hey guys, just got my car yesterday and i now i found out that the door lock actuator on the drivers side is going bad, it works sometimes but it fails to open or lock the door most of the time, is it hard to remove the door panel in civic? where can i get a new actuator or what can i do to bring the old one back to life?
thank you in advance.
V

 

Had that happen to me in a car before.......I sprayed the components of the door lock mechanism (inside the door) with WD40 as much as possible and it seemed to cure it.

 

what year is your civic? Also is it the factory actuator or aftermarket?

 

this is a 2001 civic with factory actuators. how do i remove the panel? i didnt really look at the clips yet.

 

I have the same problem with my 2000. I took it apart over Christmas break and tried like hell to resuscitate the actuator motor but to no avail. Looking for one of those too. Not sure about 2001 but the 2K ones seem to run anywhere from $30 to $79. Havne't checked a dealer though for fear it is $150+ like most dealer electrical parts...

The process for getting that sucker out though is not pleasant. You have to remove the door panel then peel back some of the plastic seal over the area near the door latch. Then roll up the window again and detach the lower window guide and move it out of the way so you can get at all the guts behind it. Then you need to disconnect the door latch rod from the door handle. (Be careful the rod connectors are plastic and will snap easily!) Then you need to disconnect the rod from the door lock pin that goes down to the latch inside the door. Then once you have all those rods off, you need to unbolt the door lock mechanism from the door and wrangle it out of there. It's not too bad just watch for sharp edges etc...

The actuator motor itself is enclosed in a plastic housing and mine has a worm gear that spins a spring loaded gear and cam to throw the lock. The motor seemed to have gotten too weak to move the mechanism. I tried cleaning and lubing everything but the motor just didn't have enough torque to spin the gear so I figure it's borked since you can't do much to them. They are sealed "can" motors but you can take them apart with some work and the right tools. I wouldn't recommend it though, there's more to ruin than fix inside...

Oh ya - Just make sure you note the orientation of all the rods, cams and linkages so that you can get it all back together correctly if you do decide to go that far.

So for now I took out the actuator while I search for a new/used one. You can reinstall the door latch and everything will work Ok without the actuator until you get a chance to replace it. Just remember that you will not be able to lock the doors from the driver door by lifting up the handle and pushing down the lock pin - it's no longer connected to the wiring harness.

Good luck!