Ebay Door Actuators

[jarvis]

Has anyone ever used universal door actuators on their cars?

[GuyTelefunken]

The actuator/latch/switch assembly is designed as a unit. If any part of it fails, different problems will occur. The best way and by far the easiest is to replace the unit when any failure occurs. Of course, this is also the most expensive way.

It's not a difficult job and it doesn't require any special tools. I would wholeheartedly recommend using the Lexus part. If nothing else, it will be something you will do only once. That is until another door acts up.

Please pardon my rant, but it seems frivolous to me to put a $5.00 part in the place of a $250.00 dollar part into a car that cost millions to engineer.

While it is technically possible to piggyback a cheap actuator to simulate the function of the door lock motor, it is technically challenging. Lexus does not employ solid rods to connect the manual door lock switch to the latch. They use bowden cables similar to bicycle brake cables. There is a small solid rod linking the external cylinder with the latch but it is in a tight location inside the upper corner of the door. There isn't much room to add parts there.

[lenore]

This gentleman did it, see this post from the RX posts

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=41219

[jarvis]

The actuator/latch/switch assembly is designed as a unit. If any part of it fails, different problems will occur. The best way and by far the easiest is to replace the unit when any failure occurs. Of course, this is also the most expensive way.

It's not a difficult job and it doesn't require any special tools. I would wholeheartedly recommend using the Lexus part. If nothing else, it will be something you will do only once. That is until another door acts up.

Please pardon my rant, but it seems frivolous to me to put a $5.00 part in the place of a $250.00 dollar part into a car that cost millions to engineer.

While it is technically possible to piggyback a cheap actuator to simulate the function of the door lock motor, it is technically challenging. Lexus does not employ solid rods to connect the manual door lock switch to the latch. They use bowden cables similar to bicycle brake cables. There is a small solid rod linking the external cylinder with the latch but it is in a tight location inside the upper corner of the door. There isn't much room to add parts there.

i understand these are expensive parts but 3 out 4 of my actuators are gone. and i cant afford $750.00 dollars worth of door actuators

[GuyTelefunken]

I had a feeling someone was going to refer to that previous article.

There are two problems with this, Both of which I have seen first hand.

Because of the bowden cable system, there are no rods to attach to. Therefore, you must drill the plastic button which was never meant to be drilled.

This leads to the second problem. The operating torque on the cheap actuators is usually many times greater than the small force required to manually actuate the lock button. As well the travel is almost two times what is necessary to actuate the button. i.e. It takes a 10mm movement of the cable to actuate the lock yet the actuators pound the button almost 20mm in both directions. These are the actuators I'm referring to. [see interesting note in the product info. about cable operated locks.] After some time, the slamming action of the overly powerful actuator will most likely break the plastic lock button.

Now you will need an interior door handle.

Just recently I replaced all 4 interior door handles on a Toyota Martix. The handle on the Matrix is very similar to the one in the Lexus as well as many other Toyotas. While I was in there, I took the liberty to remove the 4 aftermarket actuators that were installed as described above. Every interior door lock button was broken. Initially I was surprised, as the vehicle had only 12K miles on it. I wondered how did these buttons break? Toyota door lock buttons don't break. Then I looked inside. Ahh.

So from my side, I don't want to deal with extra headaches. Therefore, I have done 3 out of 4 of mine thus far with Lexus parts. I feel that part of owning and enjoying a great thing is also the willingness to do what it takes to maintain it.

You could look for used parts as well? There seems to bee some on Ebay from time to time.

However you choose to proceed, I wish you the best of luck.

[jarvis]

I had a feeling someone was going to refer to that previous article.

There are two problems with this, Both of which I have seen first hand.

Because of the bowden cable system, there are no rods to attach to. Therefore, you must drill the plastic button which was never meant to be drilled.

This leads to the second problem. The operating torque on the cheap actuators is usually many times greater than the small force required to manually actuate the lock button. As well the travel is almost two times what is necessary to actuate the button. i.e. It takes a 10mm movement of the cable to actuate the lock yet the actuators pound the button almost 20mm in both directions. These are the actuators I'm referring to. [see interesting note in the product info. about cable operated locks.] After some time, the slamming action of the overly powerful actuator will most likely break the plastic lock button.

Now you will need an interior door handle.

Just recently I replaced all 4 interior door handles on a Toyota Martix. The handle on the Matrix is very similar to the one in the Lexus as well as many other Toyotas. While I was in there, I took the liberty to remove the 4 aftermarket actuators that were installed as described above. Every interior door lock button was broken. Initially I was surprised, as the vehicle had only 12K miles on it. I wondered how did these buttons break? Toyota door lock buttons don't break. Then I looked inside. Ahh.

So from my side, I don't want to deal with extra headaches. Therefore, I have done 3 out of 4 of mine thus far with Lexus parts. I feel that part of owning and enjoying a great thing is also the willingness to do what it takes to maintain it.

You could look for used parts as well? There seems to bee some on Ebay from time to time.

However you choose to proceed, I wish you the best of luck.

thats exactly why i made this post. i needed a second opinion. thanks man. i appreciate it