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Finally got all my door locks working again with ENVY's help. Feels like I have a brand new car! Only issue I was having is that my rear passenger seems to be locking harder/louder than the rest. I can hear a very audible "clack" when it locks. Not sure what's causing this. I opened the actuator back up again to make sure that I left enough space in between the coupling and the motor itself and that was fine.
By the way, if you guys are having that double pumping issue, make sure the two metal contacts inside the actuator aren't bent out of place. They need to be parallel to each other and bent "upwards" enough to touch the metal on the topside of the casing. Once you open up the actuator, you'll be able to see what I am talking about. Also, the secret to get these things open is HEAT! Leave your casing in front of a hair dryer for a few minutes and then start cutting into it (if you are using a blade). Envy and I used thin serrated knives to cut open my rear two. That took forever and my casing is jacked up where I cut them. We used a lot of heat on the front two and those came apart easily! I would still be very careful though because you do not want to crack the case where the screws go.
Curious of those who have done this lately, did you remove the window or just loosen the window track and move it over?
Also, from the looks of it I see some using the 10mm long and some using the 20mm long motors. Which one works on an '01 GS300?
I have the passenger front and rear to do. One post I saw says to not take out the door handle on the rear. Just wanted to confirm that from anyone that has done the rears.
On the fronts, you don't need to remove window. The track will need to be unbolted (but not removed), so that there's room for the actuator to come out. On the rears no need to remove window or track.
10mm is the correct length.
You do not need to take out the door handle to remove the actuators. Just have to maneuver your hand up in there to push down the latch or something like that. Just play with it and get an idea of how it works before you start tugging on things.
I recently replaced the door lock actuator on the right front passenger door on my 2003 GS300. I did not remove the window, had it in the full up position for the entire job.
I followed the directions given in Parts 1 & 2 in the following YouTube video, except I didn't remove the front speaker or the window.
I had to replace the motor in the actuator once before by a auto service/repair facility about 6 1/2 years ago. I also had the motor in the rear door replaced at the same time. However that one failed earlier this year. That was severe problem because the door was locked and I didn't know how to open it. That cost a lot of money including a complete door lock and actuator replacement unit. You do NOT want that to happen. The front doors can be opened when the door is locked, but not the back ones.
Since I had a motor left over from the earlier exercise, I decided to do it myself. As I noted, I followed the guidance given in the video referenced above. One possible problem is the 10mm bolts attaching the outside door handle. They can fall out of the wench's socket if you're not really careful. I wasn't. They were only a coupla bucks from my Lexus dealer, but 1) I had go to the dealer, 2) have it ordered, 3) go back the next day to pick it up. Not a big deal, but... If you buy replacements, buy 3 (that's how many there are in the handle), just in case, and do something with socket to ensure the bolt won't fall out and the socket itself won't come off the wrench extension. They will fall to the bottom of the door and there's no seeing or retrieving them. At least I couldn't.
Anyway I replaced the motor in the actuator housing. The most difficult part was getting the gear off of the old motor shaft. I hadn't bought the gear puller as advised. When I reinstalled the motor, it worked once but then froze. In reflection, I think the problem, and perhaps the original failure, was not the motor but the nylon gears in the actuator might have been worn down or stripped. I didn't have a good one to compare it to.
My solution was to buy a new actuator on eBay for about the same price as the pack of four motors shown above (that's I did the first go-round). But what I got for the extra money was a new motor, new gears, and a new, sealed housing.
For me it was worth it because it wasn't that much more even if I'd had to do all four doors and I didn't (wouldn't) have to bother with cracking the actuator case open and gluing or taping it back together.
This is the eBay seller that I bought the actuator from. I'm not recommending him in particular, but it hasn't failed (it's only been a month). So it falls into the category of "For What It's Worth." http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-FR...72.m2749.l2649
Hello Guys. This is my first post on Club Lexus. Just picked up a 2002 GS300. Anyway, saw this post about replacing the door lock actuator motors. I have not seen any posts that go a step further and fix the motor instead of replacing it. Some guys may prefer to try it instead of buying new motors (even though they are relatively cheap). I have "fixed" GM and Ford motors in the past and it is very simple. All you need to do is separate the motor and find the square copper piece. Then simply wrap it in aluminum foil and put everything back together. There are several you tube videos about repairing the motor. Here is one as an example:
And then you still have an old motor that may fail again. Doesn't seem like it's worth all this work to save 4 bucks.
You have a valid point but I just get more satisfaction from a totally free repair. The hard work is removing the actuator and separating it. Just takes a few more minutes to take the end off the motor and reassemble. My 2004 Yukon actuator motor repair is still going after 4 years with 451,000 miles of total use on the motor.
I just get more satisfaction from a totally free repair.
I'm completely with you on that aspect . I've been known to spend hours repairing something that could have been replaced at a not-so-high a cost, but the satisfaction of the free repair is priceless. So I certainly appreciate that aspect. My point is that it does take some work to get to the motor, and after all that work, it would suck to have to do it again a few weeks or months later. Earlier in this thread I mentioned some of my struggles with cheap Chinese actuators, so I've become convinced that the sweet spot with these particular actuators is to do the work to get to the Mabuchi motor, and then put a brand new Mabuchi in its place. Like I said, for 4 bucks, it's cheap insurance that you won't be doing the job again.
Nonetheless, a tip of the hat to you for the creativity!
Beware of the Chinese actuators they are selling on eBay. I bought one recently to repair the left front door on my 2003 GS430. I have replaced a few motors in the past with no problems, but this time I thought I would try the whole actuator, since they are so cheap, about $13, and would save myself the pain of splitting the box. So after installing the actuator I found that it would not work correctly, and I could not unlock the door using the inside lever.
So I split both the original actuator and the Chinese repop I got off eBay. This is what I found: The original actuator is on the right, the eBay one on the left. You can see that the metal contacts are missing from the eBay actuator compare to the Lexus, and there is no lubrication in the casing. So I installed a new motor in the old case, glued it back together, and my driver's door lock is back in business. I tried contacting the seller on eBay, even sent them these pictures, but got no response. Save your money and just buy the motors.
I replaced mine just a few weeks ago and I found that the hardest part was cracking the shell, so I decided to just buy the actuator off Ebay, instead of buying the motors.
I just purchased the motors with the item number FC-280PC-22125. These are the 10mm flat shaft ones(d shape), will they work on an 01 gs300 or would I need the round shaft ones?
02-13-17, 11:26 AM
. I've been known to spend hours repairing something that could have been replaced at a not-so-high a cost, but the satisfaction of the free repair is priceless. So I certainly appreciate that aspect. My point is that it does take some work to get to the motor, and after all that work, it would suck to have to do it again a few weeks or months later. Earlier in this thread I mentioned some of my struggles with cheap Chinese actuators, so I've become convinced that the sweet spot with these particular actuators is to do the work to get to the Mabuchi motor, and then put a brand new Mabuchi in its place. Like I said, for 4 bucks, it's cheap insurance that you won't be doing the job again.
