Locks have stopped working

[bollox74]

have you tried opening the gas door while the car is running?

Just wondering if the gas door is completely disabled with the car operating...or?

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

Disconnect the negative battery cable and wait 15 minutes then reconnect it. Maybe it will reset the electrical system.

 

[Pacer69]

have you tried opening the gas door while the car is running?

Just wondering if the gas door is completely disabled with the car operating...or?

I don't think that'll work - since the gas cap thinks it is in lock mode and the power locks aren't working. But I'll try it tomorrow, along with the negative battery post disconnect. (Once I figure out where the hell the negative post is - looked at it tonight, found pos real easy but never seen a batt like this, and the manual is useless for this).

Also gonna call some other dealers and see if I can get in quicker. The one dealer scratched my car when they had it in for service, so they owe me a solid. Thanks for the suggestions, all.

 

[Pacer69]

Update: everything is working fine this morning. Maybe popping the battery cover off last night set it straight (but I doubt it, I didn't touch anything). Hopefully it stays that way; either way I'm filling up the tank this morning even though I have 100 miles to empty. And WTH. I expected electric gremlins from other German makers, but not GM.

I will keep that Friday service to have them test that BCM just to be safe.

 

[carsrmilife]

Having just bought a TourX, this is worrisome! I wonder if there will be a BCM harness recall, at this rate? The gas lid being locked was a problem I had with the Civic I traded. I was able to pry that open carefully. I haven't examined the lock on the TourX yet. Maybe I should!

 

[Pacer69]

I wonder if it's connected to moisture getting into the parts and shorting them out. We've had a LOT of rain here. That still shouldn't be an issue, though.

It's only happened to four of us here out of however many TourX owners. I wouldn't worry a whole lot if it hasn't happened to you, but I'm going to be in touch with Buick (hopefully engineering) on this and the fuel door issue. That really is a stupid idea to make it only connected to the electrical system. Every other car I've had since model year 1982 has had a manual fuel door pull.

 

[BoostedRegal2.0]

It's possible there's a loose connection on the battery. Usually a problem doesn't just fix itself overnite, so you might want to make sure the cables are tight. Also see if they will test the battery for you, it's possible the battery is defective.

 

[Pacer69]

It's possible there's a loose connection on the battery. Usually a problem doesn't just fix itself overnite, so you might want to make sure the cables are tight. Also see if they will test the battery for you, it's possible the battery is defective.

Agreed on all that. Good ideas, will do, thanks. Last time I was at the Buick dealer, they had a plug-in gadjet that the guy told me measured every critical system to ensure all was well. Don't know how accurate that is, but that's what he told me. I'm taking it to a different dealer than that one...actually a Chevy dealer that's only about a mile away vs 15 miles for either of the Buick dealers. I figure I"ll give these guys a shot at my business as the engines are pretty much the same as what some Chevys use.

 

[jliebs89]

My experience with this, for those interested:

I've had this happen to me a few times. I found that every time it rained or if I went through a car wash, the locks would be disabled and I was having to crawl in through the liftgate to get in the car and open the doors from the inside (I didn't know about the secret key at the time). The remote lock/unlock buttons nor the inside lock/unlock buttons would work. I figured it was a water leak issue with either the DCM or BCMs, since it would start working again after a few hours. I never made fixing it a priority, because who has time to deal with this crap with all the other stuff going on in life?

However, in one particular Sunday driving home from Indianapolis, I got really screwed. It rained the night before I was supposed to drive home, and in the morning unsurprisingly the doors wouldn't unlock. No big deal, I figured, as I would just crawl in through the liftgate as usual and hopefully at some point on the way home the locks would start working again. After about 45 mins into the roadtrip, however, my gas light came on, and this is when I discovered the locking fuel door was part of that same door lock system. Being a Sunday in rural Indiana, with no dealerships open, and after 45 mins on the phone with AAA, I realized I was screwed. So documented the situation on video with my phone, and took my snow scraper and pried off the fuel door, then ripped the plastic locking piece of the housing to get access to my fuel filler.

A week after I got home, GM later replaced it all (housing, fuel door) and fixed the root cause (it was indeed a case of an unseated wire grommet, I believe between the door and body harness). I figured this is typical first model year glitchy stuff, but by god was it infuriating. No manual override to the fuel door? People could get seriously screwed by this. And how was I to know about the manual key to open the doors? If I was less physically able, and didn't know about that key, how can I even get into the car?

Love my TourX but DAMN.

 

[Foxbat]

After about 45 mins into the roadtrip, however, my gas light came on, and this is when I discovered the locking fuel door was part of that same door lock system. Being a Sunday in rural Indiana, with no dealerships open, and after 45 mins on the phone with AAA, I realized I was screwed.

Don't we all get 6 years of Buick 24-hour Roadside Service with our new Regals? Our dealer made sure we knew to call Buick if anything ever came up when we were on the road or even at home.

Site Maintenance

 

[Pacer69]

Do you happen to know which door had the unseated grommet? Driver's? Other? That would be valuable info. And that is different than the BSM part? Or same?

Thanks for the info. Super helpful, also confirmed my suspicions about the heavy rains being a factor. I took mine into my local Chevy dealer this a.m. The tech told me since it wasn't exhibiting the problem right at that moment, that he'd have to charge me to do a diagnostic rundown on it. I thought this was pretty crappy but on one level I can understand why they'd say that as there may be folks out there who just waste dealers' time with fabricated issues that GM doesn't want to — and won't — reimburse for.

I told him I understood their view on it and that I'd call GM and address it with them. He suggested I talk to the local Buick dealer since they'd be more likely to have dealt with this. I said I would. Then I guess he had a change of heart because he called over his "electric specialist" and they popped the hood, hooked up their gadjet and took a look, n/c.

A couple of the guys in there were unaware of the TourX including the electronics guy and both were visibly impressed by it. The electronics guy did say that some Buicks (i.e., Opels) are different than Chevys [electrically] so he wouldn't have much knowledge but he did test the battery and it was fine. The two techs were also clearly impressed with the power available in the glass battery as they made a comment on it to each other, something about "These glass batteries are awesome."

@jiebs89, thanks again. I'll take your info and give it to my Buick dealer (or this Chevy dealer next time it happens) and have them sort it. It's clearly a matter of time before this happens again. I understand first-year issues, but it's actually the second production year for this vehicle (came out as a 2017 Opel) ...one would think they'd have this solved by the time the 2018.5s rolled out. Oh well. Life goes on.

My experience with this, for those interested:

I've had this happen to me a few times. I found that every time it rained or if I went through a car wash, the locks would be disabled and I was having to crawl in through the liftgate to get in the car and open the doors from the inside (I didn't know about the secret key at the time). The remote lock/unlock buttons nor the inside lock/unlock buttons would work. I figured it was a water leak issue with either the DCM or BCMs, since it would start working again after a few hours. I never made fixing it a priority, because who has time to deal with this crap with all the other stuff going on in life?

However, in one particular Sunday driving home from Indianapolis, I got really screwed. It rained the night before I was supposed to drive home, and in the morning unsurprisingly the doors wouldn't unlock. No big deal, I figured, as I would just crawl in through the liftgate as usual and hopefully at some point on the way home the locks would start working again. After about 45 mins into the roadtrip, however, my gas light came on, and this is when I discovered the locking fuel door was part of that same door lock system. Being a Sunday in rural Indiana, with no dealerships open, and after 45 mins on the phone with AAA, I realized I was screwed. So documented the situation on video with my phone, and took my snow scraper and pried off the fuel door, then ripped the plastic locking piece of the housing to get access to my fuel filler.

A week after I got home, GM later replaced it all (housing, fuel door) and fixed the root cause (it was indeed a case of an unseated wire grommet, I believe between the door and body harness). I figured this is typical first model year glitchy stuff, but by god was it infuriating. No manual override to the fuel door? People could get seriously screwed by this. And how was I to know about the manual key to open the doors? If I was less physically able, and didn't know about that key, how can I even get into the car?

Love my TourX but DAMN.

 

[jliebs89]

Do you happen to know which door had the unseated grommet? Driver's? Other? That would be valuable info. And that is different than the BSM part? Or same?

Thanks for the info. Super helpful, also confirmed my suspicions about the heavy rains being a factor. I took mine into my local Chevy dealer this a.m. The tech told me since it wasn't exhibiting the problem right at that moment, that he'd have to charge me to do a diagnostic rundown on it. I thought this was pretty crappy but on one level I can understand why they'd say that as there may be folks out there who just waste dealers' time with fabricated issues that GM doesn't want to — and won't — reimburse for.

I told him I understood their view on it and that I'd call GM and address it with them. He suggested I talk to the local Buick dealer since they'd be more likely to have dealt with this. I said I would. Then I guess he had a change of heart because he called over his "electric specialist" and they popped the hood, hooked up their gadjet and took a look, n/c.

A couple of the guys in there were unaware of the TourX including the electronics guy and both were visibly impressed by it. The electronics guy did say that some Buicks (i.e., Opels) are different than Chevys [electrically] so he wouldn't have much knowledge but he did test the battery and it was fine. The two techs were also clearly impressed with the power available in the glass battery as they made a comment on it to each other, something about "These glass batteries are awesome."

@jiebs89, thanks again. I'll take your info and give it to my Buick dealer (or this Chevy dealer next time it happens) and have them sort it. It's clearly a matter of time before this happens again. I understand first-year issues, but it's actually the second production year for this vehicle (came out as a 2017 Opel) ...one would think they'd have this solved by the time the 2018.5s rolled out. Oh well. Life goes on.

Anytime! Unfortunately, I didn't get any more info from the tech other than "one of the door wire grommets was loose". Pardon my ignorance with lingo, but by BSM, do you mean OEM? I haven't made any modifications to the vehicle, this issue was fresh out of the box (first instance was about 1.5 months into ownership).

That's great to hear about the impressiveness of the glass batteries. Always love getting validation on my purchase lol.

Anyways, good luck with your issue. Be sure to give an update when you get it resolved!

 

[Pacer69]

Anytime! Unfortunately, I didn't get any more info from the tech other than "one of the door wire grommets was loose". Pardon my ignorance with lingo, but by BSM, do you mean OEM? I haven't made any modifications to the vehicle, this issue was fresh out of the box (first instance was about 1.5 months into ownership).

That's great to hear about the impressiveness of the glass batteries. Always love getting validation on my purchase lol.

Anyways, good luck with your issue. Be sure to give an update when you get it resolved!

IKR on the glass battery thing? The techs had a moment of shared respect there. I don't know much about it other than if they like it, I'm on board!

If you could take a picture of the repair printout page for the lock issue that your dealer gave you, and post it in this thread, that would be awesome — and would get the rest of us a lot further in getting it resolved. Many of us have found on other issues (front suspension) that without specific info from an invoice...or even showing them an invoice that details the repair...dealers are often uncooperative or simply ignorant.

Sorry - I misspoke on BSM...meant to say BCM which in this case means Body Control Module - it controls a lot of the electrical goodies. Anyway, a pic of your repair invoice would be golden if you happen to have it as it would likely tell the whole story with part names/numbers included. Thanks again for the great info.

 

[jliebs89]

IKR on the glass battery thing? The techs had a moment of shared respect there. I don't know much about it other than if they like it, I'm on board!

If you could take a picture of the repair printout page for the lock issue that your dealer gave you, and post it in this thread, that would be awesome — and would get the rest of us a lot further in getting it resolved. Many of us have found on other issues (front suspension) that without specific info from an invoice...or even showing them an invoice that details the repair...dealers are often uncooperative or simply ignorant.

Sorry - I misspoke on BSM...meant to say BCM which in this case means Body Control Module - it controls a lot of the electrical goodies. Anyway, a pic of your repair invoice would be golden if you happen to have it as it would likely tell the whole story with part names/numbers included. Thanks again for the great info.

Uh oh - I'd have to see if I still have it. Admittedly I'm not the most organized guy in the world. I might even call the dealership and see if I can get a report.

 

[adam728]

Bringing this up to see who else has had the door lock issue and what the solution was.

Mine acted up last week after a car wash. Dealer was packed, and the next morning when they could squeeze me in the car had healed. I did get a new battery, as the one in there was leaking and not original (5,000 miles on the car, but it spent 14 months new on a dealer lot).

Did a car wash again with no issues.

This morning drove an hour in snow/slush and door locks were all kaput when I arrived (fob and door switches). Quick in/out of the store and it was working again, maybe 10 min. Drove home, now out of commission again. Sitting in heated garage hoping it repairs itself.

Sucks, as I am supposed to go on a 360 mile round trip tomorrow. But I can't take our newest, lowest mileage vehicle because I can't get gas if it does this! Either the wife's van or my 28 year old truck need to go.

Frustrating!

 

[brand213]

Bringing this up to see who else has had the door lock issue and what the solution was.

Mine acted up last week after a car wash. Dealer was packed, and the next morning when they could squeeze me in the car had healed. I did get a new battery, as the one in there was leaking and not original (5,000 miles on the car, but it spent 14 months new on a dealer lot).

Did a car wash again with no issues.

This morning drove an hour in snow/slush and door locks were all kaput when I arrived (fob and door switches). Quick in/out of the store and it was working again, maybe 10 min. Drove home, now out of commission again. Sitting in heated garage hoping it repairs itself.

Sucks, as I am supposed to go on a 360 mile round trip tomorrow. But I can't take our newest, lowest mileage vehicle because I can't get gas if it does this! Either the wife's van or my 28 year old truck need to go.

Frustrating!

I have had the issue happen again since the “fix” I had my car detailed, detailer used a power washers on the passenger side and locks immediately stop working..

By the time I got to the dealer it dried out for a day and they worked again.

 

[adam728]

Mine were working again about 15 min after I posted this morning.

 

[brand213]

Mine were working again about 15 min after I posted this morning.

 

[autocomman]

Mine failed for 30 sec, then the radio wouldn't turn on...long story short radio module was bad

 

[adam728]

My locks haven't acted up since my last post, but the dang gas tank door keeps getting stuck. Doesn't seem to be the locking mechanism, I can hear/feel it moving. But twice now I've gone for gas and can't open the door, plus twice went to wash the car and couldn't open it (to get the backside). Then it magically works fine a few minutes or hours later.

Just got it open and blew eveything out with compressed air, then added some Sil Glyde. Not sure if this is a physical part issue, or a snow/ice issue....