Jolzer

Yesterday I discovered my driver's side rear door lock had stopped working. The keyless entry only works if I manually lock the back door and leave it locked. I suspect the actuator has gone out because the lock does not budge or wiggle when I use the keyless entry or the button inside the door.

My second question is how can I remove the rear door panels because I cant seem to find any DIY instructions on this forum for a 2es, and I would like to take a look inside before I make any purchases. I don't know much about how these door locks work so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cloxe

Sounds like your actuator in your drivers door went out. this is common wear and tear.
using the key in the door or manual lock will wear out the motor as well as using the lock and unlock button (a little less for the automatic part though).

So it's just a overtime thing.

I currently have the actuator burnt out in my front drivers door so i know the pain.

there is a possibility that it could have just got bumped lose though, my rear-passenger window motor in my 96' es300 got unplugged and i though my window motor was burnt until i tinted my windows.

Here are some things you can try.
- unplug the actuator from the wiring harness and spray some WD-40 in there, if it starts working then you probable just had a bad connection and you can go to the auto parts shop and buy some connector grease.
- if that doesnt work then you can pay a mechanic around $200-$350 to replace it.
- pay the lexus dealer $450 which is the price they told me for my front-drivers actuator.
- try not to use that door.... lol.




As for taking apart the rear doors it is actually really simple.
here's a quick guide.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]What you'll need
phillips screwdriver
flat head screwdriver

Step 1: take out the screws located in the inside door handle with a phillips screwdriver
you'll need to use the flat-head to pop the cover off from inside the handle.
and the other screw behind the door latch

Step 2: use the flat-head or your fingers to remove the pull-release style caps/tacks
that are around the outside of the door. there's about 3-4 of these.

Step 3: pull the panel out from the bottom with a tad bit of force to release the cap locks.

Step 4: lift the panel up towards the window once it is all cleared from the frame.

Here's an image i found for the front door that is basically the same as the rear door.




I hope that this helps you a little to try and troubleshoot your problem and see what you will need to do to fix it.

Bet of Luck!

Cloxe

This is a post i found on fixing window placement, but it has some pictures on the guy removing his door panels in the guide, so i thought i'd post it for you.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...hone-pics.html

Jolzer

Thank you both so much, very helpful. The rear panels are very easy to remove, but I discovered the actuator has gone bad, but oh well, I guess I can live with it for now.