08 civic with aftermarket Polarstart system (locking/unlocking problems)

[Shlade]

Ok I need some assistance with my 08 civic which has a piece of crap Polarstart "auto starter" and fob kit. I'll try my best to explain what's going on.

The fob itself (I have 2 of them) works for the locking system for the vehicle. Now the problem I have here is the car doesn't unlock fully.

Locking: I lock the car, all doors lock except passenger door which I have to manually lock with the key

Unlocking: unlocks passenger door, then proceeds to unlock/lock all other doors. Sometimes pressing the unlock button 3 times it fully unlocks my driver door and all the other passenger doors. Sometimes it's a pain In the ass and I have to pull the handle to open the door.

When I hit a bump, sometimes it fully locks the doors except again, the passenger door. The little tab for the driver door (locking mechanism) is loose on the driver door. Assuming the hinge holding that fell off could that be causing all my issues?

Who can recommend where I should take this to get looked at? Anybody here willing to give it a look and help me out?

[Shlade]

Everyone is as stumped as I am hey haha

[Projek01]

I wouldn't think this has anything to do with your remote starter. Seems like it is something on the vehicle side. There is only one unlock and lock trigger on your car. If it was the remote starter, all doors would behave the same way.

Does the factory key remote and the door lock button inside the car behave the same way? Are you sure the door locks are factory installed in the first place?

Fixing this problem would probably involve checking power at the door lock actuators. Nothing worse than diagnosing an intermittent fault... Almost seems like bad wiring connections (possibly a flooded car)? Or even a poorly installed aftermarket door lock system (I'm thinking this might be the case now).

[G-ZUS]

Originally posted by Projek01
I wouldn't think this has anything to do with your remote starter. Seems like it is something on the vehicle side. There is only one unlock and lock trigger on your car if it was the remote starter, all door would behave the same way.

Does the factory key remote and the door lock button inside the car behave the same way? Are you sure the door locks are factory installed in the first place?

Fixing this problem would probably involve checking power at the door lock actuators. Nothing worse than diagnosing an intermittent fault... Almost seems like bad wiring connections (possibly a flooded car)?

Start with the actuators, I've replaced many on mid-late 00 hondas

[Shlade]

I don't have a factory remote for it. Just the key and aftermarket fob. Door actuator I'm guessing is inside the door behind the door panel, yes?

[mr2mike]

Actuator then look at the relays for auto-starter. Something is weak and the actuator can very well do that.

They're inside the door. behind panel.

[jwslam]

What trim is it? Though I don't think this matters as I'm pretty sure even the lowest trim on 2008 came with power locks and factory keyless, meaning that it's not an entirely jimmy-rigged system

You don't have a factory remote? Don't they look like this?

[silvercivicsir]

not true, if you had a "DX" civic, it came with power windows, and power mirrors, but manual locks.. do you have a power lock button by the window controls? If not it's an aftermarket power lock set up, and those cable kits are garbage..

[Shlade]

Yeah it's a DX-A model. Didn't come with a key like that. And no I don't Have a power lock button at all. The driver tab is loose and doesn't lock or unlock like all the other doors. (I'm assuming that the pin maybe fell off the driver one?)

[Projek01]

^If thats the case. You likely have an aftermarket jimmy rigged power door lock system. It could be the relay or wiring but your highest probability would be a worn actuator or a loose rod.



look for something like that behind the door panel and check if the rod is slipping or if the actuator is weak. Hard to diagnose it without physically opening up the door. If you aren't comfortable doing that, it would be a good time to drop it off somewhere.

[Shlade]

I'll be taking the door panel off tonight and checking it out.

[silvercivicsir]

Cable door locks with an door lock kit are mini nightmares.. Good luck

[Shlade]

Yup sure enough one of the cables snapped on the driver door. Took it off and unplugged it. I don't know what the last owner was thinking installing this piece of shit system... and good luck finding a new one lol.

Since disabling it I can at least now lock and unlock the door manually from the driver side.