Door Lock Actuators 2.0 more Info

How did it go?

 

some people have had success with simply opening the door panel and lubing the actuator with graphite or lithium grease. if you look very carefully at the door lock you might notice that it "tries" to move when you press the lock it just can't "turn the corner" and unlock, or lock, or both.

My family has owned two '92 camrys, a '97 avalon, a '99 rx300, a '04 matrix, '05 corolla, and I now own two gen II Prii so I think I know a little something about Toyotas and their shortcomings.

In the 90's we always had trouble with door lock actuators and window regulators in all our cars. After 20+ years Toyota still can't figure out how to make a good door lock actuator or they keep buying them from a cheap company who makes crappy ones. Toyota seems to have figured out how to make better window regulators but now Toyotas have a new weakness: sealed wheel bearings.

To prolong the life of your door actuators (do a search I forgot the procedure) you can make it so that when you open the drivers door no other door unlocks, thus prolonging the life of the other actuators, as for the drivers door, I've been too lazy to open the door panel on one of my Prius so I just use the mechanical key in the remote fob.