power door lock actuator

[Green Machine]

Anyone ever have a power lock motor/actuator go out? Mine was working fine till today. hit the lock button on the remote and all it does is growl and screeches. works fine if you manually lock or unlock. easy fix?

 

[Lownslowlsc]

I'd say it's toast. Had it happen on one of my old cars. It still worked but sounded horrible doing it.

 

[rrudd2]

I've done both of them on my 93, and I'm getting to the point where I need to do them on my 96.

There are a couple of threads over on TCCoA that give some suggestions. They pertain to Thunderbirds, but the part and process is essentially the same.

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=127457

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=65564

The last post in the 2nd thread is essentially what I ended up doing.

It was a little easier than i thought.

1. I simply drilled out the old rivet until the broken actuator came loose.
2. I disconnected the wiring from the old actuator, and pulled the plug out of the door and tested the new one.
3. I unscrewed the window guide, which is held in by some sort of arm with a bolt, and up top it has a slide thing. (not sure what theyre called).
4. I pulled the actuator towards the hood of the car, up and out, and the rod came with it.
5. I used some super glue to glue a nut to the mounting hardware on the actuator, between the unit and the mount. I let it dry.
6. I slid the new actuator rod into place where the old one was.
7. I used a round headed bolt and self-locking screw to attach the new actuator.
8. I tested it, replaced the window guide and tested the window, then replaced the door panel. Simple as that! Theres no need to waste your time with an enormous rivet, and if it goes bad again, you can just unscrew it rather than destroy a rivet that you would have to repurchase.

The "window guide" I removed runs across the main cut-out in the door, and is held in place by 2 nuts. Taking it out and getting it out of your way makes the job a lot easier.

Also, take the time to but duct tape around the edges of the cut-out in the door. If you don't you'll end up with scrapes all over the inside of your forearm.

It's not a difficult repair, it's just a little awkward because of the angles. It would be a lot easier if you had another elbow between your elbow and wrist!

 

[Icarus]

Ford acutators are notoriously bad at failing early, not to bad to replace though...