Door Lock Assembly Fix: Lots of Pics
04-17-2013, 12:02 PM
#1
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Join Date: 12-24-2008
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Posts: 717
Door Lock Assembly Fix: Lots of Pics
BEFORE proceeding with your own repair please read Post #7 and subsequent posts to see if there is a resolution to the quandry.
There seem to be a few posts lately about the door locks not locking or unlocking well. Especially when using the FOB.
In my case I found the fault to be a weak small electric motor found inside the Door Lock Assembly.
The Door Lock Assembly has to be removed from the vehicle for this motor to be replaced.
One must feel confident in removing the door panel, fooling around with linkages, electrical connectors and other whatnot to perform this procedure. Door panel removal has been covered elsewhere on this forum so I will not cover it in this thread.
Below is a picture of the Door Lock Assembly removed from the vehicle. Not a great picture but it shows you just what you must remove from the vehicle.
Door window must be in the fully up position with the door open.
Fully loosen the Door Trim Panel. The Door Trim Panel cannot be removed until all the Electrical connections and cables are disconnected from it.
Remove the cable from the Interior Door Handle.
Pull whatever part of the foam Water Deflector out of the way as you need. There is also a Door Lock cable retainer mid way on the cable that must be loosened from the door.
Set Door Trim Panel aside after disconnecting the electrical connections to the switches or removing the switches themselves from the door panel.
From my reading on this forum I find some people find it easier to remove the switches from the panel than to disconnect the connectors from the switches. Whatever makes you happy.
Remove the three torx screws from the end of the door.
While the Door Lock Assembly is flapping around unattached to much of anything remove the Exterior Door Handle linkage from the Yellow Plastic Clip retainer on the Door Lock Assembly. This looks like a simple threaded rod. Upon reassembly put the Door Lock Assembly into the door and tighten the three screws before reattaching the Yellow Clip to the threaded rod - it self aligns this way.
Withdraw the Door Lock Assembly from the door cavity.
The next picture is just for reference. Note the six screws and the Yellow plastic clip – these will need to be removed to get the two halves of the Door Lock Assembly apart.
Start with that yellow clip. Use a pair of needle nose pliers to collapse the barbs on the backside and remove from the linkage.
Now remove the six screws.
This little Tab will have to be released before the two halves will separate.
Two halves separated.
This is where you will be doing most of the work. Note the Fork. When reassembling the two halves this Fork must grab the nub from the other half of the assembly. If not, you will not be able to either lock or unlock once the unit is put back into the vehicle.
The next two pictures are of the Nub the Fork has to surround. Sorry they are fussy. One picture is locked and one is unlocked – don’t know which is which. Doesn’t matter; just make sure that once you have reinstalled the lock/latch mechanism back into the vehicle you do some testing before you close the door.
Move the linkage to this position and you will see a screw near the Fork.
Remove the fork linkage and the screw.
Remove gear/motor contact retainer.
At this point I have no further pictures, but it is pretty simple. Note the position of the gears for reinstallation and remove them. You will see that a friction fit retains the motor. You should rotate the motor 90 degrees to remove it. Removal may require some prying with a small screwdriver.
Source and replace motor. Note: keep the motor contacts facing out. Reassemble in the reverse order and you are done. It might be wise to test the electrical operation while taking the unit apart and also while assembling the unit.
AND definitely test for proper operation before closing the door of the vehicle. I waited several days before putting the door panel back on; just to make sure everything was fine.
Oh and while you’re at it pick up some Lithium grease and apply some to the linkage & gears inside the Door Lock Assembly.
My motor was marked with “FC-280SC-18180” as the part number of the original manufacturer. I found it on ebay with just that search. The important thing is that the motor from the manufacturer DOES NOT have a coarse toothed gear on the shaft. The ebay seller’s did have a course toothed gear making it perfect. Do not buy a fine toothed geared motor. I imagine the seller will sell out at some point in time and this link will be worthless.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261139059489&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160#ht_390wt_884
http://www.mabuchi-motor.co.jp/en_US...fc_280pcsc.pdf
The worse part of this procedure for me was removing the three screws at the end of the door. I broke several cheap 3/8” drive Torx bits from Harbor Freight & my local Auto Parts store – had to borrow the mechanic’s Snap-On next door. So if you wish to attempt this I would first loosen those screws a bit. I put them back with a bit of thread lock as well.
On the plus side I found I did not have to align anything; not the door latch to the vehicle or the external door handle linkage to the Door Lock Assembly.
Oh, this was performed on the right front passenger Door Lock Assembly. The left side maybe a mirror image.
This is the small motor:
Good Luck!
There seem to be a few posts lately about the door locks not locking or unlocking well. Especially when using the FOB.
In my case I found the fault to be a weak small electric motor found inside the Door Lock Assembly.
The Door Lock Assembly has to be removed from the vehicle for this motor to be replaced.
One must feel confident in removing the door panel, fooling around with linkages, electrical connectors and other whatnot to perform this procedure. Door panel removal has been covered elsewhere on this forum so I will not cover it in this thread.
Below is a picture of the Door Lock Assembly removed from the vehicle. Not a great picture but it shows you just what you must remove from the vehicle.
Door window must be in the fully up position with the door open.
Fully loosen the Door Trim Panel. The Door Trim Panel cannot be removed until all the Electrical connections and cables are disconnected from it.
Remove the cable from the Interior Door Handle.
Pull whatever part of the foam Water Deflector out of the way as you need. There is also a Door Lock cable retainer mid way on the cable that must be loosened from the door.
Set Door Trim Panel aside after disconnecting the electrical connections to the switches or removing the switches themselves from the door panel.
From my reading on this forum I find some people find it easier to remove the switches from the panel than to disconnect the connectors from the switches. Whatever makes you happy.
Remove the three torx screws from the end of the door.
While the Door Lock Assembly is flapping around unattached to much of anything remove the Exterior Door Handle linkage from the Yellow Plastic Clip retainer on the Door Lock Assembly. This looks like a simple threaded rod. Upon reassembly put the Door Lock Assembly into the door and tighten the three screws before reattaching the Yellow Clip to the threaded rod - it self aligns this way.
Withdraw the Door Lock Assembly from the door cavity.
The next picture is just for reference. Note the six screws and the Yellow plastic clip – these will need to be removed to get the two halves of the Door Lock Assembly apart.
Start with that yellow clip. Use a pair of needle nose pliers to collapse the barbs on the backside and remove from the linkage.
Now remove the six screws.
This little Tab will have to be released before the two halves will separate.
Two halves separated.
This is where you will be doing most of the work. Note the Fork. When reassembling the two halves this Fork must grab the nub from the other half of the assembly. If not, you will not be able to either lock or unlock once the unit is put back into the vehicle.
The next two pictures are of the Nub the Fork has to surround. Sorry they are fussy. One picture is locked and one is unlocked – don’t know which is which. Doesn’t matter; just make sure that once you have reinstalled the lock/latch mechanism back into the vehicle you do some testing before you close the door.
Move the linkage to this position and you will see a screw near the Fork.
Remove the fork linkage and the screw.
Remove gear/motor contact retainer.
At this point I have no further pictures, but it is pretty simple. Note the position of the gears for reinstallation and remove them. You will see that a friction fit retains the motor. You should rotate the motor 90 degrees to remove it. Removal may require some prying with a small screwdriver.
Source and replace motor. Note: keep the motor contacts facing out. Reassemble in the reverse order and you are done. It might be wise to test the electrical operation while taking the unit apart and also while assembling the unit.
AND definitely test for proper operation before closing the door of the vehicle. I waited several days before putting the door panel back on; just to make sure everything was fine.
Oh and while you’re at it pick up some Lithium grease and apply some to the linkage & gears inside the Door Lock Assembly.
My motor was marked with “FC-280SC-18180” as the part number of the original manufacturer. I found it on ebay with just that search. The important thing is that the motor from the manufacturer DOES NOT have a coarse toothed gear on the shaft. The ebay seller’s did have a course toothed gear making it perfect. Do not buy a fine toothed geared motor. I imagine the seller will sell out at some point in time and this link will be worthless.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261139059489&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160#ht_390wt_884
http://www.mabuchi-motor.co.jp/en_US...fc_280pcsc.pdf
The worse part of this procedure for me was removing the three screws at the end of the door. I broke several cheap 3/8” drive Torx bits from Harbor Freight & my local Auto Parts store – had to borrow the mechanic’s Snap-On next door. So if you wish to attempt this I would first loosen those screws a bit. I put them back with a bit of thread lock as well.
On the plus side I found I did not have to align anything; not the door latch to the vehicle or the external door handle linkage to the Door Lock Assembly.
Oh, this was performed on the right front passenger Door Lock Assembly. The left side maybe a mirror image.
This is the small motor:
Good Luck!
Last edited by Sno White; 04-18-2013 at 11:07 AM. Reason: Mirror image; Pic size; formating
04-17-2013, 04:50 PM
#2
Join Date: 04-11-2013
Location: Amarillo, TX
Posts: 9
Good Pictures! Just as I remembered them! the 'fork' is what open/locks the door. On the Fork Linkage left end on your picture has a U 'pie' cut in it. That engages the plactic gear off the motor. IF the plactic gear is not out of the way, the Fork Linkage CAN NOT MOVE! This is what causes the electric lock system to Override the Manual door opening options. The gears and motor do not spin to allow the plactic gear to get out of the way. THIS IS WHAT THIS THREAD IS ALL ABOUT.
Last edited by donbrew; 10-01-2017 at 06:13 PM.
04-17-2013, 09:29 PM
#3
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Join Date: 08-09-2010
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 158
I'm in for 8 of these. One for each door and a second one for each. At this price, I have the feeling that finding these again isn't going to be easy, and this sure beats having to replace the actuators. Thank you so much for the info and post! Hopefully these will do the trick.
04-17-2013, 10:20 PM
#4
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Join Date: 06-26-2006
Location: San Bernardino, California
Posts: 1,876
I though I recognized that motor. One of my brother in laws businesses use it without the gear in something they build. I doubt they will be in short supply anytime soon. They sell these by the 100s. they are used in many other applications besides automotive. I think it's the same one.
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...001_2081895_-1
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...001_2081895_-1
04-18-2013, 02:24 AM
#5
Join Date: 04-11-2013
Location: Amarillo, TX
Posts: 9
Good Pictures! Just as I remembered them! the 'fork' is what open/locks the door. On the Fork Linkage left end on your picture has a U 'pie' cut in it. That engages the plactic gear off the motor. IF the plactic gear is not out of the way, the Fork Linkage CAN NOT MOVE! This is what causes the electric lock system to Override the Manual door opening options. The gears and motor do not spin to allow the plactic gear to get out of the way. THIS IS WHAT THIS THREAD IS ALL ABOUT. Dan
04-18-2013, 10:47 AM
#6
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Thread Starter
Join Date: 12-24-2008
Location: N/A
Posts: 717
There Are Many Look-A-Like Motors with different specifications
I though I recognized that motor. One of my brother in laws businesses use it without the gear in something they build. I doubt they will be in short supply anytime soon. They sell these by the 100s. they are used in many other applications besides automotive. I think it's the same one.
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...001_2081895_-1
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...001_2081895_-1
The small gear is a tight press fit. I did not wish to possibly damage it with its removal from the old motor OR damage the gear upon installation on the new motor or possibly damaging the new motor during installation of the gear. That is why I went the route I did in buying the complete motor/gear assembly. Sometimes my hands have a way of destroying small parts.
04-18-2013, 11:02 AM
#7
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Join Date: 12-24-2008
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Posts: 717
Warning
WARNING
I've had some more thoughts about the Motor.
This was done on a right side Door Lock Actuator.
I believe the left Door Lock Actuator to be a mirror image and thus the motor may turn in the opposed direction – I just do not know. So perhaps some input is needed from someone who has actually opened up a left Door Lock Assembly for confirmation as to whether the part number is the same for the left motor.
The manufacture of the motors makes CW & CCW rotating motors that look identical.
I've had some more thoughts about the Motor.
This was done on a right side Door Lock Actuator.
I believe the left Door Lock Actuator to be a mirror image and thus the motor may turn in the opposed direction – I just do not know. So perhaps some input is needed from someone who has actually opened up a left Door Lock Assembly for confirmation as to whether the part number is the same for the left motor.
The manufacture of the motors makes CW & CCW rotating motors that look identical.
04-18-2013, 03:44 PM
#8
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Join Date: 08-09-2010
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 158
It looks like the specs on that motor linked to on the Jameco site is just a bit different. I don't know if they are enough different to effect function or not. I too would rather buy the motors with the gears on and be done with it. Seems to me though that the side of the car shouldn't change the direction of rotation just to open the lock. The manufacturer website only lists this motor as being used in lock actuators. If you go to http://www.mabuchi-motor.co.jp/cgi-bin/search/e_use.cgi and select door lock actuators for the use, this is the only motor that comes up.
04-18-2013, 04:42 PM
#9
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Join Date: 12-24-2008
Location: N/A
Posts: 717
Seems to me though that the side of the car shouldn't change the direction of rotation just to open the lock. The manufacturer website only lists this motor as being used in lock actuators. If you go to http://www.mabuchi-motor.co.jp/cgi-bin/search/e_use.cgi and select door lock actuators for the use, this is the only motor that comes up.
I found they make both CW & CCW by randomly clicking through the manufactures data sheets elsewhere on their site. I hope it does not matter too.
Nor could I find the Jameco sourced motor part number on the manufacturers web site as a current product. Their web site could be wrong as well.
I think you’ll be OK, I just don’t want others to order up motors and have them not work out for them. Perhaps Dan Denton from posts #s 2 & 5 can chime in. Maybe he worked on a left side Door Lock Assembly. I'll PM him.
04-18-2013, 05:19 PM
#10
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Join Date: 06-26-2006
Location: San Bernardino, California
Posts: 1,876
My point was that they make and sell these motors by the 100s-1000s and was directed at the post or posts that expressed concern about future short supply. We used Mabuchi motors in our slot cars when I was a kid in the 60s-70s. Use the one that you know works. I was simply reacting to the similarity. By no means was I suggeting that you buy the ones from Jameco instead.
