Bad door lock actuator or something else

I had the symptoms of a bad door lock actuator Motor. The FOB would occasionally unlock the drivers door but not always. I bought 4 motors last time one went out so went ahead and put a new motor on thinking it would fix the issue. It is still very not working properly.

I also noticed that when I push the unlock on the FOB when it doesn’t work I hear a slight tick near the tweeter. What is strange is pushing the unlock button once should unlock both front doors which isn’t happening. 2 clicks will unlock 3 doors but may or may not unlock the drivers door.
I have replaced the FOB’s battery.

Any ideas what to check out next?

 

Does happens if you use the door switches?

 

Yes, it happens with the switch as well. The drivers and passenger will lock all the doors but only unlock the 3 I don’t really use.

 

Pushing the FOB Unlock button once should only unlock the Drivers door.
Pressing it 2x should u lock all the other doors.

I will look over the diagram and see if can help.
It may be a bit before I can get back to you.

 

So you are saying. The drivers side door is having issues with Unlocking.
But it locks fine?

The other doors work fine?

 

Correct. It locks 100% of the time with the FOB or buttons.

 

Check connectors for corrosion. Probably need another lil motor replacement and when you are in there clean up all the old grease etc (TAKE PICS OF INSIDE THE UNIT ASSEMBLED BEFORE HAND!) and re-grease with some light white lithium grease.

 

Strange. It kind of sounds like a motor issue. Wire integrity should be fine since it works one way.
I believe the motor just reverses polarity to lock/unlock.

The drivers side motor has its own separate wire to one leg of the motor. (That’s why it can operate independently from the other doors)
There’s a small chance the Body ECU isn’t reversing polarity but I HIGHLY doubt it.

You could probably “bench test” the motor with a 9v battery. But that would be a lot of trouble.

 

I have 2 more new motors I could try swapping the one in there out with. It doesn’t make sense it’s a motor with being I already replaced one and have the same symptoms with the new one.

 

The Blue/Red and Blue/Black wires are the power/ground wires for the motor.
When Locking the door, one wire would be power the other Ground.

When unlocking the door, the wires will switch.
What WAS power for Locking would then be Ground for unlocking.

 

I need more info on what I’m doing with this information. I’m assuming I’ll find those color combos on the harness that plugs into the actuator.

 

Coulda been a bad motor "new". The symptoms you describe have been pretty much like mine and motor replacement solved them all. But i also cleaned up dirt and debris and old grease every time i have opened one up.

 

I didn’t even realize how gummed up looking it was until I went back and looked at the pics. Looks like I’ll be back in there soon. Good news is it started working again tonight when I went to the store.

 

I am having a similar problem with my door locks. About a year ago, my driver's door would rarely lock and unlock when I pressed the buttons on the FOB and the door switch. I figured this out by someone going through my truck that I swore I locked.

When I would press either button, you could hear it trying to unlock or lock but wouldn't. Even when I pressed the lock button on the FOB it would not make the beeping noise. I finally got around to replacing the whole door lock actuator unit at the beginning of this year. Everything started working properly again, locking unlocking and beeping. About a month ago I noticed the rear passenger door having the same issue of not always locking and unlocking. Now I noticed this week that the front passenger door is having this issue as well. I noticed this because it was not making the beeping noise when I was locking the car with the FOB.

Is this just the motors going bad? Is there a relay or some sort of control unit that has a poor connection or gone bad?

Is there a wiring schematic?

 

First thing I’d do is replace the fob battery. After that I’d replace the little motor and clean the inside of the actuator. The motors are cheap and as long as you take it slow and take pictures it’s not that bad. For some reason mine started working perfectly and I didn’t have to take it apart and clean it. Going on 2 weeks now. I think there is more to it though.

 

Any resolution on this? My driver side door lock is acting wonky. Similar symptoms as the OP. Sometimes the fob unlocks it, sometimes not. Passenger side door works as normal.

 

I replaced both motors in the actuators and now my doors work completely fine. Be careful pulling the casing apart because there are a lot of little pieces that can get moved and it's a puzzle trying to get them all back in their proper places. It happened to me and added an hour to each door trying to get it put back together properly.

 

You have any pictures of where I can get to the actuator ? I’m having a hard time finding a diagram that includes where the actuator is. Also did you have to cut it apart or does it pull out ?