[Shotimes] Question: Anyone know how to remove the door lock acuator motor and assembly?

[George Fourchy]

On Thu, 2 Sep 2004 11:18:00 -0400, Frank Costa wrote:

>When i go to unlock and lock my doors, all i hear is a whine coming from the
>driver's side door and the lock pin doesnt move. Common problem? 

Yo Frank!!!    (and anyone else who has a bad door lock actuator!!)

Welcome to the "Swap the Actuator Club!!"

They cost about $95 new.  At PnP they are about $20, unless they are on sale.  

Go to the yard, and take a battery powered drill with you.  You need that to drill
out the rivet that holds the actuator bracket to the door, and also to test the
actuator
before you pay for it.  If you know it works, you don't need to pay the extra money
to be able to return it.

So go find a car with electric locks, and take the front door apart.  Remove the
interior panel, then remove the foot long rail that the back part of the window
scissors slides back and forth in.  Find one with the window up, if you can.  

Any Gen 1 Taurus will work....most of them around here don't have power locks.  I
have to look and look.  I haven't checked Gen 2 cars yet for compatibility...I need
to do that.

The next thing you have to take out is the rear lower window track, which is snapped
into the upper window track right at the window sill, and is hard to see.  The
bottom end of the track is bolted to the door with a single bracket that is welded
to the track.  Take that fastener out, and then slide the track downward, towards
the bottom of the door.  It will slide loose, then you can take it out.  The
actuator is easily accessible now.

Now find the rivet (on the outside of the door) that holds the bracket against the
inside of the jamb, about 3/4 of the way down the door, below the latch.  Drill it
out with the drill, or use a cold chisel to knock the head off.  After you've done
this, you can reach down inside the door to the actuator, fold it up 90 degrees,
using its connection to the door lock linkage as a hinge.  Now you can reach the
plug.  But don't unplug it yet...cut the wires with diagonal pliers, so you can use
the short stub of door harness to connect to your drill's battery.  Make sure the
actuator works....one connection sucks it in, and the opposite one pushes it out. 
If this works, you don't need to do the whole thing again, unless you want a spare
or two....I'd get a couple of spares.  After you know it works, unhook it from the
linkage and remove it.

(Make sure you cut the wires UPSTREAM of the connector.....I cut the wrong end
once...felt pretty dumb.  Kept the actuator anyway.  !!)

To install.....take your car's door apart the same way, and remove the old actuator.
 To put the new one in, you need to take the bracket off the actuator and replace
the rivet with a bolt and nut.  Find a 1/4 x 20 bolt that is at least 3/4 of an inch
long, and get a nut and a couple of washers.  Put the bolt thru the bracket, so the
shank of the bolt is facing out, then put the actuator back on.  Hook the actuator's
rod onto the lock mechanism, and reassemble the whole thing in the same order. 
After you fold the actuator back down into the bottom of the door, tighten the nut
on the bolt after it goes through the door.

WHen you get to putting the lower window track back into the door, getting it to
snap into place is a little hard.  You kind of have to feel around with the upper
end of the track, finding where it snaps in.  If you want to get a flashlight and
turn yourself upside down, you will be able to better see where it goes.  I just
felt around with the other hand while trying to slide it into place, and finally
found it.  Then you can put the bolt or nut (don't remember which it is.... a nut, I
think) back onto the bracket.  Don't tighten it up yet though...you want to run the
window up and down a couple of times with it just a bit looser than snug, so that it
can adjust to let the window move easily as it goes down into the door.

I think that is all....after the window works OK and the lock does too, just put
everything back together, and enjoy your functional door!!

See you next summer??!!

By the way....rear actuators are TOTALLY harder.  You have to take a lot, if not
all, of the door latch and window mechanism out, because of the shape of the door. 
I've been lucky so far....about 6 front doors, but no rears have failed.  I got one
as a spare at the yard, and totally ruined the rest of the mechanism to get to it. 
I'll have to investigate how all that works someday, but there's no hurry!!

George