by Irish GTA » Sun Jul 07, 2019 3:44 pm
Here is a possible fix that cost me next to nothing and saved a load of time. The driver's side actuator failed on my GTA a couple of years ago. I took it out, prised the plastic housing apart and then examined it. The gears had siezed and the electric motor was not strong enough to turn them. I figured that the motor had little use, just a second of run time whenever the door is locked or unlocked. I reckoned that was low usage compared to say interior fan motors or wiper motors. Therefore the brushes would not be worn much and there is not a lot to go wrong with a simple DC motor.
The overload clutch in the mechanism prevented the motor burning out.
I lubricated the gears with aerosol dry film lubricant and they turned freely. The actuator was restored.
If I had known that, I would not even take the actuator out of the car, just push the long spray nozzle tube of the lubricant past the dust seal and sppray liberally. Then free up the mechanism.
It is worth doing even if the actuators still work, as they run quietly and more powerfully afterwards. I just sprayed inside the passenger side one.Very quick and easy.
Nigel