Rentzer

My left door unlock quit working with the remote on my 2004 Lexus SC 430.
Finally had a body shop replace it when some other work had to be done.
But now the right door lock has the same problem.
It refuses to operate in very hot weather.
I live in the San Fernando Valley of So. Calif and temperatures hit the 90s +
(It works fine in "normal" weather.)
Does anyone know if there Is a "fix" or must I replace the entire mech?
If it needs to be replaced what should the part cost and is that something I can do myself?

Bob

njoynlife

Welcome to a recurring problem with many of our cars, Rentzer. You PROBABLY have a weak motor in the door lock actuator. Depending on how brave you are, you can attempt the repair yourself. Dealer will charge upwards of $700. You can get by with anything from $0.15 to $100 or so. The replacement of the lock actuator box (the infamous 'black box'--about $100 for a replacement) involves removing the inner door panel and some various and sundry hardware inside the panel. Whether or not you need to remove the window (I did and it made it way easier at the cost of more work to remove the window) still seems to be an open question. If you want to go further and pop open the black box and replace the motor, that will cost you about $15 for a replacement motor. You can go still further by trying to repair the motor--I did that at a cost of next to nothing. I am NOT a mechanic but have pretty good mechanical skills and electrical knowledge. You can go to the thread below to see some of the discussion about this stuff. There is a good youtube video on removing the SC430 door panel. Nothing on removing the window that I have found.

Good Luck!

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...r-removal.html

bb430

iTrader: (1)

Rentzer, you might have a battery that is going weak on you, have it checked from autozone for free. I had similar problem as my door lock on driver side wouldn't fully locked up, I thought the actuator was bad but it turned out I had a battery going dead on me, it was holding 40% charge checked by autozone. It's all well after a new battery.

Rentzer

Thanks to both bb430 and njoynlife. I just put in a new battery a few weeks ago, so that isn't the problem.
And since it only happens in hot weather I am going to go for the weak motor in the door lock actuator.
No way will I have the dealership deal with this. I will look at the utube video on removing the door panel as soon as I can make time to view it. Then If it looks like something I can do, I will get into the black box and probably repair or replace the motor.
As a new member to this forum I am finding it invaluable and everyone so great at helping it is like I am making new friends almost daily.
Bob