Front Door Locks - Diesel Forum

vettmike · 01-04-2005, 09:45 AM

The front door locks on my X are getting sluggish, the left (drivers) door will not lock or unlock with the remote or the button on the door, the left (PAX) door will lock/unlock with repeated pushing of the button on the door and remote.

Anybody have any idea what could be wrong, I removed the drivers door panel and couldn't see anything binding. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

vettmike

Anderson, SC

JADFPE · 01-04-2005, 10:37 AM

Do a search. The power door lock motors (actuators) are a common item that goes bad.

Hope this helps,
John [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

miobx · 01-13-2005, 12:44 AM

I had the same thing on my X but, rh rear door. It was sluggish, then intermitten then failed. Good news! My dealer had all 4 doors of the power lock actuator instock (tons of them). Seems to be very popular for warranty. Cost me $43 for new at the dealer. You'll need to pull the latch and some other things loose. The actuator does come off of the latch by lifting a tab and then sliding off. Took about a half hour to repair once I had the new actuator.

I did see some posts about the trim ring around the night lock rod being too tight. Some folks filed this opening a little bigger and had no issues after that. Mine was total actuator failure.

Good luck.

mmsafd · 01-13-2005, 01:51 AM

I went to some aftermarket actuators. They are much faster than the OEM ones and have a lifetime warranty. I paid $300 installed on all 5 doors. The actuators are only about $10 each but the labor took a while, especially on the rear door.

miobx · 01-13-2005, 08:32 PM

mmsafd,

Who was the company you used? I would like to know for future reference. You PM me if you like.

mmsafd · 01-14-2005, 01:22 AM

I took it to the shop that does all my alarm/stereo stuff. They are Alamo Auto here in San Antonio. I am sure you do not want to come down just for that. The aftermarket actuators they used are the brand name "SPAL". Just did a Google search for "spal door lock actuators" and a ton of sites came up that carry them as well as the manufacture. They are only ten buck each. The guys at the shop said they were not that hard to install but they have done a lot of them. They use them a lot on vehicles that need keyless entry that do not have power locks. They did say the rear hatch was a PITA and it was the first Excursion rear hatch they had done. I do not know if the lifetime warranty is from SPAL or the shop. I can tell a major difference in the speed of the locks on the X vs. my F250. The actuators use electromagnets I think.