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I wanted to pass along some information on the locking mechanism for the front door locks. I see a lot of people jump to lock actuators as a source of problems when it comes to door locks. Mine (in particular, drivers side, front) was unable to be locked with the key and/or the key fob lock function. Turning the key from the outside, towards the front of the car, is supposed to lock the door. Just after hearing what sounds like a "lock" sound, the door handle if tried opens the door and the car is essentially unlocked all the time.
What I found is that what looks like lock actuator to a lot of people isn't actually the case. The door latch is at fault. The actuator is electrical, and is run from the wiring harness on the door, powering other items like trunk open, master switch on drivers side, window switch, you get the picture. The actuator is supposed to move a small lever to lock the door. This mechanism on both sides of my car, would not work because of a small plastic piece that had broken inside the latch. The latch is basically unserviceable, it is attached to the actuator, an when the electrical signal is sent to the actuator, the actuator moves this plastic peg to lock the door. Unfortunately this mechanism pivots around a plastic rivet that is very prone to failure. It breaks in half, the actuator tries to lock the door, and movement of the peg doesn't properly engage the lock. Also, when turning the key from outside of door, the locking movement felt "catchy". That's because the hinge movement wasn't operating smoothly, as the plastic rivet had broken and had nothing to pivot from.
The latch isn't sold very much at online stores, or if it is, is about $200 or so. I found only one on nissanpartsdeals.com, I think one side on courtesyparts.com, but nothing on Rockauto and the like. Ebay has them for sale, but very difficult to sometimes find the one door you might be having a problem with. I needed the right front door, Ebay all week only had the rear latches for private sale. I obtained my latch(es) from a junkyard, where only about 1 in 3 was still good, but for $11, you can't go wrong, assuming you have a free Saturday morning to waste at a junkyard. I got real good at taking the latch out of the door after a couple times. Anyways, the latch is a real ***** to remove, since you have to remove the slide for the window, cannot do this with the window down, btw. 3 screws hold in the latch, and the various connecting rods that move the lock, key, handle, both from interior and exterior. All in all, this makes it kind of a pain in the rear.
I've had this car for 20 years now, and didn't plan on selling, but I've got two other daily drivers, and as I'm prepping this one for sale, these locks were really weighing on my mind. Now key fob and key both work to lock and unlock the door(s). Doors stay locked and handle is inoperative to open door, whereas before it could still be opened. Layout of what we have. Rivet detached and gone somewheres.
Rivet partially still there. This rivet is partially gone.
I did see that post, and was wondering first what the problem was, which I could not tell until I actually removed the latch mechanism first. At first that write up looked pretty involved, and I did not quite understand how the rods were moving to lock/unlock the door. ONly after I had removed the mechanism did I get a good look. Luckily I have a junkyard relatively nearby, and scored a seat without any tears for $28 as well.
The other solution will no doubt have more longevity, as these latches I'm scouting are 20+ years old. If I had to do it over again, probably would go with that kit for $13.
Yeah, that makes sense. we do learn things in the hard way many times
I realized the other thread where the poster purchased and installed the aftermarket actuator, is still activating the Latch assembly rod to actually lock the door. The physical lock is inside the Latch, not anything having to do with the actuator. The lock is locking the part of the door that hits the strike plate on the body of the car. Actuator just pulls on the rod\lever to lock/unlock. When the latch is problematic, like mine were, no actuator , original or otherwise will fix the issue. Now I saw some latch assemblies with the lock function still working (barely), but very rough movement, not smooth. So your mileage may vary. If you get an actuator like in the mentioned other thread it might be strong enough to counteract this rough movement, and work anyway.
Thought it was worth mentioning.
