Door Lock Problem

[Greg Bosin]

Just finished troubleshooting my driver side door lock on my 01. I have had other issues similar to what others have had on this forum but I'm sure I have isolated it to the actuator. All the other locks are working fine but this morning I noticed no action on the driver door. I took off the panel and inspected everything, I disconnected the connector to the actuator and used a test light while using the lock switch and I had good indication on both sides of the connector (lock and unlock).



My only thing that has me 2nd guessing is that I have had the lock bind a few times this winter to where the door latch on the inside didn't want to open. I could not duplicate or find any issues when I had the panel off. I lubed up some of the mechanicals with some silicone spray.



As much as my car is outside in NW Oregon I was surprised how little moisture was inside, there was some but nothing significant.



Anyone had experience at replacing the door lock actuator? It looks like it is held by a rivet and there is not a lot of room to work with.

 

[swshawaii]

I've read where the actuator bracket can be pried open enough to remove it.

Worst case would be drilling the rivet and refastening with a bolt or rivet gun.

 

[Greg Bosin]

SWS thanks.

 

[JohnnyB]

I changed 1/2 the actuators on my 2001 ST, about the same on my 2007 ST and now on my 2010 ST my drivers side back door lock doesn't move. I guess some things never change. An on going problem for sure. Ford .... listening ?????

 

[Greg Bosin]

Replaced it today, substituted the rivet with a 1/4 20 1/2" Hex drive machine screw with a round head, a washer and a nylock nut. The rivet is bigger than even my professional pop riveter could handle. Napa Auto had the rivet tool to for $60, too much for one use. They let me borrow tools all the time, this one wasn't a loaner so I went to Home Depot for the hardware.