FJ100 Landcruiser Door Lock Actuator Motor Swap Instructions (1 Viewer)

[Detailx]

There is a 23 page post on the forum about this if you need more information like which motors you need (although at this point there seems to be a one size fits all solution for the motor from member jonharis). Door Lock Actuator Replacement

It took me forever to get through it. I thought I would document my process in the hopes to make the project go more expediently for the next guy from research to completion.

What you will need to gather.
Plastic automotive trim tools
Basic hand tools (10 mil socket, extensions, torx bit, phillips and flat blade screwdriver etc)
Hair dryer
JB Weld 5 minute plastic weld
Dielectric grease
(1) FC-280PT-22125 motor per door
Patience

Here was my process

Remove your door panel. This thread gives a nice explanation. Once you do this a couple of times it becomes second nature.
Door panel removal process

Remove door pull by removing screw behind handle

View attachment 1502269


Remove the white plastic (devil) cable guide. This was by far the most difficult part of disassembly. What you are dealing with here is a little white plastic pass through grommet that plugs into the door then a stud that is attached the the guide to lock it in place. The thing wouldn't come out of the door. I fought with it longer than I would like to admit then ran across the suggestion of heating up the stud inside the door with a hairdryer. I did that, inserted a large screwdriver between the door and the guide and pulled like hell until it popped off. Nothing broke. Parts were completely reusable, but you are going to have to get more aggressive than you are initially comfortable with on this part (unless yours is different than mine).

Then remove lock and latch cables noting which goes where and that the two cables cross after coming out of the white plastic (devil) guide

 

[Detailx]

Remove door handle by taking out two bolts. You don't have to, but it made removal of the rods a bunch easier. Although it made reassembly more difficult in getting the bolt in the second picture reattached. The first is really easy to reach. The second can be accessed through a hole in the front of the door covered by a piece of tape.

Then remove the 3 torx bits on the door edge that hold the assembly in

Realize that the latch assembly is behind the window guide in the door. You have to roll the latch around the window guide to remove it from the door (after you have removed the outside handle connecting rods - next) To make your life easier, unbolt the window guide with the single bolt on the inside of the door.

 

[Detailx]

Remove door handle by taking out two bolts. You don't have to, but it made removal of the rods a bunch easier. Although it made reassembly more difficult in getting the bolt in the second picture reattached. The first is really easy to reach. The second can be accessed through a hole in the front of the door covered by a piece of tape.

View attachment 1502286 View attachment 1502287


Then remove the 3 torx bits on the door edge that hold the assembly in

View attachment 1502288

Realize that the latch assembly is behind the window guide in the door. You have to roll the latch around the window guide to remove it from the door (after you have removed the outside handle connecting rods - next) To make your life easier, unbolt the window guide with the single bolt on the inside of the door.

View attachment 1502290

With the handle loose open it to be able to clear the outer door opening and pull the handle out a bit to give you room to work. Then remove the bottom rod (I think that was the lock rod)

Then remove the latch rod. A number of people have mentioned difficulty with this step. With the handle out, for me it went easily. You wiggle the handle so you can flip the yellow clasp open. Then you are again dealing with one of these grommets through a hole with the rod coming through securing it. For me, once the yellow arm was flipped I was able to pry it straight out.

With these two rods liberated and the two cables you previously unhooked from the inside door pull and the bolts you have removed, you are ready to remove the assembly from the door. Do so by rolling the assembly around the window guide and pull it out the big hole in the door. Now take the damn thing inside to work on if it is 90+ degrees where you are like it was when I took mine out. Note the little "gutter" attached to the actuator assembly. While wrestling around with the assembly mine fell into the door. I had a heck of a time figuring out where it went. It actually fell off putting it back in and it is good to know you can just reach up under the connector after the repaired unit has been installed and just plug it back in (or just leave it off because I doubt the world will end if it is not there)

 

[Detailx]

Much mythology has been made about the mysterious clamshell, getting it apart, what motor to use. How to glue it back together. This honestly, is the easiest part of the job. Here's what I did.

Remove the three screws attaching the actuator to the assembly. One on top and two on the backside.

To split the shell, I used my wife's simple hairdryer on the seam and then inserted and slid a small flat bladed screwdriver along the edge and it slowly cracked open.

 

[Detailx]

Swapping out the motors is easy. Just pull the old one off of its poles, pull the gear attached to the motor off and swap the gear onto the new motor. For those wondering, my truck is a 2001. The motor had the collar on it. I'm pretty sure either way, the gear only goes on the shaft in one position. I was concerned about not having the gears lined up, putting it back together gluing it up then having to take it back apart. The easy way to avoid this is to install the motor on the gear side, then put the clamshell back together. You will know when the motor is in place and that the poles have attached to the motor when the clamshell closes the whole way. You really can't screw it up if you do it this way.

At this point, I pinched it back together and took it out to the truck to plug in and test. This was kinda lazy. I should have looked up the pin out and just bench tested it, but I didn't know which of the 4 pins were which. If someone else knows, please add. I would recommend testing before gluing it up either way. Suffice it to say, if you don't hold that clamshell tight when you hit the button that thing is going to make one hell of a noise or jump out of your hand. To this point, I think even if you didn't have the teeth just right, once that lock button was hit and the motor spun, it would likely correct itself. That thing is STRONG when new. Mine worked like a charm, so back in the house to glue it up.

For glue, I used the JB Weld 5 minute plastic Weld. It supposedly dries in 5 minutes, but had one misstep where it cracked back open while trying to reassemble, so re-glued, put a soup can on top of it and let it sit while I ate breakfast. It seemed to hold up much better. I glued pretty much the whole seam on the valley side. If I need to break this thing open again and can't, I guess I am off to buy a new actuator.

I forgot to say, wipe the electrical contacts down while you are inside and replace the dielectric grease.

At this point, you can pretty much reinstall the actuator to the assembly, reinstall the assembly and put the door back together. One thing that may help. I by accident let the assembly slip all the way to the bottom of the door upon reassembly while trying to slide it back behind the window guide. It actually turned out to my advantage because it made it much easier to slide the assembly back into place in the door.

With the door back together the lock is instantaneous and repeats like a jack hammer. Well worth the little bit of money and hopefully less time for you with these instructions.

 

[Monkeyboy9]

Great write-up and photos Detailx! I also read through all 23-something pages of the original thread before I took on this project. That thread also helped me source the little motors ($19.95 for 4 motors with brass collar, shipped). Wish I knew about this thread a couple months ago when I paid ~$100 for a whole new actuator (ONE actuator) for my '00 4Runner. I just replaced the actuator motors in both front doors in my '99 LX470 and ran into the exact same pitfalls you described. I would like to add a couple thoughts:

1) You don't have to remove the white (devil) cable guide, nor disconnect the two cables from the handle. If your goal is only to replace the actuator motor, all you need to do is push/pull the cables to give yourself enough slack to pull the actuator assembly away from the door after you wiggle it free from the window guide. It looks like you removed the entire lock actuator assembly with all the cables and rods attached and took it to the workbench. Really, all you need is to get at the 3 screws that attach the actuator.
2) I found it helpful to use a utility knife to cut an incision along the black sticky goo. I just stayed close to the metal and avoided cutting the clear plastic barrier.

 

[revoked]

Thanks for this. Ordered my replacement motors today. Truck got tossed Saturday night since my damn locks decided not to lock

 

[chrisratz]

Great photos. Replacement motors have been sitting in my toolbox for about a year, I need to get this done.

 

[mccurdyp]

Super write-up. The pictures are a huge help. I have a 2001 LC down here in Honduras where the driver's side door has the problem not unlocking, as well as rear (back) door. I bought 5 motors a while back but have been afraid to tackle this. Feel much better after seeing this. Has anyone replaced the back door motor? Not sure, but I suspect it will be slightly different?

 

[YardPig]

Thanks, great write up. I found these, hoping they will work for my 2001 LC;
4X FC-280 Motors with Collar - Car Door Lock and Mirror Motors - FC-280PT-22125 | eBay

 

[Dwight S]

Super write-up. The pictures are a huge help. I have a 2001 LC down here in Honduras where the driver's side door has the problem not unlocking, as well as rear (back) door. I bought 5 motors a while back but have been afraid to tackle this. Feel much better after seeing this. Has anyone replaced the back door motor? Not sure, but I suspect it will be slightly different?

Here’s a good write up.
Rear hatch lock actuator repair

 

[mccurdyp]

Thanks Dwight S for info re hatch - I think it looks like a good place to start since it appears to be a much simpler job. But I have another question: the 5 motors I bought don't have the brass bushings on them. Do I need to buy different ones (like those on Amazon) or do those bushing slide off the old ones easily?

 

[Dwight S]

Not sure if you will need the electric motors with the brass collars. My 1998 didn’t have them. I think the only way to find out is to open one up and see. The rear hatch lock is really simple. Hardest part was unscrewing the actuator assembly from the lock mechanism. Three screws at an awkward angle and tight fit.

 

[mccurdyp]

Not sure if you will need the electric motors with the brass collars. My 1998 didn’t have them. I think the only way to find out is to open one up and see. The rear hatch lock is really simple. Hardest part was unscrewing the actuator assembly from the lock mechanism. Three screws at an awkward angle and tight fit.

Well, looks like I need the ones with the little brass collar. I tried to remove the one on the existing motor but of course no luck. I guess if it was that easy it would just keep slipping. While it was apart I applied a little electric contact to motor see if that will help it (it does work sometime, just not when it's really hot outside), until I can order and receive the correct motors. BTW, I only had to 2 screws holding it to lock. And mine is incredible dirty inside the panel - whoever had it before has obviously been in there and removed the plastic cover. And on our roads in Honduras, there's LOTS of dust in there

 

[J100Roaming]

Anyone that has had issues with any of their door locks. I have scoured the net and found a few places where people figured out what the little dc motor in the actuator housing is but all the links for eBay are old and no longer working. I found the manufacturer name and part number so you can just search that and find them in bulk on eBay or individually on amazon however they are more expensive.

Brand: Mabuchi
Part number: KF243G-101

These seems to be used in many Toyota vehicles just in different plastic housings as well. I found the part in a Prius forum and then also a Lexus SUV forum.

Hope this helps anyone.

 

[crypticresponse]

I thought I might add one small thing that might be useful. I just did the repair of my front passenger door actuator assembly as well as the rear hatch actuator. For the rear, I used the Mabuchi motor and that worked fine. For the front, I wound up replacing the entire assembly. Probably could have used the original one from my 2000, but when I took it apart, I noticed that the cable looked bent/damaged where the connector at the end of the cable connects to the door handle. I had purchased the Aisin assembly because I wanted to see what I was getting into before I tore apart the door. After considering the options (how cheap should I be?) I bent it back and it looked okay, but since I had the Aisin OEM equivalent part handy, I just put the new one in there. The cost for Aisin DLT091 assembly was $121 from Rock Auto. If I had to pay $330 for a Toyota OEM part, I would have tried to reuse the old one, but I could live with $121, and I will probably try to refurbish the old one and sell it on eBay now that I know how to replace the Mabuchi motor.

As for the process of assembly/disassembly, I would say the trickiest parts are the following:
1) removing the door switches by jamming screw driver into front and pushing hard. I was concerned this was going to mark the pleather (tan in my case), and it was scary.
2) I really couldn't get the assembly out without unscrewing the screw for the window guide. Seems like I really had to work hard to push that out of the way to get the assembly out. Seems possible to damage the window guide, so be careful.
3) There is a trick to getting the yellow and white rod "retainer". You have to know that they "pop off" in one direction and rotate around. This was not obvious when I was trying to eyeball it, but it all makes sense once you see how it works. I think the yellow actuator rod is the hardest because it required a lot of muscle to get it to pop through the hole. The white lock retainer one was easy to pop off comparatively.
4) I think you should mask off your door with masking tape if you are taking off the door handle. I did this and don't see how it can be done without taking the door handle off.

Now that I've done two of these, I am ready to take the third one (rear passenger) and think it should be pretty smooth sailing.

Thanks for everything.

 

[AstRomroMan]

I just want to say thanks for the details of this post. I did both front doors today, and this posts was very helpful!

 

[bucfl]

What year cruiser and did you need the motors with brass collar?

 

[AstRomroMan]

What year cruiser and did you need the motors with brass collar?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CPJBVVU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=ihco-20

I used the actuators at the link above, for both front doors on a 2004 Cruiser. They are a direct replacement, but one just has to crack open the old ones, and remove the actuator arm, and install that arm on the new actuators. These particular actuators come apart by just unscrewing them-- which is really nice. There is a left and right side.

 

[loarmistead]

Anyone know for a '07 LX, if I need the motors with or without the collar?

Here are the motors I'm looking at now, just curious if they are correct.

Amazon.com: 10mm BRASS COLLAR SHAFT FC-280PT-22125 Central Door Lock Actuator Motor, BRASS COLLAR SHAFT, Power Locking Repair Engine Replaces Mabuchi : Everything Else

Amazon.com: 10mm BRASS COLLAR SHAFT FC-280PT-22125 Central Door Lock Actuator Motor, BRASS COLLAR SHAFT, Power Locking Repair Engine Replaces Mabuchi : Everything Else

www.amazon.com