shwalker07

Im glad you found the right one with the 4 pins. They must of just started making the 4 pin ones for the passenger rear because I could not find this for a good price anywhere about 1 month ago. Only the 2 and 6 pin ones were available on ebaymotors. I bought the small motors for the DIY but the motors were reversed polarity and were no good as the door would lock when you unlock it and unlock when you lock it so i got a new OEM actuator but great information.

kamlung

iTrader: (8)

my rear is manually binding after a few cycles... doesn't seem like the gear is resetting itself to home... during disassembly, the gear and spring flew off and when i put the spring back in, i didn't install it with tension... i will try to fix the spring this week...

lexo98

iTrader: (2)

I just did a couple more actuators yesterday. Just like stated before on the rears no need to remove windows or door handles. I had them out in 5-10 minutes each. We did only 1 front door, the passenger front and did not remove the window or door handle. For a first timer the door handle probably needs to come out, but after doing a few I didn't need to.

Alexus_300

iTrader: (4)

so i have a problem after replacing all 4 actuator. whenever i go to close the driver side door, all four windows and sunroof would open. I've checked all the connections to make sure I didn't pinch a wire. what could be the cause of this problem?

Roxydog

Just a ques for lexo98.... If you don't mind where approximately in ca. are you located. I'm in central ca. And am looking to see if someone near by could do these locks for me.... Of course I know there will be a cost.... Thanks

speedkar9

You've got a short in the the door unlock detection switch that tells the computer the key is holding in the unlock position. Holding the key normally in the unlock position is a feature that allows you to roll down the windows and sunroof to air out the car on a hot day before entering.

Alexus_300

iTrader: (4)

Where is this door lock detection switch located? Is it part of the actuator itself or is it a separated unit found elsewhere inside the door?

speedkar9

I'm not exactly sure on the GS300 but on my Solara the actuator motor, gears and detection switch is located within a black housing

BayAreaLex

I'm confused on the motor shaft for my 2001 GS430 (rear pass side)

I see different shaft lengths, different shaft shape, yet the part number is all the same??

Can someone steer me in the right direction and point me to the right motor with the right shaft length/shape

Thanks

lexo98

iTrader: (2)

[QUOTE=BayAreaLex;9189253]I'm confused on the motor shaft for my 2001 GS430 (rear pass side)

I see different shaft lengths, different shaft shape, yet the part number is all the same??

Can someone steer me in the right direction and point me to the right motor with the right shaft length/shape

Thanks[/QUOTE

10mm round shaft.

BayAreaLex

[QUOTE=lexo98;9189637]Excellent, thank you sir!

LexusK

iTrader: (14)

Have 2 motors just sitting in my car waiting to be replaced but been too lazy to do it. Will probably tackle it soon. Does anyone know if having a Viper alarm will cause any kind of trouble during the reassembly portion of the DIY?

Also, what is the most current/quickest method of removing the front and rears? Way too many pages to sift through. If anything I'll just follow the youtube vids. Thanks in advance!

lexo98

iTrader: (2)

I would definetly get familiar with that video. When you read through these threads keep this in mind. For the fronts only the door panel and outside door handle need to be removed. DO NOT remove the window just make sure it's rolled up. If you get really familiar with the rods and clips that attach the actuator assembly to the outside door handle you might not even need to remove the handle. On the rears after you remove the door panel and screws holding the actuator assembly in place make sure the child safety lock switch is in the off position and that the cable with the black end is in the unlocked position. Then pull on the cable with the clear end and the actuator assembly will fall down into the door and it comes right out. Also I would probably disconnect the battery. I had all the windows roll down on my once and I'm not sure why.

lyonkster

Wanted to offer an important tip to save others the numerous hours I spent trying to figure out the problem I had after replacing my actuator motor.

If you cannot manually unlock the door after the motor replacement then read on...

I had previously replaced three motors with no problems, so this was the last one (passenger front). The actuator seemed to work fine after the repair, but I eventually noticed that it was difficult to unlock the passenger door using the manual door lock lever. It unlocked just fine electrically, and if it was locked manually I could unlock it manually - but if it was locked electrically, I could not unlock it manually.

I read this entire thread again (all 1000+ posts), and found close to half dozen folks having the same issue, but not one had a solution posted.

So I contacted a great guy on ebay (Lenny), store named actuatorsplus, who sells rebuilt actuator assemblies. I figured he must know how these things work. He explained to me some of the subtleties of these actuators, including how the big white gear is supposed to move and what it does. As others have said, the white gear is bidirectional, it rotates CW or CCW when the motor commands it to, but then needs to rotate back to the neutral position with the help of the spring under the white gear. I noticed that my white gear rotated back after CCW motor rotation, but not after CW. Because of that, it was nearly impossible to manually move the unlock lever.

After scratching my head for an hour trying to figure out why the gear did not want to rotate backwards, I reread Lenny's email to me - he said that most of the issues he sees are due to the collar being pressed too far or not enough on the motor shaft.

So I looked at my assembly more closely, and found the problem. When the big gear tries to unload with the help of the spring, it needs to backdrive the worm gear and the motor. What I saw in my assembly was that when the gear tried to rotate CCW, the worm gear moved towards the motor (like it was supposed to), but the motion was excessive and allowed the worm gear to contact the portion of the housing that separates the worm gear from the motor. I circled the region in red below, with a screwdriver pressing on the worm gear to mimic the white gear unloading CCW (this is AFTER I fixed the problem - before, the worm gear actually rubbed on the housing, causing the stall):

[

I looked at the motor assembly, and indeed the collar was pushed too far onto the shaft, as shown below:



While the motor shaft was able to rotate just fine, when this assembly was installed in the actuator, the worm gear bottomed out on the housing, as shown above. So I moved the collar up the shaft a bit, till it looked like this:



With this change, when the white gear tried to unload, the worm gear did not contact the housing (as shown in the first photo) and it was free to rotate smoothly.

So, the bottom line:

When installing the collar on the new shaft, be sure to not push it on too far. Take measurements on the original assembly, and put the collar in same spot on the new shaft.

This tip does show up in one of the posts, but without the explanation of what happens if you don't. Now I (and you) know .

vr4/sc400

Awsome write-up and pics Leon

- Lenny