My friend just purchased a 1991 760. It is is great shape and has only 80k miles

One problem with the car is the drivers door lock. She can lock and unlock the doors by using the knob. When she uses the key she can lock but NOT unlock the doors, so we unlock the passenger door then crawl across to pull up on the knob.

Is the switch out or is it something else?


Thanks

Tony

If your key is getting worn or is twisted a little, you should get a new one from the dealer soon. These keys can break off in the ignition once they get bent, and the column is virtually impossible to take apart once the key fails. This happens to all 760 and 960 models once the keys wear out. The 850/S70 uses a similar key, but I haven't personally seen the same failure in those cars yet.
If the key is nice and straight and square and not worn, you've either got a sticky latch mechanism or the actuator switch is a little out of adjustment. Maybe the actuator rod needs to be bent a little to make it push the switch enough to make contact. For this repair you need to get inside the door and observe the lock in action.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '86 244DL- 215K, 87 244DL- 230K, 88 744GLE- 198K, 91 244 180K

In my case the drivers lock ended up being bad... the insides had fallen apart.
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1988 760Tic - 155,550 1966 M-B 230 sedan - 98,000 - Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. - Bill Watterson