genrl

I have a 1998 GS400 and within the last couple of weeks, both of the front doors have stopped responding to locking and locking with either the key remote or the drivers side locking button. The only way the doors can be locked or unlocked is with the key in the actual door exhibiting the failed lock. After a little research, I've learned that this is a problem Lexus is aware of and is not all-too uncommon. It is apparently associated with failures in the door lock actuator and/or solenoid. Others experiencing this problem are getting quotes from Lexus between $400 and $500 to fix, if the car is out of warranty. I would appreciate the group's experience with this issue, as I am preparing to contact Lexus for a resolution for those of us no longer covered under warranty. Thanks for your assistance.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Bob,

Welcome to ClubLexus and sorry you've joined because of a bad experience. Hope you'll stay and check out the forum more going forward after you get this fixed.

One feature on ClubLexus is search (box at top left)... if you'll click on advanced search, put in the keyword 'Actuator' and then select the GS forums at the bottom left you'll get a lot of experiences without waiting for people to respond to this thread.

Edit - I'll add a few of them for you, please try search and you'll find a bunch more.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...light=actuator
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...light=actuator
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...light=actuator

LS4fun

If both front door have stopped working at the same time, i wouldn't suspect BOTH actuators failed at the same time. Its possible but this would surprise me.

I think it probably is related to the driver door button assembly. Did water get in there recently?

genrl

Actually, the drivers door began failing about 2 weeks before the passenger door. There hasn't been any moisture problem that I am aware of.

LS4fun

OK...so it did not really happen at the same time. I guess actuator problems makes sense now!

bluelex

yup its seems like its the new fad now.... i never heard of the word actuator b4 these past 2 weeks and now my passenger door went bad and i've read and heard from about 6 guys that just had this problem happen 2 them...too funny i guess... well not really funny but u know what I mean..

D2-AUTOSPORT

Yeah its funny I never heard of actuator failures, then i test drove my current car, and it was making a funny noise from the pass rear door lock. Came home and looked it up on CL, and viola actuator problems. i have ran across SO many people that have this issue! Even a total stranger in the street, I just walked up to him and said, does your door lock give you trouble? He said, dude, I leave my drivers door unlocked so that I dont have to get in through the passenger side!! LOL

I have a mechanic buddy looking into this for me, if he can get me the part new for 150 (price is usually 200) I will let you guys know, try to help you all out! If he gets me cheaper price used, I let you know as well.

genrl

Well, my local dealer verified my actuator problem and quoted me a price of $350 per actuator, plus $200 per door installation. When I balked, they contacted their Lexus district rep for relief, and that person responded with an offer of supplying the actuators for free if I paid the labor cost. I rejected the offer because: 1. I have now had two sets of actuators fail, if, in fact, they really did replace them the first time. (If the replacements were truly done, why did they fail again?)
2. These actuators have a cost to Lexus exponentially lower than what they sell them for. In the mean time, I am expected to pay a rediculous shop rate, padded by more time than what is truly required to replace these actuators.
3. Lexus has had a known problem with these actuators, and evidently their "fix" isn't very effective. I can understand the failure of one, but not two within weeks of each other.

I have always played by the book with Lexus. I've never complained about their overpriced service and I've never shorted the maintenance requirements of the vehicle. I expect Lexus to stand behind its product, especially when it has acknowledged the problem.

LS4fun

That sounded like a good savings....you may want to reconsider?

LuxuryRacing

Man, what sup with this problem?! My driver's actuator has gone out like 2 years ago and got replaced under warrenty, but now my front passenger's actuator is acting up. It's not completely dead yet, just sometimes it'll lock and sometimes it won't. Lexus blamed this bad actuator for one of my keys not being able to roll down the windows when I hold down the open button. But that doesn't make sense since the other key could make it roll...hmmmm....anyways, I read from an old posting that you can replace it with some other aftermarket brand and it'll just do fine....is that true? I opened my door panel to examine where it was and sure thing....it seems like kinda hard to get to. Hidden behind some sheet metal. Also there's a black plastic piece that the end of my cable link that's broken, so that's also why my door won't look fully. Well, I hope Lexus does a full recall for this and other common issues that most of us are having....low idle for example.

John

genrl

Manuel, on the surface Lexus' offer looks good, and they would have me believe that. After all, they're ponying up with $700 worth of free actuators for a car out of warranty. But when you examine their offer, they are "giving" me components that have a cost to them of around $100, and "selling" me a service that is grossly overpriced. It's similar to a store marking up its pricing and then having a 50% off sale. But the main issue is, these components have an acknowledged fault and need to be replaced for what is now the third time - where does it end? When the back door locks fail, or when these fail again, will I be expected to continue to fund the Lexus annuity for replacement parts? There is obviously some inherent design or manufacturing flaw for this high a component failure rate. Lexus acknowledged this early on when it instituted the actuator recall campaign.

jucee187

Did Lexus really instituted an actuator recall? How do I Know if mine has been corrected? I purchased my GS used.

LudEcrous

i'm bringing this up from the dead...cause my drivers side door locks don't work with the switch anymore or the remote.

Did Lexus really institute this recall for the early 1998 GS400's??? I called lexus customer service and she couldn't find any recall on the actuators for my vin#

Does anybody have any info on this? Thanks.

Indio

iTrader: (1)

This is a widespread problem for Lexus, just replaced the driver door actuator on my ES to the tune of 466 dollars, the part went out all together and the door wouldn't open at all.

genrl

I finally had my actuator fixed at a local independent repair center - their charge was about $200 less than the Lexus dealership, using an hour less labor at a rate $30/hour less than what the dealership would have charged me for. Quite frankly, if anyone has an independent shop they trust (or can get good references on), I'd try them out, once your wheeles are out of warranty. The shop I used had quite a few Bimmers, Mercedes, and Lexuses in their bays, and they've earned my business.