My 62 Super 88 has a driver's door that locks itself once in a while. I never thought too much of it ... too many more important things to think about. But today I noticed 65OldsDynamic's thread about 88 rear door locks, so I thought I might as well ask about my door lock while I'm thinking about it.

My 62 Super 88 doesn't self-lock all the time, only once in a while. It seems that the door can go through 6 or so closures without a problem, but eventually the lock assembly slips far enough with every closure that eventually the door will lock itself.

This isn't really a problem when I keep the other doors unlocked -- I've gotten used to opening the left rear passenger door to lift the latch on the driver's door. But I think that I should do something about it sooner or later, otherwise this self-locking problem might eventually result in getting locked out of my car when the keys are in the ignition.

Is there something obvious that I should be looking for? I've never had the door apart, and I haven't paid any attention to the locking mechanism yet. So far I've been focused on bigger problems, but I think I should do something about this before it comes back to bite me in the butt.

Thanks!

 

I'm guessing that your 88 works like my 62 F-85, in that you lock the door by pressing down on the inside door handle. If so, is the inside handle mechanism loose, such that the handle can rotate down when you shut the door, locking it? That might lead to a weak centering spring in the mechanism or other loose or worn parts.

I'll also note that I was having a problem with my 62 in that the driver's door frequently wouldn't latch when you closed it. I finally removed the inner panel and lubricated the heck out of the latch mechanism. That really fixed the problem - the door opens and shuts like it was brand new. Don't underestimate the benefits of lubrication, especially on 50-year-old linkages and latches.

 

The only way to lock the door on my 62 Dynamic 88 conv is to push the **** down. It has paddle handles which are only used to open the door.

 

Mine are like this.

 

I'm curious about this. Aren't the 60's locks pretty similar? Our 67 Cutlass Town Car likely was the same locking procedure? You pushed the inner lock down, and then had to press in on the outside handle button to keep it engaged when the door closed. Could it be that the mechanism for the thumb latch has a weak spring?