So recently my wife's driver door stopped locking/unlocking with the key fob. After relentless searching and diagnosing the problem, i determined it was the door actuator motor.
I was able to hear the motor try to unlock/lock the doors, but it just didn't have enough "juice" to do it.
So i went ahead and bought these motors:
Part # - FC280PC-22125
after shipping it was $10 each motor.
I followed these steps to remove the door panel and get the entire actuator assembly out:
http://my.is/forums/f115/diy-actuator-install-tips-regulator-install-388787/
Thanks to is300_tinez2 for the great pics and write-up.
Once you have the assembly out, you will see the following:
I did not take any pictures while i was doing this, because my hands got dirty from that adhesive on the door and i didn't to get my camera dirty. But anyway the yellow arrows are pointing to screws that need to be removed. There is one more that i can't seem to get a good picture of. But what you want to do is remove the cover that the red arrow is pointing to.
Once you have the cover off and you have removed the little screws (if i recall there are a total of 5 screws) you want to remove the following component from the assembly that is circled in yellow. But before you start taking it apart, either take a picture of it or have a mental image of what it looks like because you need to reassemble it the same way after you are done.
Once you have the piece that is circled in yellow, you will need to pry off the cover. I used a pocket knife and slowly pried around the edges a little bit going around so i did it evenly. You will hear a pop, once you break it loose. Just do it carefully and slowly so you don't break anything.
Once you pry it loose you will see a small motor with a worm gear. you need to pull the motor out of the slot along with worm gear. You should be able to just slide the worm gear off without any resistance.
here is a side by side of the old motor (front of the picture) and new motor. You can see how the old motor has a flattened surface so the worm gear will not just spin in place. I needed to take a dremel and a sanding bit, to slowly grind away until the worm gear fit in properly.
And that is it.. you just need to reassemble everything. the same way you took it apart. So rather than buying the entire thing from the dealer for about $110-$150 or finding a used one on eBay for ~$80 you just fixed it for $10. It took me about an hour or so, cause i was taking my time to make sure i didn't screw anything up.
Some tips:
When you put screw back on for the handle assembly, make sure that you position it as far downward as possible, otherwise when you put the trim back on later it will not snap on. I needed to take the door panel off again because the trim didn't have room to snap back on.
When you put the door panel back on, angle it downward and start with the tweeter area. I found it was a lot easier to slip it into place.
UPDATE
Before you remove the old motor and gear, check to see how much clearance/play there is. I noticed the next day that AFTER i use the switch or key FOB to lock the doors, i was not able to manually unlock it without some "force". I need to pull everything off again, but i am figuring that when i dremeled the new shaft i didn't take enough off to give it a little slack like it originally had. Also when i put the worm gear back in place, i did notice that it was a little tighter fit, but i didn't think anything of it until now. I will update tomorrow after i pull everything again to fix it..
CONFIRMED that it was the worm gear fitting too snug. I just shaved the shaft a little more so it moved as freely as it did with the original motor. Works like a charm now...
I was able to hear the motor try to unlock/lock the doors, but it just didn't have enough "juice" to do it.
So i went ahead and bought these motors:
Part # - FC280PC-22125
after shipping it was $10 each motor.
I followed these steps to remove the door panel and get the entire actuator assembly out:
http://my.is/forums/f115/diy-actuator-install-tips-regulator-install-388787/
Thanks to is300_tinez2 for the great pics and write-up.
Once you have the assembly out, you will see the following:
I did not take any pictures while i was doing this, because my hands got dirty from that adhesive on the door and i didn't to get my camera dirty. But anyway the yellow arrows are pointing to screws that need to be removed. There is one more that i can't seem to get a good picture of. But what you want to do is remove the cover that the red arrow is pointing to.
Once you have the cover off and you have removed the little screws (if i recall there are a total of 5 screws) you want to remove the following component from the assembly that is circled in yellow. But before you start taking it apart, either take a picture of it or have a mental image of what it looks like because you need to reassemble it the same way after you are done.
Once you have the piece that is circled in yellow, you will need to pry off the cover. I used a pocket knife and slowly pried around the edges a little bit going around so i did it evenly. You will hear a pop, once you break it loose. Just do it carefully and slowly so you don't break anything.
Once you pry it loose you will see a small motor with a worm gear. you need to pull the motor out of the slot along with worm gear. You should be able to just slide the worm gear off without any resistance.
here is a side by side of the old motor (front of the picture) and new motor. You can see how the old motor has a flattened surface so the worm gear will not just spin in place. I needed to take a dremel and a sanding bit, to slowly grind away until the worm gear fit in properly.
And that is it.. you just need to reassemble everything. the same way you took it apart. So rather than buying the entire thing from the dealer for about $110-$150 or finding a used one on eBay for ~$80 you just fixed it for $10. It took me about an hour or so, cause i was taking my time to make sure i didn't screw anything up.
Some tips:
When you put screw back on for the handle assembly, make sure that you position it as far downward as possible, otherwise when you put the trim back on later it will not snap on. I needed to take the door panel off again because the trim didn't have room to snap back on.
When you put the door panel back on, angle it downward and start with the tweeter area. I found it was a lot easier to slip it into place.
UPDATE
Before you remove the old motor and gear, check to see how much clearance/play there is. I noticed the next day that AFTER i use the switch or key FOB to lock the doors, i was not able to manually unlock it without some "force". I need to pull everything off again, but i am figuring that when i dremeled the new shaft i didn't take enough off to give it a little slack like it originally had. Also when i put the worm gear back in place, i did notice that it was a little tighter fit, but i didn't think anything of it until now. I will update tomorrow after i pull everything again to fix it..
CONFIRMED that it was the worm gear fitting too snug. I just shaved the shaft a little more so it moved as freely as it did with the original motor. Works like a charm now...
^^please note above. I went back and corrected the same noise. I did not have a hot glue gun or super glue. I used two zip ties properly connected and positioned to keep the two pieces of the cover together. Nothing beats a $10 fix instead of $80.