Did you do the jiggling of the key while it was in the ignition? If so, then the ignition switch could be the problem. People tend to drive around with a lot of things dangling off of their car key, not realizing the damage they are doing to the ignition. Turn the car on, and jiggle the key around while it's in the ignition. You can also try to drive with only the car key in the ignition (no key ring with anything else attached to it). The ignition key unlocks all of the doors when the key is removed. A fault in that switch could cause of the doors to unlock while you're driving. If you jiggled the key while it was in the ignition when you tested it, it could have actually been the ignition that you got to trigger the door locks.

 

If not the ignition key, there could be a short in the door lock button that's next to the clock. You can try to tap on that a little to see if it does anything it's not supposed to be doing. You can pop the clock out and remove the plug from the back if you want.

You can also tap around the area that the driver door lock lives so you can eliminate that as a possible cause. I doubt it would be the door lock, because most are programmed to unlock the driver door first and then the rest of the doors. If yours happens to be programmed to unlock all of the doors with the first counterclockwise turn, then the door lock becomes a more realistic possibility.

 

If none of those are the cause, then you only have a couple more possible areas it could be. I'm really thinking the ignition switch at this point, especially since it sounds like you had the key in the ignition when you jiggled it around and caused the doors to unlock.

Let us know what happens after you try these and we'll troubleshoot the other possible problems if they don't work.

 

I'll bet it's the driver's door lock actuator. Probably driving down the road, whatever is worn out inside it bumping around, making the system think you are unlocking the door with the key. Unplug it and see if the problem goes away. (make sure the system isn't armed first)

 

Thanks for y'alls help. Im thinking that it might have been a coincidence that jiggling the key unlocked the doors. As for the unlock button, it seems to be working fine. Now, my drivers door DOES unlock all doors with the first counter clockwise turn. I assumed that was normal. I did read somewhere that this can be programmed to act differently, i.e. the scenario you said where it takes two turns to unlock all doors.

I am definitely not an electrical expert, but I would think that if it was an ignition switch, I wouldn't have the second problem of when I enter the vehicle it sometimes not unlocking all the doors and turning off the alarm.

So it very well may be both. Ingition switch possibly causing the random unlocking while driving, drivers door lock actuator causing problems upon entry.

Or perhaps both are affected by the door lock actuator. that's my thoughts at this juncture.

-Danny
2000 Discovery 2, 120k miles

 

Jafir,
I'll try this and see if it acts up.

 

If it is programmed to unlock all of the doors with the first counterclockwise turn, then it does knock it up in probability. I would just try hitting that part of the door to see if it unlocks the doors before I go through unplugging it though. A lot quicker and a lot easier. If it does unlock when you bang it, then you know that's the problem. If not, try jiggling the key in the ignition to see if that does it.

 

Update:
I spent the 250 to get a new fob from the dealer. I figured I'd better get it now before I am stranded somewhere from the alarm locking me out or something crazy where I cant start it.

So that solves my alarm problem, I've been monitoring the random unlocking trying to find a pattern. Sometimes it happens when I'm turning, sometimes it happens on a bumpy road, sometimes it happens when I am hard braking. BUT sometimes I am on a smooth highway without accelerating or decelerating.

When I bang on the door outside the locking mechanism, I can't get it to unlock. Haven't gotten around to unplugging it yet.

 

Did you try jiggling the key in the ignition?

 

Hey everyone,
It has been a while so I am posting a followup to this problem. I am not gettng the random lock/unlock while driving anymore, so that's good! I use the key FOB to unlock and lock the doors with no problems there (although the range on the FOB is ridiculously tight, sometimes I have to get within 5 feet of the truck to unlock it. Any suggestions? I already chagned the battery and still have the same problem). It is a good thing I got this FOB when I did, because now when I try to unlock it with the key it doesn't unlock all the doors and disarm the alarm EVER! Every time it just manually unlocks the driver's door and nothing else happens. I am thinking it is the actuator or something, but I'm not too worried about it now since I can just use the FOB.

Thanks again for all the responses