Failed Door Lock Actuator R&R

[BillWms01]

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. Had to change the driver's side door motor today, and the info here was invaluable!

 

[Blackwater]

On the window track piece, is everyone removing that down off of the rubber seal? It is a royal PITA.

Not sure I can get the new actuator in without removing it, however I'm not sure I'll be able to get it back onto the rubber once the actuator is in..

Any real time help with that part?

Trying to get everything back together

 

[Blackwater]

The bottom window trim metal channel is supposed to connect with the small upper channel correct?

I've got mine close, but can't seem to get the two metal channels to join, actuator still isn't installed..

I'm curious if you can get the new actuator in with the window channel in place maybe?

 

[Blackwater]

Ok. Going back through @ayaws post, he's spot on.
If anyone is reading this in the future, follow the steps.

The window track really messed me up initially.

Slid the metal bracket off of the long rubber window keeper. (Or I found it easier to pry the rubber out if the metal track once the track was pulled down slightly)

Replace actuator, then press the rubber back into this metal window channel and slide up to get it aligned. The longer metal tab needs to go into the upper channel pry an inch or 2 to realign with the bottom bolt hole.

Mine is a 2016, back together and everything works like new!

Will pry take me an hour if I had to do it again.

Hope this helps someone

 

[Boston Mangler]

Ok. Going back through @ayaws post, he's spot on.
If anyone is reading this in the future, follow the steps.

The window track really messed me up initially.

Slid the metal bracket off of the long rubber window keeper. (Or I found it easier to pry the rubber out if the metal track once the track was pulled down slightly)

Replace actuator, then press the rubber back into this metal window channel and slide up to get it aligned. The longer metal tab needs to go into the upper channel pry an inch or 2 to realign with the bottom bolt hole.

Mine is a 2016, back together and everything works like new!

Will pry take me an hour if I had to do it again.

Hope this helps someone

Glad ya got it figured out.

Theres several big threads on this.

I had to replace 2 of mine when I first got the truck and the steps some folks listed were not needed at all and just way complicated things.

The first one was a bit of a puzzle, but now i could do it very quickly. Forget exact steps I took, but it was fairly straight forward and just needed to rotate the mechanism from what I recall

 

[DallasTide]

Glad you got it figured out. This is definitely one of those jobs that takes a fair bit of trial and error the first time but is pretty easy after that.

 

[dstock]

2020 LX570 here. Rear passenger side door needed replacing. The motor was the flat kind with no brass bushing on amazon for $10. There is a screw h9olding the two covers together but it is also glued. I needed an air soldering gun at 250F and boxcutter/exacto knife to break the seal in just the part where the motor was. Pried it out with the worm gear, swapped it onto the new motor - perfect fit - and then some plastic weld liquid and heat again to close it all up. 2 screws, also a little tab next the child safety lock. The only thing I missed was putting the outer door handle fork back onto the actuator assembly(had to quickly remove the panel and slip that on - only 5 min but still. I didn't know it was there because there is no way to see it. Checked it all before I reinstalled fully and all was good. Hopefully it will last for a while. Currently on around 45K miles.

 

[dstock]

Forgot to mention. I pulled the plastic off and cut the black "goop" with the same very sharp and small boxcutter/exacto while pulling and I did not get any goop stuck to my arm .

 

[BarnWalker89FJ62]

The front left (Driver's) door lock actuator in my 2013 decided to give up the ghost at 52,435 miles.

I made a dealer trip yesterday to pick up the part since manually locking/unlocking the door was becoming annoying. Got the dealer (Groove Toyota) to beat the internet prices and sell the part to me at wholesale for $265 + Tax.

Removing the door panel in these is quite easy, here's a non-picture document / how-to. (Since I couldn't find one online.) I own a set of panel removing tools which is helpful.

Remove the small triangular panel which is behind the door mirror at the top-right of the panel by pulling straight out carefully.

Remove the small panel cover behind the door handle. Carefully pry from the front side near the loose (non-hinged) end of the door handle. There's a screw behind here to remove.

Remove the escutcheon (power window/lock switches) by prying directly up on the forward end of the panel. Carefully pry around and pull the whole module directly upwards. Disconnect the cable by pressing the release tab.

Remove the grab handle cover by using a small flat-bladed screwdriver inserted toward the front of the vehicle. VERY CAREFULLY pry outward and slowly work around and up the grab handle. Behind here are two more screws to remove.

Remove the three screws in the door panel (first one behind the panel behind the door panel, the other two behind the grab handle.)

On the bottom of the door, there's an arrow and an open location into the bottom of the panel. If you look up into there, you'll see the first of the plastic door panel clips. I use my panel removal set to pry directly out on them. Work along the bottom of the door to carefully pop them all out. (I managed to not break any.)

Disconnect the puddle light connector by pressing on the catch and pulling straight out.

Continue to work up and along the sides of the door panel to pop all of the door panel clips out. Panel removal tools work best for this operation.

Once all the panel clips are disconnected, grab the sides of the door panel and carefully lift straight up toward the top of the door while keeping the panel as close to the door as possible. Try to slide it directly up to remove it from the window channel.

Disconnect wiring for the seat memory switches.

Disconnect cables going to door lock and door handle by carefully pulling them out and rotating them around to the release location (more obvious than it sounds.)

Set panel aside.

Door Lock / Actuator removal:

Carefully pull plastic sheathing away from door metal. I found using a sharp-ish putty knife invaluable to separate the plastic from the sealant goop holding it along. Goop is a technical term.

The actuator is located behind the window regulator rail. On the left hand side of the door metal frame is a bolt that must be removed that holds the final section of the window rail in place. Remove this 10mm bolt.

Reach directly inside door and pull STRAIGHT DOWN on the window rail to disconnect it from the upper rail. It has some window/weather stripping in it that can easily be removed/reinstalled. Notice on the top here that there is a small tongue that slides into the upper rail. Set aside.

Disconnect power/comm connections from lock/door/actuator mechanism by pressing catch and pulling out.

Remove three bolts from door lock/actuator from door near striking/actuating location. Hold onto the actuator inside the door while you do this.

Carefully rock the actuator top toward the inside of the vehicle to disconnect it from the door handle lock mechanism. Then carefully lower actuator down to disconnect it from the door handle bar.

Disconnect cables from actuator (these will be reused with new actuator.)

Smash / trash poorly engineered door lock actuator module that has led to this.

Prepare new actuator by reinstalling cables recently removed.

Place actuator in door while reconnecting external door handle bar to handle and re-engaging exterior lock mechanism into socket.

Replace 3 external bolts for door lock actuator (lightly tighten them until you can verify the door works properly and the handle/external lock engages and works.

Re-install window regulator rail all the while making sure that the tongue fits into the groove pressed into the upper window rail.

Press fit the window strip back into rail. MAKE SURE IT IS EVEN.

Reconnect power/comm cable to door lock/actuator.

Tighten 3 bolts for door lock/actuator module.

Reinstall bolt for lower rail and tighten.

At this point I plugged the window switches back in and tested the window as well as the lock. (Worked like a champ.)

Reattach plastic to goop.

Reverse door panel removal procedure to reinstall. Make sure you reconnect the cables for the door handle and lock. Also make sure you plug in the seat switches as well as the puddle light switches.

Give it a few opens/closes after reassembly and ensure the door closes, opens, locks, and unlocks successfully.


This job took me about 45 minutes since I went SLOW removing the door panel since I could not find a howto nor any information of anyone doing this DIY in the past. The pucker-factor of tearing into my $82K truck was high but this goes to show Toyotas are still damn easy to repair and are well built. I was impressed with the consistency of quality and consistency of materials used in the door panel and all electrical connectors/modules built in.

Hope this helps! If I do it again, I'll take pictures and update this.

Thank you so very much for this excellent and detailed step-by-step write-up. I just replaced the front passenger actuator on my 2019 200 series. In my non-HVAC garage. In Houston. In August. The reminders to “check your work” along the way were very helpful - I almost forgot the silver exterior lock mechanism bar. The window regulator rail was intimidating but once I felt and saw it and got a handle for how it works, it wasn’t a challenge. I bought the OEM actuator on discount through ToyotaParts.com. I think it was about $250. Definitely saved $600+ in labor cost by doing it myself - 45 minutes start to finish. Grateful for this community - and high velocity ceiling fans.

 

[foolforthecity]

I just did this in my 2021 with 65k miles which is the first real disappointment on this truck. Seems way too premature.

My only suggestion to this great thread is for those replacing just the motor instead of the entire actuator. Sit down with the actuator on a work bench or table and really take your time carefully opening the corner where the motor is (which should be obvious). There are a lot of gears and parts inside the actuator that you don't want to disturb. Don't make more work for yourself like I did.....

 

[Boston Mangler]

I just did this in my 2021 with 65k miles which is the first real disappointment on this truck. Seems way too premature.

I find these a very weird phenomenon honestly

My stack of dealer receipts so they ALL failed at different time before 75k and were replaced 1 by 1 as they went under warranty, 2 of them twice before 100k.

Then, all the way to 210k with no issues and then 2 (1 looked brand new, one was filled with crud) crapped out again.

Seems very random

 

[bloc]

I find these a very weird phenomenon honestly

My stack of dealer receipts so they ALL failed at different time before 75k and were replaced 1 by 1 as they went under warranty, 2 of them twice before 100k.

Then, all the way to 210k with no issues and then 2 (1 looked brand new, one was filled with crud) crapped out again.

Seems very random

You'll love to hear many of us haven't had to change a single one...

 

[Boston Mangler]

You'll love to hear many of us haven't had to change a single one...

Yes.. that too! It’s so random

My 100 series had 400k and I never replaced a single one

 

[GrouchyTech]

These things are just strange. I’ve had low(er) mile vehicles where actuators failed across most/all the doors, multiple failures on the same doors, and many vehicles with no failures at 200K+ miles. I’m not certain what factors are at play here.

I recently had a newer Lexus ES where all the actuators had failed before 75K miles. No wrecks, it didn’t look like anyone had been in the doors before, and the door wasn’t full of dirt/dust.

 

[bloc]

These things are just strange. I’ve had low(er) mile vehicles where actuators failed across most/all the doors, multiple failures on the same doors, and many vehicles with no failures at 200K+ miles. I’m not certain what factors are at play here.

I recently had a newer Lexus ES where all the actuators had failed before 75K miles. No wrecks, it didn’t look like anyone had been in the doors before, and the door wasn’t full of dirt/dust.

Any thoughts on battery health contributing to it? Like the owner not realizing they had an iffy battery for a couple months?

 

[bloc]

Yes.. that too! It’s so random

I’d actually argue that is evidence of it not being random. To me it suggests something is going on with specific vehicles that leads to the motor failing.

The fact that yours had so many go bad with the previous owner and you, means it probably isn’t just a use case thing either.

 

[GrouchyTech]

Any thoughts on battery health contributing to it? Like the owner not realizing they had an iffy battery for a couple months?

That’s a good idea … could be? I’ll keep that in mind and check battery history next time I see this.