Right rear door locks/unlocks intermittently/incompletely. I am aware of the high cost of the OE unit (more than $200) and the inexpensive generic eBay fix. But my thought is that for the problem I am experiencing, it is more likely a mechanical than an electrical problem, and can perhaps be fixed with adjustment and/or lubrication. Any thoughts?

 

No way around it. Actuator is starting to fail.
There is actually a small motor in the actuator that works the lock.
All internally and only comes in assembly.

 

i saw another thread recently on this issue, use the search and im sure youll find it

 

JAB- Hard to diagnose from a hundred ft. away much less as far as I am from you but if I were a betting man i would give you 10 to 1 odds that it is the motor. It's a tiny little hobby motor- made in CHINA! It probably runs a total of about 1 1/2 hours in it's life when you consider it only runs about 1 to 1 1/2 seconds each time it's used. Go the e-bay route and be done with it. I cracked all of them apart on my DIL's RX and though the 2 rear worked a fair amount of the time, the 2 front didn't work and the trunk worked all the time. All 4 of the doors were SHOT. I don't know how the rear ones still worked some of the time because the brushes were simply worn out. Interestingly, though the deck also operates whenever the 3 doors do, it was only about half worn. These are hobby motors folks- it's not much wonder they wear out. The motor is tiny and the brushes are TRULY tiny!

 

Mine front driver side door acted like that in past week. Now it is working normally. My guess is that the water from IKE caused some mechanical issue in the linkages. Now it finally dried out.