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Trying to repair the sliding door locking device

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tjeepman
226K views 135 replies 83 participants last post by  GamFam12 
#1 ·
Passenger side slider buzzed a bit last year, a sure sign something was up. Sure enough, the lock/unlock device failed a few months later. Manually locking/unlocking worked, but what a paid.

I took it aprt today to see if it was something that I could fix... in short, no. Here are some pictures and procedures however.

First- I loosened the 3 torx screws on the back (rear facing) side of the door, these 3 are around the latching mechanism.

Then from inside, with the door partially closed, I popped off the door panel- use a screw driver to start popping 1 location, make your way around to pop off about 10 other plastic push-ins. You may break 1 or 2, you can buy replacements. You have to unscrew the juice box holder on top first.

You will see a black/plastic dust cover stuck on the metal, once you remove the panel. I could not fully remove it without undoing some more bolts, so I just folded it over it as its on the other side of the door anyways.

With the door closed, and you inside, you can pull out the whole locking mechanism which has a motor and other stuff all in one piece. you will need to remove a styrofoam piece, and undo the lock bar- pull back a holder, a the rod comes out of its holder. Slide the whole piece out, undo the power lock wiring harness (carefully).

I checked the 4 pins for power- sure enough, 1 pin goes HOT when the lock is pressed to lock, another pin goes HOT when you unlock. Wire 3, I do not know what up with that, wire 4 was a ground, which had connectivity. I was pretty sure that I had no line cuts, so I continued with the removal.

There is a small torx screw holding the locking actuator to the other things there. I now tested the locking device with a 12V battery. Little, or no movement so I was on the right path.

I took apart the actuator (picture 1 below), and exposed the guts (picture 2). I popped out the motor (picture 3) and played with that for a bit to see if it was the motor. Sure enough, it was. The motor turned for 1-2 seconds, then stopped. Could be a diode, a current limiter, anything. So I popped the cover, and there was a lot of carbon & scortching (picture 4 below). Time to replace.

Since is Sunday, and nothing is open, I put the van back together, the door is in LOCK mode, so I am safe till tomorrow.

If I think about it, I will take pictures of the process to remove/replace this actuator.







 
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#28 ·
Ron- I had a 2002 ES AWD at the time. I have since sold this.

Regarding the rear pop-out window motors, on my 96, I took those apart too- they are heat staked together (plastic weld), easy enough to pop open. Inside, there were small round "things"- either diodes or resistors. They looked like small buttons, reall small, not like a standard tube shaped electronic device. I think I bypassed those, and it worked.

The hard part was pushing the window pin through the motor. It was a plastic pin if I recall. Its been 10 years. :(

S
 
#29 ·
I finally got around to doing my driver's side sliding door today. I bought the motor replacement from Active Surplus as recommended by others on this site and had them waiting for several months. As described the job is not difficult ( be sure to try the actuator before assembling the actuator to the door) (I had to take apart the actuator and reassemble, then everything worked fine) I did push out the toothed shaft that the actuator lever is mounted to on the second try because I suspect it was binding inside. This time all worked well. Reassembled and all is well after about 4 years of intermittent and lately no remote unlock or lock. This is on a 2001 T&C. Thanks to all who have dealt with this issue and posted. Now if we can find a real fix for the rear hatch intermittent and no open.
 
#30 ·
Yet another success story! Ordered my set of DC motors from Active Surplus like the rest... I ordered them on May 31st and they arrived on June 5th. And I live nowhere near Canada (I live in North Texas).

The hardest part was getting the gear off of the old motor. I was scared that I would destroy it getting it off, so I locked onto the white plastic piece with a pair of vice grips and pulled really hard, thus using the force of the white plastic piece to separate the gear from the motor spindle (as opposed to locking onto the gear itself and potentially boogering it up)

The only other trick is to make sure that the spring on the assembly with the "large gear" is aligned properly as indicated above. Mine wasn't quite right, so, after putting the large gear assembly back, I applied ample downward force to keep it seated, turned the gear until it bound up, and then forced it to turn a bit further until it locked into place. Presto!
 
#31 ·
still having problems.

OK, to answer previous question: My van is a 2007 T&C withOUT powered doors. The original motor in my actuator is the FC-280SC-20150. At first I bought the FC-280PT-20150 motor from active surplus per Cody's suggestion but I think he must have had a different model year because that definitely didn't work - the shaft comes out the wrong end for what I need.

So then after reading some other forums and looking at some motor specs, I took a chance and bought a FC-280PC-22125 from ebay ( I think it was about $12 after shipping). I thought it would be a slightly higher torque equivalent to my motor. I finally got the gear off my old motor by baking it in the oven at 400 for about 25 minutes then I was able to pry it off. I think there was some epoxy or something in there that I broke loose after heating it up. With the gear in hand and some JB Weld, I was ready to seal the deal.

I'm getting good at taking the door panel off and getting the acutator in and had it back up and running in about 30 minutes. Then the problem presented itself - I think the motor spins the wrong way. When I hit the "lock" button, the door unlocks and vice-versa. After spending a couple hours staring at it, I've determined that the motor spins Counterclockwise when the lock button is pressed, and it needs to spin Clockwise, so I don't think the FC-280PC-22125 is not a direct replacement for the FC-280SC-20150.

Anybody know where I can get a FC-280SC-20150 or true equivalent? I'm back at the motor search now and am wondering if anybody else has the same issue. Not sure if it matters, but this door is the drivers side door.

Thanks.
 
#97 ·
Alternative Solution

OK, to answer previous question: My van is a 2007 T&C withOUT powered doors. The original motor in my actuator is the FC-280SC-20150. At first I bought the FC-280PT-20150 motor from active surplus per Cody's suggestion but I think he must have had a different model year because that definitely didn't work - the shaft comes out the wrong end for what I need.

So then after reading some other forums and looking at some motor specs, I took a chance and bought a FC-280PC-22125 from ebay ( I think it was about $12 after shipping). I thought it would be a slightly higher torque equivalent to my motor. I finally got the gear off my old motor by baking it in the oven at 400 for about 25 minutes then I was able to pry it off. I think there was some epoxy or something in there that I broke loose after heating it up. With the gear in hand and some JB Weld, I was ready to seal the deal.

I'm getting good at taking the door panel off and getting the acutator in and had it back up and running in about 30 minutes. Then the problem presented itself - I think the motor spins the wrong way. When I hit the "lock" button, the door unlocks and vice-versa. After spending a couple hours staring at it, I've determined that the motor spins Counterclockwise when the lock button is pressed, and it needs to spin Clockwise, so I don't think the FC-280PC-22125 is not a direct replacement for the FC-280SC-20150.

Anybody know where I can get a FC-280SC-20150 or true equivalent? I'm back at the motor search now and am wondering if anybody else has the same issue. Not sure if it matters, but this door is the drivers side door.

Thanks.

Why don't you just cut the two brown wires that are in the connector and splice them backwards? That would compensate for the reversal, since the electronic circuit that feeds the lock simply applies power in one polarity to lock and the other polarity to unlock. If you do this simple patch, and then tag it with a note for any future mechanic, you should be fine. The note should say something like, "NOTE: THIS IS THE WRONG REPLACEMENT MOTOR AND TURNS BACKWARDS. THE FEED WIRES HAVE BEEN REVERSED TO COMPENSATE". For all the trouble it is to fix the problem, this is the best solution, and if you tag your work properly, no future mechanic will have trouble or fault you for it. That's my humble opinion anyway. I'm just in the middle of fixing my own lock (same motor as you, same vehicle I think) and I was searching for motors. Do you have any idea if the motor is available with the worm already pressed onto it? I'm not looking forward to having to deal with that aspect of the repair. :(
-gt-
 
#35 · (Edited)
Update on my 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan with powered sliding doors.

I ordered a couple of the Mabuchi FC-280PT-20150 motors, but from a different vendor than Cody and others used (see notes below). When I ordered them, I still wasn't absolutely sure which motors my van had. Note, it's still hard to say for certain whether the different Mabuchi motor models are a function of model year or powered sliding doors.

This past Saturday, I yanked the door panel and actuator, opened the actuator (using a very small size Allen wrench, I didn't pay attention to the exact size, but I think it was metric), and sure enough, there was the now famous Mabuchi FC-280PT-20150 motor! I swapped out the motor, wrestled for a few minutes with the aforewarned big black gear (see sidebar below), replaced the actuator and the locks are back in business.

NOTES on the Mabuchi motor:
- Be very careful pulling the brass gear off the old motor. It's relatively delicate, and I almost damaged it beyond usability trying to get it off the motor shaft. The duct tape idea mentioned above by Cody is probably a good idea while pulling the gear off the motor shaft! I think this step is more critical than the aforewarned big black gear!
- KUDOS TO CODY on posting the model number of the DC motor and how easy it is to find them.
- The Mabuchi FC-280PT-20150 turns out to be a very common hobby DC motor. I actually found it in a nearby hobby store, but it was about $12 per motor.
- I found them from a US-based vendor on Ebay, and was able to order 2 of them for $11 with shipping (less than 1 motor from the local hobby store).
- I now have a spare motor for when the next actuator that goes out.
- Also, KUDOS to BrodyB for his great photos of his 2002! They looked exactly like my 2006!

SIDEBAR for black gear:
- The big black gear is not a huge deal, it turns out to be relatively simple to put the gear back in.
- The main trick with it is to make sure the sliding pin is located in the middle of the screw-shaft when you set the hooks of the return spring.
- The Mabuchi will reverse it's direction, turning the screw-shaft one way or the other, depending on whether it's locking or unlocking. Therefore the slider must start in the middle of the screw-shaft. It was actually pretty easy to re-set it.

My next project - dealing with the passenger side (powered) sliding door. It's gotten very temperamental on whether it will shut itself or not and at this point is basically functioning as a manual door (except it takes significantly more force to shut than a purely manual door). Seems like it may be a flaky switch or relay, when it does work, the motor seems fine.
 
#36 ·
I just installed the "Mabuchi FC-280PT-20150 High RPM" Motor from Activesurplus.com ($1.50us) in the driver's side sliding door of my 2003 Grand Caravan Sport.

The problem I was having was the elec. lock would not always operate (intermittent). It worked fine manually.

A couple of points:
- I used Star Pits sizes T8 & T15 for the actuator screws.
- The gear slid off the old motor/shaft easily after heating it briefly with a torch (oven would work). Easy on the heat, the gear melts quickly.
- I placed a T40 bit over the shaft/gear on the new motor to push the old gear onto the new shaft. The hole in the center of the bit allowed the shaft to come through thus pushing the gear down closer to the motor body.
- I did not deal at all with the black wheel and springs as others mentioned. I just opened the actuator, popped out the old motor, switched the toothed gear to the new motor's shaft, pushed the new motor back in place = DONE!
- There was no need to take the 3 torx screw in back edge of door out that hold the latch. I just removed door panel, folded back the black rubber sheeting and removed the 1 screw holding the actuator. Disconnected the 1 elec connector, metal bar, and removed the actuator as described in above post.
- The toughest part of the whole project was getting the door panel back on.

Thanks again for all of the earlier post...couldn't have done it without ya!!!!!
 
#37 ·
I have a 2006 Chrysler with non power doors. My motors have the screw type gear. Maybe Chrysler switched vendors part way through 2006? Here's a pic of my setup.

I took the part number that was printed on the motor and Googled it (FC-280SC-20150). I found the Mabuchi tech sheet here: http://www.mabuchi-motor.co.jp/en_US/cat_files/fc_280pcsc.pdf All four of the motors listed have the same physical size, so every one will drop into the housing. I googled each number and the only motors that I could find were the FC-280PC-22125. These motors have slightly more torque than stock, so I figured they would be okay.
I removed the gear from my old motor by heating with a torch, then prying it up. This worked well.
The new motors had a slightly shorted shaft and were not splined like the old motors. I roughed up the shaft so the epoxy would stick. Then I marked the shaft to where the gear needed to be. (Since the shaft was shorter, I was concerned that I'd put the gear too far down.)
Hard to see in this pic, but this is where I marked it.

Next picture is with the epoxy and the gear installed. I was nervous that this would hold, so I also took a pair of channel locks and squeezed the end. The gear is brass (soft) and my goal was to pinch it on the shaft.

I installed this in my van and just like the poster above (BrodyB), the lock worked opposite from the rest. The other thing that happened is that now the manual lock will not work. I took apart the module a second time and the spring under the big gear had come off its tang.
Here's picture of the spring:

I fixed that, but once back together it did it again. But since I got the electric to work, I won't worry about that for now.
To fix the directional issue, I swapped the wires going into the connector. This was a bit of a hassle.

It's hard to get the wires out of the connector, but I didn't want to cut and splice the wires. So others can learn, this is how I did it:

First, I removed the yellow cover. There are two small slots on the top that span one of sockets. It's hard to describe, but if you could insert some SMALL tweezers in there and pinch, the cover would release. I just man handled it off- uh, carefully. Second, I took a flat bladed eye glass screwdriver (small!) and pushed it in above the sockets and levered the screwdriver down. this released the wire and it pulled out the back. I swapped the two wires and viola! It worked.
The only issue I'm having now is that the lock won't work manually. I'm not really sure why other than the spring popping off its tang and I can't figure out how that's happening. Anyone have ideas on that? Otherwise, it's fixed for now and I thought it would be helpful for others.
 
#38 ·
Do you have the rod hooked back up to that turquoise tab? If you move the lever where the tab is by hand, does it lock it?
 
#40 ·
Dart,
I have a 2006 T&C Touring 3.8L V6 with power doors & did the same as you step by step down to the FC-280PC-22125 from Ebay & my results were exactly the same. I cannot manually unlock nor open the door; the only alternative is to open the door automatically via the remote.
The only difference I can see is the combination of the wires switched in the connector. Dart, you mentioned you have 2 wires going to the back of the connector, well I have 4 with the power doors. While holding the connector in hand identical to your picture with the yellow cover facing you, going right to left I have black/yellow, orange/blue stripe, peach/light blue stripe, & peach/dark blue stripe. I switched the peach/light blue with the peach/dark blue & was able to reverse polarity. As of right now I'm satisfied that we can fully lock the vehicle again but it is a pain in the arse that we can't manually unlock or open the passenger sliding door.
 
#41 ·
It works!

Just wanted to write in to confirm. I purchased a 2 pack of those motors, I did the rear left door this morning, took about an hour from start to finish. Motor replacement was very straightforward, using a bench vise made the job very easy.

Thanks again Form for saving me $$$ Easy fix. And I have one more when the right rear door decides to go.
 
#42 ·
Hey everyone, new to this forum. I am having a rough go with my 2001 caravan SE locks. The issues I am having, and maybe someone can assist.

1) when I open the doors with electric switch, all knobs go up, When I use the switch to lock them, the knobs do not go down and lock?.
2) sometimes, complete random door will not be able to open with the key? Why?
3) the driver sliding door will not open with power alone , nor will it lift manually without first using the electric switch? it also make a horrible noise when locking.
4) can you disconnect the power doors so they they will just be used manually?

Thanks for any help available!


Chris
 
#43 ·
I have a lovely 2002, that is nearing 193k miles. What can I say, it is a beast of a minivan!

I am also having a lovely problem with the sliding door. It is located on the passenger side. My problem is, one the door will NOT unlock. It does not matter what I do, I can not get it to unlock. I have read about removing the bumper housing (the lovely plastic piece) and getting to it that way. I going to try that later on this afternoon. I have to go get my kids first.

I am wondering, is their anyway to just disconnect the motor, and turn it into a manual door. I really don't enjoy the whole power sliding thing, it takes too long for the door to close. Also, do I need to buy a part to fix the lock, or can that also be converted to manual as well. As the lock on the drivers side no longer works with the power locks anyways. You can still lock the door and unlock it by pulling up or pushing down.

I really don't have a whole lot of cash right now, it is a little over 25F outside and in order to do work on this thing, I have to do it outside. I'd like to one day fix the doors, but not when it is cold and snowing. I just like for them to work until the spring time, when it gets warmer.

Thanks for any assistance to my problem.
 
#64 ·
Make the door MAUAL

:blink::cool:I would just unscrew the black cover over the lower front mechanism. It has ONLY 2 PHILIPS screws. Step 2 - remove the thicker cable from the conector - it is the mechanism that turns the GEAR to the flat teeth under the door. This would make the small "gear-box" no longer use the cable from the motor and clutch and the door is very easy to open and close now. Than put back the black plastic cover and 2 PHILIPS screews. Test if it works. If not, you must remove the gear and the little "gear-box" in step 2. Have a great day. Tony
 
#44 ·
My drivers side sliding door repeatedly trys to lock and fails. I hope this is the answer.

KC.
 
#45 ·
As has been mentioned several times, this forum thread has been very helpful and has given valuable information on the sliding door topic. I just replaced the lock actuator and sliding door motor on the RH Side (Passenger Side) of my 2006 Chrysler T&C Touring (which is equipped with the powered doors). The lock actuator on this door was not like the photos seen earlier that used the Mabuchi FC-280PT-20150. It had the motor shaft coming out of the opposite end from the photos and I found that the motor had the FC-280SC-20150 part number. I replaced the complete assembly because I did not have the correct motor, but I have found what I believe is an equivalent motor listed on Ebay. I reviewed the Mabuchi website and found that the FC-280PC-22125 motor is very similar to the FC-280SC-20150 which was in the original assembly. The motor dimensions (length, shaft length and diameter, width, etc) are identical to the correct 20150. The 22125 has a slightly higher "no load" speed (12500 vs 11800 RPM) and a slightly higher current draw (.71 amps vs .56 amps) along with a slightly higher torque (4.76 vs 4.14 mN-m) listed on their website. I have ordered one of the FC-280PC-22125 motors and will install it in the lock actuator assembly for a spare.

The cost on Ebay was $6.74 plus $1.99 shipping, so I haven't wasted too much if it doesn't work. It looks like it should be an acceptable replacement for the 20150.

On the topic of gear removal, I have seen other replies where a small amount of heat was applied to the base end of the gear to help with removal. I haven't tried that yet, but do plan to use a little heat on the base of the gear. The caution is not to get the gear too hot to cause distortion or damage.

Regards,
Dave
 
#46 ·
On the topic of gear removal, I have seen other replies where a small amount of heat was applied to the base end of the gear to help with removal. I haven't tried that yet, but do plan to use a little heat on the base of the gear. The caution is not to get the gear too hot to cause distortion or damage.

Regards,
Dave
I just replaced one of my lock motors last week, just my luck it was on the passenger side where I had to remove the latch assembly to get at that one mounting screw. :angry1:

Anyway, I'd not worry too much about removing the old motor's gear. Mine seemed to be a durable metal (for some reason I thought it was plastic)and came off rather easily by simply prying between the motor case and gear with increasingly bigger screwdrivers until I had room for needle nose pliers...that finished the job.

I used a vice to press the gear onto the splined shaft of the new motor.



The most difficult part of the job for me was lining up the plastic anchors on the door panel...they kept wanting to slip out of place as I anchored one side, then the other...but I prevailed... :biggrin:

PS Might have been easier to remove the seat near the door :blink: ...oh well. :headbange
 
#47 ·
I also replaced my passenger side lock actuator last week (07 T&C Touring w/power doors). The failed motor was the famous and unobtainable FC-280SC-20150. Ebay listed that number but the one I received was not the same, it turned the wrong direction. Even after swapping input wires, it still did not work properly. After about 3 power lock/unlock cycles, it would jam the manual lock knob. Nothing I tried would prevent the jam from happening. Eventually I just ordered a new actuator from rockauto.com, it was about $40.

Prying the gear off the shaft worked for me as well, with no gear damage.

Knowing that I will have to do this again in a few years, I took a 5/8 drill bit and made a hole in the door to access that one Torx screw. Now I don't have to mess with removing the whole latch assembly. The hole is not visible when the interior panel is on. I would recommend you prime and paint that area after drilling though, just in case any moisture gets up there.
 
#48 ·
Since I last posted in this thread, the new motor started spinning freely in the worm gear. Previously, I used JB weld to "attach" the gear to the motor. So that didn't work. After some research I decided to try Loctite 680.

This stuff is made for fixing parts on shafts. I got it from McMaster.com you don't need that much - it's expensive.
I roughed up the motor shaft with some 80 grit. Then cleaned with rubbing alcohol.

Then applied the Loctite. And pushed the gear on. One telling thing was the gear didn't just slip on like before, there was some force needed.

I let it set up 24 hours just to be safe. I'll report back if it stops working

Also saw where you can buy the entire assembly on Rockauto for $36. So if this doesn't work, I'll go that route.
 
#49 ·
I just replaced my passenger side locking motor with a ton of help from this thread. I have a 2006 GC SXT with power doors. My motor was the dreaded "SC" with the worm gear. I got one cheap off ebay and in the end had to swap the 2 connectors as 'dartslantsix' posted because it was reverse polarity for what was needed. The worm wasnt a very snug fit on the new shaft so I mangled it up a bit with some vise grips.

For those with problems with the manual locking, be sure that when you reinstall the assembly that "roller pin" on the door mechanism fits into the curved oblong piece of the assembly when you maneuver it into place. I had that problem at first then found out this fixed the problem.

I also took a 3/8" drill bit and drilled me a hole in the door sheet metal to get at the allen screw that holds the assembly to the rest of the mechanism
 
#50 ·
For those with problems with the manual locking, be sure that when you reinstall the assembly that "roller pin" on the door mechanism fits into the curved oblong piece of the assembly when you maneuver it into place. I had that problem at first then found out this fixed the problem.
Thanks for the tip. I'll check that soon.

Well, the Loctite didn't work. In fact, it didn't work even the first time. I think I'm at my wit's end, so I'm ordering the new rockauto part.
 
#54 · (Edited)
I bought two of the surplus motors & scattered the actuator on Saturday. Sadly, my motors had long output shafts on other end, and my gear was an inch long brass worm gear solidly affixed, and actuator guts looked nothing like examples shown here.
(2006 T&C)

I can scatter original motor & two others and come up with right output shaft in working body, but then need to change plastic end where brushes & electrical contacts are. This operation was not as smooth for me as others have found it. I bid an oem actuator on the 'the bay' for $74 delivered. The above information was helpful for basic actuator removal though.
 
#55 ·
I just installed the new Dorman actuator from Rock Auto. It was about $40 and is working great now. My Ebay motor in the oem housing somehow jammed up and the door wouldn't unlock at all. Anyway, I'm all fixed up now. I'm also glad that an aftermarket supplier stepped up and is offering a cheaper part.
 
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