Door Locked (But Apparently Not)

[bocabimmer]

Recently discovered that my front passenger door is locking (plunger down) but the exterior handle still opens the door. It subsequently triggers the alarm, which is good, but I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.

Anyone have any ideas where to start looking on this? I’ve taken the door panel off a couple times to stop the Limited trim plastic from squeaking. Any chance I disturbed something?

 

[CDNRabbit]

Is it intermittent? If so it might be that the back glass hatch isn't closed. This happens to me and prevents the car from properly locking.

I had the same issue on a previous car and it was the door latch mechanism that wasn't moving freely. Plunger would go down but the lock wouldn't engage, used some grease and worked into the mechanism and it worked fine for the remaining year or two I owned the car.

 

[bocabimmer]

Is it intermittent? If so it might be that the back glass hatch isn't closed. This happens to me and prevents the car from properly locking.

I had the same issue on a previous car and it was the door latch mechanism that wasn't moving freely. Plunger would go down but the lock wouldn't engage, used some grease and worked into the mechanism and it worked fine for the remaining year or two I owned the car.

No, It’s not intermittent. I may have to try lubricating the latch.