hey there, i bought my f-150 about a year ago. it came with aftermarket exhaust. i loved the sound, but i have some hearing loss, so it was a little too loud for me to talk to people while driving. instead of putting on a factory muffler, i dynamatted the entire car. now the noise while driving is minimal.

however, it seems that my power door locks don't seem to work anymore. i did indeed dynamat in the doors, but i've checked many times to see if any dynamat is interfering with the door lock --- nothing.

when i hit the button to lock or unlock the doors, the lock gives a little motion -- but it's usually just a nudge. in order to fully lock my door, i have to hit the button a couple times, at least.

it should be noted that BOTH of the doors' locks went out at the same time.

anyone have any idea what's going on? there is no dynamat in the way of the locking mechanism, and when i pull the handle, it's moved no problem.

 

The actuators have probably had it. Murphy works in mysterious ways.

 

i was thinking this, but i think it's a little odd that both went out at the same time.

 

If the locks are giving a little movement it could be a bad ground. If in fact they both started at the same time, i doubt it is the actuator, or both actuators. But you may have disturbed a ground wire somewhere when you installed the mat. The ground wire connector for the locks is on the passenger side under the dash. it is designated G-200.....all ground are black, at least thats wht the manual for a 2001 F-150 says......good luck

 

damn, that's the kind of answer i was looking for. unfortunately, the G-200 was grounded properly --- that's the two black wires grounded to a green bolt right? i can't really tell by the diagram and i don't have a manual.


what i did do though, was run a battery tester to the switch ---- i found that when the pink/yellow-striped wire is connected to the black (ground), it will unlock the door, and when the pink/green-striped is connected to black (ground) it will lock the door. when i try these combonations, it does respond, however it's pretty weak. then i connected a battery tester to each 2 wires, and it read a steady 12Volts --- i couldn't check how many amps though. would this make sense?

 

See the post, https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...door+AND+locks

You can also do a Search using the terms "Power+AND+door+AND+locks"

My 2000 F-150 is doing the same thing, with the very same symptoms. Annoying. I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do--replace one or both actuators myself or take it to the shop.

Any advice from anyone out there?

 

Replacing the actuators is so easy - well, I did mine (both in 1 hour). The toughest part is removing the actuator. And don't waste your money on getting another ford actuator, you can find better ones for 20-30 bucks from car stereo install shops. Just snip the 2 wires thick wires going to the actuator, hook up the new one. Don't worry about frying anything if you get em backwards, you'll just have the lock action when you hit unlock.
And there was plenty of room to mount the actuator between the door panel(plastic cosmetic part) and the metal it attaches to.

There's lots of info on this subject on older posts, in fact I think there was a guy who actually explains why they fail - and how to sorta temporarily fix em!

 

Replace them! I went through this 6 months ago and I thought the same thing " both at the same time?" YEP! replace them and you should be fine.

 

is it possible to fix my "broken" actuator? you wouldn't believe how cheap i am.

 

Apparently it is:

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...ight=actuators

Complete instructions on the 5/31/2004 post by RogerD!