How do you repair electric door locks on a 1997 Chevy silverado 1500?

Answer 1

Kinda depends on what's wrong with them, which is why you diagnose the problem first. If your key works for locking and unlocking the doors, and they open and close fine, you can rule out the door latch. If you just hear a buzzing sound when you press the lock/unlock button, then it's your actuator which needs to be replaced... if your latch is bad, it can burn out the actuator, as well.

If you're getting nothing at all, then start by taking a test light to your fuse panel to make sure the fuse is intact... the diagram on the back of the fuse panel cover will tell you which fuse it is. If you have power on both poles of the fuse, then you need to take off the door panel... remove the bolts which hold the armrest on and take off the armrest, and disconnect the switches from the underside of the armrest (those switches will either be on the armrest or on the door itself, depending on model year)... wherever your switch for the PDL is, diagnosing it will be the same... one pole on the plug to the PDL should be hot at all times... use your test light to ensure you have power to that switch. If you don't, then you need to trace the wiring from the switch back to the fuse panel and find the fault in the wire. If you do, then you take a trim puller around the interior door trim, and pull that off. Disconnect the plug to the actuator, plug the switch back in, and see if you have power to the actuator when you depress the switch. If you do, then the actuator is bad. If not, trace the wiring from the actuator to the switch and find the fault.

While you have the door panel off, work the linkages to ensure the door latch functions like it's supposed to, and ensure they're all connected and undamaged.

Replaced the actuator, verify that it's working, and reassemble the door.