F150online Forums - driver's side door lock works when it wants to

I have a 03 f150 xlt
The drivers side door lock works every now and then. it will work for a while (month or more) then it will stop working... some times for quite a while and sometimes for only a couple times. when I press the button there is no click or noice at all coming from the drivers side door.... Im prety sure there is some kind of "short " or bad connection in the door. I cant quite figure out how to get the electrial part out of the door. and was hoping I wouldn't have to go through the trouble if there is a easier way to fix it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Also someone stripped out the head of one of the 3 screws that are screwed into the latch part. If that has to come out I will have to get that out somehow. (sure that won't be fun)