My door lock actuators on mm power locks do not come up anymore... they just BUZZ like mad when I hit the Unlock button. So I am thinking they are shot. This is on both doors... one went out before the other. I know they are still getting power because they want to come up but something seems like it is misaligned. The only way to open the door from the inside is to hold the door lock down and let them Buzz for a second and get lucky with opening it. Or you can hold the button down and pull the latch and it will unlock.

What is the problem? Are my actuators shot or does something need to be realigned? If i need new actuators how much of a PITA are they to install? I know I have to take the door panel off and the actuators themselves I think are held on by Pop Rivets.

Any suggestions appreciated. BTW my mechanic wants 500 bucks to do this for both doors. I dont want to spend that.

 

Get a new mechanic! You are being taken to the cleaners at $500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a PAIR of lock actuators for about $30 shipped and these are the EXACT same actuators you can buy at places like 50 Resto for twice that money on sale without shipping!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/87-88...spagenameZWDVW

You need a special rivet gun to install them...just a large rivet gun and you could probably drive the car to a body shop with the actuators in place and give them a few bucks to rivet them in. The 86 and older cars had a metal bracket and you CAN get the new actuators into the old brackets without removing them but it's a little work...the 87 and newer cars had a plastic bracket and you have to be careful not to break them if you try that trick.

 

Thanks SVO!

Are the brackets included with these or no? Because I have a 93 so mine will be plastic and incase I break one I would need another.

 

No, nobody sells them with the brackets...it's best for you to just drill the rivet and remove the bracket, it's really hard to break unless you are trying to cheat and not remove it..

 

Oh ok awesome sounds good.

Any suggestions or tips with removing and replacing the door panel?

 

Yes, the back of the door panel is cardboard so use a proper forked trim tool to pop the clips loose so that you don't tear the cardboard backing. Other than that it's pretty straight forward....

 

Awesome... thanks for the help!

 

Wow $500 to do actuators.. I would def. have a chat with him about that!!!

 

Yeah I have no idea what his problem is. Hes a family friend of mine, does really good work, gives me deals all the time and even lets me work on my car in his shop. This time he actually made me go WTF while leaving his shop lol.

Its ok I will do it myself when I get the time and as long as I can still open my doors with the key.

 

Actually 50Resto sells them with the brackets... I just bought two.

 

Good advise everyone has offered already. I take mine to a body shop to have them rivited, its cheap and easy. Here is a link to a pdf at 50resto that shows a good writeup on changing door lock actuatores.

http://www.50resto.com/downloads/ins.../LRS-21842.pdf

 

The link takes you to the home page, but thats ok I ended up finding the write up and it is very good thanks for the info!

I am thinking though that maybe only something is not aligned right. The actuators still get power and still pop up (sometimes) if I am lucky; especially if I mess around with the inside door handle.

Does anyone think I can be correct?

 

The problem with actuators is the rubber boot on top that is designed to keep moisture out deteriorates and allows moisture to get into the shaft...this is what kills them. As they go bad sometimes they get intermittent and this is what I believe you have going on...I've seen it many times over. If still working you can shoot WD40 on the shaft to help get them freed up better and this may work for a while letting you put off the replacement.

 

Hey Paul, i ordered those actuators that were in that ebay link!
Thanks for the tip it saved me money

But they do come with the plastic clip...but no rivet

 

Awesome I will buy these then too!

 

Instead of getting rivets to attach them, im goinf to try and get some buttonhead bolt, and trim it as much as i can to make it work. There is a recessed portion behind the actuator that the nut *should* fit in.