ignition switch stays lit with no key in it, all the doors can be shut, and somehow it may trigger the door lights to come on, and the alarm to go off!! I came outside twice to my car alarm going off(factory) and all doors were locked. DOnt know what to do about it!