LS 430 Door Lock Actuator Tutorial

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Jul 4, 2020 | 10:53 AM

#376

Bocatrip

Lead Lap

Joined: May 2006

Posts: 3,682

Likes: 304

After over 10 years of ownership... All my original actuators on my 2001 are still intact. Although my driver's door did act up last summer for a few days, it is still working fine. I'm sure the day will come, and the info on this forum will be helpful for my Indy who will be taking care of it for me.I'm currently at 150,000 miles.

Jul 19, 2021 | 05:18 AM

#377

masnoom162

Driver School Candidate

Joined: Jul 2021

Posts: 8

Likes: 2

From: Texas

Quote:

Originally Posted by BMW7_LS430

I just fixed mine with a $6 motor. I ordered 2 just in case to have one as a back up.
While I was researching my options I had come across $900+ price for the actuator that goes with automatic door closure LS430 but I can't find the reference now. I did a quick search again and your price sounds more correct (Checked rockauto).

Hi, Not sure if you are still around but I tried to fix mine and the actuator got stuck somewhere around the handle. Any tricks to get it out? It was really easy the first time. Thanks.

The 6$ motor seems to work fine if we can hook everything correctly.

Jul 20, 2021 | 05:35 PM

#378

Havabrain

Driver School Candidate

Joined: Jul 2021

Posts: 3

Likes: 0

From: Az

Answer to Grinding noise after motor replacement

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy B

I get a gear grinding sound sometimes when the door locks or unlocks. All parts seem to move freely, until gear sounds starts. Then the lock seems to get binded up and is very hard to move manually from inside the car.

Any thoughts?

Randy B

The plastic motor housing coming loose from motor use.. I used J.B. weld Plastic Bonder to seal house. 5 small drops Incase I have to reopen in future.. reinstalled..left unpluged over night. Problem fixed. Tried to use after time limit package says it cures... Doesn't cut it.. let sit over night..

Jul 20, 2021 | 05:50 PM

#379

masnoom162

Driver School Candidate

Joined: Jul 2021

Posts: 8

Likes: 2

From: Texas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Havabrain

The motor is not the problem. The housing is stuck in the door and it won’t come out no matter what so what could be holding it. It is stuck at the top towards the outer side of the door. Using my fingers I cannot find anything that is stuck together. The motor part is fixed and we know about the rattle but since it did not really unlock the door but the motor whirred like crazy we know the motor works. Also did you notice there being another pin sitting in that housing by itself?

Jul 21, 2021 | 07:36 AM

#380

Havabrain

Driver School Candidate

Joined: Jul 2021

Posts: 3

Likes: 0

From: Az

sounds to me - the metal shaft that clips in the hole for when you manual lock for unlock is probably not in place and caught or wedged somewhere - this is a silver, maybe tin rod with just a snap clip that holds it in a hole for the manual lock and unlock lever.

with window all the way up and plastic dust cover pulled down - you should have pretty clear access with flash light to see. if you have removed the 2 black window guide bolts and all 5 T30 star screws, there is only a little nubbin that holds in at the bottom T30 screw hole. if you push up from door latch itself, it should free up.

Jul 25, 2021 | 06:11 PM

#381

masnoom162

Driver School Candidate

Joined: Jul 2021

Posts: 8

Likes: 2

From: Texas

How did you take it back out

Quote:

Originally Posted by nautica602

Just did the install with mabuchi motor from ebay. I ran into a problem though. It works fine locking, but when I unlock there is a grinding noise. I installed and reinstalled the acutator around 5 times double checking my work....same problem. Epoxied everything back to together, and still got the grinding noise. Any suggestions? If not, I will just fork out the $180 for a new one on ebay.

mine is stuck and wont come out. Do you have a trick to take it back out. I cant seem to see where it is stuck.

Jul 25, 2021 | 06:57 PM

#382

masnoom162

Driver School Candidate

Joined: Jul 2021

Posts: 8

Likes: 2

From: Texas

Do you think it is that black screw in the white plastic? Is that what could be stuck, but where? The door handle moves out from the outside without an issue. Going to post some other photos.

Feb 19, 2023 | 07:47 PM

#383

323spicy

Driver

Joined: Feb 2023

Posts: 85

Likes: 11

From: CA

Actuator works, manual works but feel is not correct

What I observed before:
My left rear actuator was making the machine-gun sound and then became stuck. I found that:

The previous repair was made with weak adhesive.
The part of the cover side of the actuator case that receives the big gear's shaft has been enlarged.
The boss/nub on the actuator lever, which is pushed by the radial "walls" inside the big white gear, had skipped over said walls. In the correct (I think, from other pics and videos) configuration, the wall is concave relative to the boss, so it cradles it as it pushes. But in my actuator's configuration, the wall is convex relative to the nub, so it was pushing only on a single point.

What I did:
I pulled the actuator lever away from the big gear, then rotated the big gear back to the correct (I think) configuration. Then I sealed the case with cyanoacrylate and reassembled everything.

What I observe now:
Now the actuator is working perfectly, but the manual door lock lever doesn't feel right. When I do a power unlock and then lock the door manually, the lever doesn't travel quite as far as it should. It has a springy feel: I can push it further but then it will return to its not-far-enough position. And it doesn't feel snappy.

However, it still works. I can lock and unlock the door manually.

My question:
What could be causing this? Is it related to the "return to neutral" spring discussed in comment #258 of this post?

Am I overstressing some part of the system when I manually lock/unlock the door?

Is it a reasonable workaround to avoid operating the lock manually until I have time to take it apart again? Or are the power actuations somehow causing damage too?

Thanks!