Door lock actuator needed
Thank god i found this thread, i just recently started having this problem too. I opened up the door panel and saw that the actuator was connected to the locking cylinder and said eff it too much work.
If you can get it to work rrstlevo then i will have the motivation to do it lol! good luck man and thx for the write up and pics
If you can get it to work rrstlevo then i will have the motivation to do it lol! good luck man and thx for the write up and pics
Sorry if i took a while to reply. I finally fixed mine without buying one from the dealership. The power lock actuator on the driver's side can be fixed with a little patience. I started to remove my door panel, so i can remove the whole lock assembly which is such a p.i.t.a. to remove since its all connected together with the door latch. LOL.
You will need to open the actuator water tight casing, which you will have access to the little electric motor that turns the gears inside. all i did was i opened that motor and cleaned it with an electric connector spray cleaner, put everything back on together and it works!
as time goes by, that little electric motor builds up carbon because of the magnet that moves inside. and mine was effin dirty! as soon as i got rid of the carbon build up, it finally work.
btw, when puting it back on together, i just used an epoxy glue to seal the actuator casing back together. works fine with me!
its a very tedious job but hey, it saved me about $250 from buying the whole assembly from the dealership.
You will need to open the actuator water tight casing, which you will have access to the little electric motor that turns the gears inside. all i did was i opened that motor and cleaned it with an electric connector spray cleaner, put everything back on together and it works!
as time goes by, that little electric motor builds up carbon because of the magnet that moves inside. and mine was effin dirty! as soon as i got rid of the carbon build up, it finally work.
btw, when puting it back on together, i just used an epoxy glue to seal the actuator casing back together. works fine with me!
its a very tedious job but hey, it saved me about $250 from buying the whole assembly from the dealership.
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: alta loma
actuator lock fix
After months of looking for a solution, i finally got my actuator to work.
thanks to rrstlevo for posting the painstaking process for us all.
The small Mabuchi motor operates as a brush electric motor which more or less means when you push the door lock or key, a current is sent to this motor through small square carbon prongs that sit (brush) on the motor shaft and tell the motor to lock or unlock. The small carbon square on my motor was completely worn out on the right side which means it wasn't sending a strong enough current to lock and unlock the door. I then bought a replacement Mabuchi motor from ebay and replaced the white plastic part which holds the brushes and the metal housing and kept the same inner shaft. I had to keep the inner shaft from the old motor because i couldn't find a motor that was the same direction as mine so you have to kind of "Frankenstein" the pieces to create a complete refurbished motor. You can either move the two tabs on the metal housing to get it apart or use pliers and pry off the white plastic part. Dont crack the white part in the process.
Replace old motor. The entire part from the dealer is $250 but the little motor is like $5. If your handy, do this!
Here is the link for the motor i purchased:
http://stores.ebay.com/SurplusDeal/M...20150+12v+DOOR
Like i said above, all the motors i found were the wrong way and the shaft had a different cross section so it wouldnt fit into the worm gear to spin the parts. I used the old shaft and the new metal housing and plastic cap that hold the brushes:
See the little carbon squares are brand new and will send a strong signal.
Be careful not to damage the carbon brushes when you insert the old shaft. They are extremely brittle and are the key element to this system.
When you put it back together, test it before you seal the casing to make sure it works. I used a two part epoxy which worked great but i don't think it will ever be accessible again, SO TEST IT FIRST!
Good luck everyone!
thanks to rrstlevo for posting the painstaking process for us all.
The small Mabuchi motor operates as a brush electric motor which more or less means when you push the door lock or key, a current is sent to this motor through small square carbon prongs that sit (brush) on the motor shaft and tell the motor to lock or unlock. The small carbon square on my motor was completely worn out on the right side which means it wasn't sending a strong enough current to lock and unlock the door. I then bought a replacement Mabuchi motor from ebay and replaced the white plastic part which holds the brushes and the metal housing and kept the same inner shaft. I had to keep the inner shaft from the old motor because i couldn't find a motor that was the same direction as mine so you have to kind of "Frankenstein" the pieces to create a complete refurbished motor. You can either move the two tabs on the metal housing to get it apart or use pliers and pry off the white plastic part. Dont crack the white part in the process.
Replace old motor. The entire part from the dealer is $250 but the little motor is like $5. If your handy, do this!
Here is the link for the motor i purchased:
http://stores.ebay.com/SurplusDeal/M...20150+12v+DOOR
Like i said above, all the motors i found were the wrong way and the shaft had a different cross section so it wouldnt fit into the worm gear to spin the parts. I used the old shaft and the new metal housing and plastic cap that hold the brushes:
See the little carbon squares are brand new and will send a strong signal.
Be careful not to damage the carbon brushes when you insert the old shaft. They are extremely brittle and are the key element to this system.
When you put it back together, test it before you seal the casing to make sure it works. I used a two part epoxy which worked great but i don't think it will ever be accessible again, SO TEST IT FIRST!
Good luck everyone!
After months of looking for a solution, i finally got my actuator to work.
thanks to rrstlevo for posting the painstaking process for us all.
The small Mabuchi motor operates as a brush electric motor which more or less means when you push the door lock or key, a current is sent to this motor through small square carbon prongs that sit (brush) on the motor shaft and tell the motor to lock or unlock. The small carbon square on my motor was completely worn out on the right side which means it wasn't sending a strong enough current to lock and unlock the door. I then bought a replacement Mabuchi motor from ebay and replaced the white plastic part which holds the brushes and the metal housing and kept the same inner shaft. I had to keep the inner shaft from the old motor because i couldn't find a motor that was the same direction as mine so you have to kind of "Frankenstein" the pieces to create a complete refurbished motor. You can either move the two tabs on the metal housing to get it apart or use pliers and pry off the white plastic part. Dont crack the white part in the process.
Replace old motor. The entire part from the dealer is $250 but the little motor is like $5. If your handy, do this!
Here is the link for the motor i purchased:
http://stores.ebay.com/SurplusDeal/Motors-Electric-/_i.html?_fsub=983166010&_nkw=dc+Mabuchi+Motor+FC+2 80PT+20150+12v+DOOR
Like i said above, all the motors i found were the wrong way and the shaft had a different cross section so it wouldnt fit into the worm gear to spin the parts. I used the old shaft and the new metal housing and plastic cap that hold the brushes:
See the little carbon squares are brand new and will send a strong signal.
Be careful not to damage the carbon brushes when you insert the old shaft. They are extremely brittle and are the key element to this system.
When you put it back together, test it before you seal the casing to make sure it works. I used a two part epoxy which worked great but i don't think it will ever be accessible again, SO TEST IT FIRST!
Good luck everyone!
thanks to rrstlevo for posting the painstaking process for us all.
The small Mabuchi motor operates as a brush electric motor which more or less means when you push the door lock or key, a current is sent to this motor through small square carbon prongs that sit (brush) on the motor shaft and tell the motor to lock or unlock. The small carbon square on my motor was completely worn out on the right side which means it wasn't sending a strong enough current to lock and unlock the door. I then bought a replacement Mabuchi motor from ebay and replaced the white plastic part which holds the brushes and the metal housing and kept the same inner shaft. I had to keep the inner shaft from the old motor because i couldn't find a motor that was the same direction as mine so you have to kind of "Frankenstein" the pieces to create a complete refurbished motor. You can either move the two tabs on the metal housing to get it apart or use pliers and pry off the white plastic part. Dont crack the white part in the process.
Replace old motor. The entire part from the dealer is $250 but the little motor is like $5. If your handy, do this!
Here is the link for the motor i purchased:
http://stores.ebay.com/SurplusDeal/Motors-Electric-/_i.html?_fsub=983166010&_nkw=dc+Mabuchi+Motor+FC+2 80PT+20150+12v+DOOR
Like i said above, all the motors i found were the wrong way and the shaft had a different cross section so it wouldnt fit into the worm gear to spin the parts. I used the old shaft and the new metal housing and plastic cap that hold the brushes:
See the little carbon squares are brand new and will send a strong signal.
Be careful not to damage the carbon brushes when you insert the old shaft. They are extremely brittle and are the key element to this system.
When you put it back together, test it before you seal the casing to make sure it works. I used a two part epoxy which worked great but i don't think it will ever be accessible again, SO TEST IT FIRST!
Good luck everyone!
This is what i did exactly. But i ended up just cleaning up the entire thing inside the little motor. I couldn't find that little motor on ebay during that time
I'm glad that little motor is working now
Thanks for the info madmik, saved me a bit of time as I had just bought the motor thinking it was just a simple replacement, shouldve known it wouldnt be that easy.
Just completed the swap of the motor and its been working perfect. If anyone in the bay area needs help with this ive taken it on/off so many times i could probably do it in 10 minutes. I have an extra working motor as well.
Just completed the swap of the motor and its been working perfect. If anyone in the bay area needs help with this ive taken it on/off so many times i could probably do it in 10 minutes. I have an extra working motor as well.
How did you take the plastic cap off? I'm having a hard time prying the metal tabs.
I bought the new motor and it worked for about 4 lock/unlock's then it broke my plastic gear into a thousand pieces of sand
Just finished doing this repair. F***ing A man! This was a B***H!!!
But so far it's working great!
This makes me want a
It's been so long since my remote worked I can't remember if it just unlocked the driver's side door or all the doors. It's only unlocking the driver's side door. I tried pressing the unlock button twice and that doesn't get all the doors. Before I did this repair and I manually unlocked the driver's side door and when the other doors were locked I'd hit the unlock button and it would unlock the rest of the doors.
But so far it's working great!
This makes me want a
It's been so long since my remote worked I can't remember if it just unlocked the driver's side door or all the doors. It's only unlocking the driver's side door. I tried pressing the unlock button twice and that doesn't get all the doors. Before I did this repair and I manually unlocked the driver's side door and when the other doors were locked I'd hit the unlock button and it would unlock the rest of the doors.
Just finished doing this repair. F***ing A man! This was a B***H!!!
But so far it's working great!
This makes me want a
It's been so long since my remote worked I can't remember if it just unlocked the driver's side door or all the doors. It's only unlocking the driver's side door. I tried pressing the unlock button twice and that doesn't get all the doors. Before I did this repair and I manually unlocked the driver's side door and when the other doors were locked I'd hit the unlock button and it would unlock the rest of the doors.
But so far it's working great!
This makes me want a
It's been so long since my remote worked I can't remember if it just unlocked the driver's side door or all the doors. It's only unlocking the driver's side door. I tried pressing the unlock button twice and that doesn't get all the doors. Before I did this repair and I manually unlocked the driver's side door and when the other doors were locked I'd hit the unlock button and it would unlock the rest of the doors.
I'm having the same issues right now also.
I can only unlock the driver's side door when I'm pressing my remote. Its been like this for the past 3 weeks. Let me see whats going on with my keyless entry. It's definitely not the remote because I had 2 other spare remotes and it still wont unlock all the other doors when I press the unlock button.
Update: I just did this last night, so I guess my thumb wasn't up to the task of pressing the unlock button twice fast enough. Thumb is back up to speed and I double pressed the unlock and it unlocks all the doors.
Update:
Did this about a month ago. Driver's side door lock works great!
However, shortly after I can't get all the doors to unlock with the remote. Kind of annoying, but it's better than not having any remote door locks. I'm guessing it's something loose in the contacts. Maybe the casing that I had to open up and sealed loosened up.
If I have to do it all over I'd buy a new unit from mitsubishiparts.net.
Did this about a month ago. Driver's side door lock works great!
However, shortly after I can't get all the doors to unlock with the remote. Kind of annoying, but it's better than not having any remote door locks. I'm guessing it's something loose in the contacts. Maybe the casing that I had to open up and sealed loosened up.
If I have to do it all over I'd buy a new unit from mitsubishiparts.net.
Last edited by 10isace; Jan 4, 2013 at 10:08 AM.
I was looking through ebay for possible replacement motors and I found this. Can anyone who has opened up the unit shed any light as to if this motor may work or would it probably need the same treatment as described above?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mabuchi-FC-2...item3f1fb33dae
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mabuchi-FC-2...item3f1fb33dae