F250 Power Door Lock Blues

Recently the power door locks on my F-250 Super Duty have begun to misbehave.  It started with the drivers door, which would occasionally not lock or unlock with either the door switch or the remote.  That condition has gotten worse, and now some of the other door locks are not behaving either.

After reading on this subject a little, I think it is the power door lock actuators which are worn or failing.  The replacement parts look pretty expensive, and that’s not even counting having anyone work on it.  So, I found some actuators online for $5 a piece (vs. $35 for the typical part).  I ordered some and I’m going to give this a try.  Even if they all fail, four of them were cheaper than a single one of the other part, so I think it’s worth attempting.  I have had to read up on how to get to the actuator, which involves taking the door panel off the inside.  It doesn’t sound too bad so long as I’m careful not to break anything when I’m prying some of the parts open/off.

More later with how it all went when I get around to it….

[Update 12/26]

The brother-in-law said yesterday that sometimes the physical devices in the door get dirty and need to be cleaned and lubricated to make them work.  Seems odd that multiple of them would get that dirty at the same time, and I still think it’s actuator problems, but it will be something to look at when I pop the door cover before replacing anything.