Door Actuator Motor Brush Replacement (2 Viewers)

[Chris Wilcox]

Edit: This is for the front door of a 1997, LH. I could buy the part from Partsouq for $166 but chose to spend $4.64 on the motor delivered instead. If you have the money by all means buy the part. End Edit.

A few of my doors have been unreliable and finally the drivers door quit working altogether. I suspected issue with the motor.
First I ordered some motors from China. Ebay listing had this description:
FC-280 Motor with Collar - Car Door Lock Mirror Motor FC-280PT-22125 Mabuchi

Second I removed the door panel using this helpful thread:
Door panel removal procedure

Using a razor blade I cut the black sealant as I pulled back the plastic. This enabled me to cleanly open up the trailing part of the door plastic leaving some sealant on the door and some on the plastic. If you mess it up you can use household vapor barrier sealant to repair or tape purposed for vapor barrier.

I don't have pictures of this step but next disconnect the four clips that connect the rods to the latch mechanism, disconnect the two electrical connectors on the lower part of the door, remove the one 10mm fastener holding the lower part of the window guide and then remove the screws holding the door latch. The latch will slip down to the bottom of the door and out through the largest hole in the bottom of the door inner panel.

Take this opportunity to check your door speaker and spray some rust inhibitor in the bottom of the door.

Now for the fun part...

First a few pictures of the actuator for reference.

Remove the screws and the thing will split into two halves. Be cautious and take your own photos because there are parts that are just loose that fall out and also some springs that will fly out at the latch mechanism. You don't want to loose these or not know where they go. If you are careful it is easy.

Closeup of the motor for reference.

Another view

 

[Chris Wilcox]

At this point I tested the motor and it was jumpy or not working. I had planned to swap motors but they were not the same. Then I thought I could swap the brush end of the motor from one can to the other. The oem motor shaft was larger diameter and the commutator was larger so that option was out. Finally I decided to just cut the brushes out of the new motor and solder them into the old motor.

Opening up the motor is easy, bend back (just enough) the two tabs and slide it apart. Mine was really dirty and the brushes were totally gone and the springs (brush holder) were worn away.

I carefully disassembled the brush end of the oem motor and cutoff the brush springs where they are stamped onto the "busbar" with the two little rivets. This will make more sense if you are in there. This view shows it disassembled but the brush spring is not removed yet. You can barely see it where the busbar crosses on front of the red and black wires. That area in the photo...

This picture shows the Chinese motor end cap near the screwdriver handle and the oem one on the right. All the little bits of brass are from the Chinese motor and the new brushes are at the bottom of the image and have not been cut yet.

In this picture the brushes are now soldered onto the oem busbar and everything reassembled. Sorry I forgot to take detailed pictures of this step. If you find the little round white pin in the top center of the end cap. The soldered parts are both to the left and the right of that pin. I overlapped the new brush holder with the old (riveted area) and used solder to connect them instead of trying to recreate the rivet. Then you use two paperclips through the holes to hold open the new brushes and reassemble the motor after you clean the commutator (next step).

 

[Chris Wilcox]

I used 3M Scotchbrite red to clean the commutator as shown. Just in hand using my fingers. Add some oil that is safe for yellow metals (so no gear oil) and then reassemble the motor. remove your paperclips and then test it with 12 volts. If it works crimp the two tabs on the motor case.
Reassemble the whole latch mechanism and replace in the vehicle.

It was late so I don't have picture of these steps either but if you took it apart you can get it back together. I wasted an hour trying to figure out why my door lock kept unlocking itself when I locked it... This is because the key was in the ignition. Embarrassing but I figured it out. Total time with that roadblock was 4 hours. I could do the second much faster.

Door lock is now very strong opening and closing.

Chris

 

[jonheld]

Or you can buy the OEM AISIN DLT-088 (left door) and DLT-089 (right door) on Amazon for $45 and replace with new.
That's what I just did on my LX450 when the rear doors stopped locking/unlocking after 22 years.

 

[Chris Wilcox]

Or you can buy the OEM AISIN DLT-088 (left door) and DLT-089 (right door) on Amazon for $45 and replace with new.
That's what I just did on my LX450 when the rear doors stopped locking/unlocking after 22 years.

Is that for the front or rear door? Google images don't look correct for front doors. I'm interested because I need to do one rear door soon.

 

[jonheld]

Is that for the front or rear door? Google images don't look correct for front doors. I'm interested because I need to do one rear door soon.

That's what I bought and installed for the rear doors. They were both becoming a problem so I just replaced them both. Takes about 30 minutes per door if you take time to clean bits and pieces. Add another 30 minutes if you're sipping Scotch while working.