Fixed: Door Lock Actuator in Gen II Prius

Got the door open by pulling off the cover by the footwell and powering the green and yellow for the door with 18.5 volts.
12 volts didn't work, the motor needed a bit more juice.
Now I can do the motor change.

 

All done, Relatively straight forward.
Mine had 2 motors in, so I changed both and the polarity was reverse, so I rotated the ends to change polarity.
Apart from that, thank you for your above pictures and comments.
Made what would have been a very difficult job into a relatively easy one.
Cheers

 

Scott great write up! I found a similar write up on a Toyota pickup on another forum ( can't remember the link because it was on my laptop) where he just disassembled the door lock and then disassembled the door lock motor and cleaned up the commutator and brushes. I did the same and it works fine now but I will buy some new motors like you did. Great job locating a source on ebay. I can't believe the cost of new door lock actuators. Anyway thanks for sharing.
Ken

 

Great post Scott! I was able to change the motor on my drivers side door and reinstall everything properly. However, after i changed the motor the lock has reversed. When i hit lock my drivers door unlocks and all the other doors lock. When i hit unlock my drivers door locks and all the other doors unlocks. If anyone knows how i can fix this please let me know.

Thanks, Kevin

 

I have the exact same issue. I bought a motor on ebay and just replaced my front passenger motor. When I hook it back up to the door it does react to the key fob; however, it is reversed. When the door with the new motor unlocks, the rest lock and vice versa. I tried unplugging it and "catching" up a cycle as well as various other combinations to no avail.

I've still got to do the drivers side door, but maybe I'll see what I can do about this one first. There aren't any parts that I can think of that could be unintentionally reversed (or intentionally, for that matter.) Since the motor does change directions with polarity, could I just snip the wires and swap them? My only hesitation is that there are four -- 2 big ones and two small ones. My guess is that it's the two thicker ones driving the unit -- anyone have any experience here?

Please let me know if you've seen this before an how you may have resolved it! I've still got my fingers crossed that I can get the two doors done for $8 instead of $1000!

Thanks all for the excellent and informative posts!

 

I have the same problem but with my drivers door. I bought the motor on ebay too. does anyone have a solution to this. you can't put the motor in the wrong way since it only goes in one way. The wires also cannot be reversed without cutting them. I need to fix it soon because I need to start using the car.

Thanks, Kevin

 

Can't you just unhook the motor's power, cycle the locks once and hook it back up? It seems like this is an out of sync issue and you just need to get it back in sync.

 

The main problem is the brush and resistor in the MABUCHI motor that cost about $3 is worn out. Just buy any mabuchi motor and just take the cap/brush and swap it to the old motor. I just fixed my PRIUS 2006 door actuators for much cheaper than dealer cost. Fixed: Door Lock Actuator in Gen II Prius | PriusChat
All toyota has similar way to remove the actuator and replace the mabuchi motor. DON"T FORGET TO CHECK THE LATCH MECHANISM before put it back or you NEVER OPEN the door anymore. (see the forum answers).

 

FASTER FIX BY SWAPPING THE MOTOR CAP (brush and resistor wornout/dead) using small plier. So you still can use the old coil and magnet, just replace the whole plastic cap that clamped in the motor.

 

Did you ever get the motor direction fixed? Please let us know how you did it. Thanks!

 

Thanks for the guide, a bit different on my 2010 Prius (no plate in front of the Actuator), driver's side had a little slot for the key hole, different colors, but pretty much right on. Also, on my driver's side the bolt holding the window guide wouldn't give... But I was able to wiggle the actuator assembly out then in with minimal (but some) work. I imagine the passenger side might be the same.

Maybe I missed it somewhere... But I found the motor in "ready" condition to be installed (no modifications / filing) necessary.

On eBay: 4X FC-280 w/ Long D Flat Shaft - Car Door Lock and Mirror Auto Motor FC280PC

 

I'm so happy I found this post!!! I figured I could dismantle the actuator and replace just the motor, but when I removed it, it only had one part number on it: VD380504...and a search of the internet found nothing. Nothing?!?!? But thankfully the part number was mentioned here, and I was able to successfully find the part! Turned out to be about as much to by 10 of the darn things, so they're on their way...I'll probably clip and file all of them, then sell the 6 others (2 of my doors are down, and I'm anticipating the other 2 will fail eventually as well), as I'm sure there's some people out there that don't want to deal with that part--like me! I would've easily paid more if I could've found them; but if I'm going to have to go through that nonsense, I might as well do it for a bunch, and save someone else the headache.

And nice job with the pictures of how the parts are arranged inside...would've saved me the 5 minutes I spent sitting on the floor figuring out how it works, as I sent parts flying when I pried it apart... >.<

As for those who had an issue with the replaced actuator being reversed; did anyone find a solution? If I were to guess, I would think it's that little lever/switch on the circuitboard that plugs into the motor; probably need to move it one way or the other to get it back in sequence...?

 

Awsome instructions - all went well -put everything back together to test andI found the door I replaced the motor on was opposite te other doors - when theyarelocked - the door I fixed wasunlocked and visa - versa. I think I must have gotten the wrong motor - thoughtImight be able to reverse polarity but can't - any easy fixes??? THANKS

 

As you already put it in easiest is just to cut two wires going to that motor and cross them. Which door is this?

 

I
I reversed the yellow and dark green wires as I idnetified on the wiring diagram. That fixed the problem except now I cannot lock any of the doors using the remote. Everything unlocks fine and will lock from the door switch but not the remote - still trying to figure it out

 

What does it do now if you try to lock it from remote?

 

It appears as if some of the eBay motors run in the reverse direction. I checked the faulty motor taken from the actuator and found it to run (at less torque) in a clockwise direction when looking at the shaft end of the motor. This occurs when placing negative on the left and positive (9V battery) on the right terminals when looking at the rear of the motor. This is what the spec sheet shows for the Mabuchi FC-280PC/SC series motors.

The one I bought on ebay, (and filed the flat on it, and spent ages taking the actuator apart and replacing the motor) ran in the opposite direction. I obviously didn't get a genuine copy. I have now ordered the FC-280PC-22125 from ebay!
Eric

 

I have now successfully installed the motor (FC-280PC-22125) from eBay seller: mopselectric, item: 4X FC-280 w/ Long D Flat Shaft - Car Door Lock and Mirror Auto Motor FC280PC into the front right door actuator. The actuator has now been installed into the car and is working perfectly. These motors have the correct length shaft and already have the flat on them (no work to do).

Just a note about removing the speaker (tweeter) above the door panel...
I remember this from previous attempts... the bottom clip is very firmly held into the door so the best way to remove this speaker is to pull on the top, perpendicular to the door to un-clip the top and then simply lift the speaker up and out, leaving the bottom clip in the door.
To put the speaker back simply place the bottom in over the clip and down, and then push the top in - click.

Sometimes when removing this speaker, the top metal clip falls off and remains in the door recess behind the mirror mount. If this happens - the 3 nuts, which hold the mirror on, have to be removed, the mirror carefully removed and the clip recovered from within the seals and put back where it belongs. If this clip is not put back the top cannot be clipped back securely.

The important thing to check when replacing the motor is that the shaft of the replacement motor turns in the same direction as the original motor, when the battery (9v test battery) is applied. Most of the faulty, original motors still turn, but with reduced torque.

Eric.

 

I, too, have suffered from the heartbreak of purchasing a replacement motor on eBay only to find out that it had the wrong polarity AFTER pulling the door panel, pulling the actuator, disassembling it, filing a flat on the new motor shaft, reassembling the whole shebang, installing it, carefully testing it and THEN finding out I had purchased a piece of crap. My old motor did still rotate, although rather noisily and I had purchased 2 new motors (If you call right now, we'll DOUBLE your order! Just pay separate handling...), so I was able to hook them up to my handy-dandy DC power supply and, sure enough, the original is a lefty and the replacement is a righty.

Accordingly, I offer this caution to all those who want to try this repair:

It really is not all that difficult. Once you get the hang of removing the door panel, it's pretty straightforward work, just as long as you remember to fit the exterior door handle driver shaft into the latch arm in the actuator when you reinstall the actuator. Disassembling the actuator to replace the motor is fussy, just be careful not to lose any pieces and get it all back together the same way it came apart. Ironically, you can't install the motor wrong, even though that was my one fear about tackling the job. It only goes in one way. BUT, if you go through all of this and then discover that the motor windings are reversed, your only alternative is to put it back together with the original motor, buy another motor on-line and hope it turns the right direction or.... go get a new actuator at the dealer. The current price is about $273 for a complete new actuator at my local dealer. Of course, now I have had a lot of practice in removing and reinstalling a door lock actuator, since I have now done it 3 times with the original repair attempt and the subsequent troubleshooting, which includes disassembling and reassembling the actuator itself 3 times and modifying the motor shaft to add the flat. And, there was no way to test the replacement motor in advance to check its polarity without going through the whole disassembly process and comparing the direction of rotation between the original and the replacement. And not everybody has a DC power supply handy. I can now R&R the whole actuator in about 30 minutes. And even with a genuine Toyota actuator purchased at the dealer, it's about a third cheaper than having the dealer replace it.

If you are going to do this, be prepared for the possibility of getting a backwards motor and having to do the whole thing over again. There are several posts in this thread about reversing wiring, that little microswitch next to the motor inside the actuator, and other approaches to work around the problem of a reversed motor, but they all take time and resources. My original motor actually would not turn with only 9V applied to it, so if I didn't happen to have a DC power supply that could deliver 12V, I might still be scratching my head right now. I have spent very little money on repairs for my Prius in its 125,000+ miles of faithful service, so a couple hundred bucks for a part I can replace in a half-hour is not a bad trade.

Just my two cents..... (about all that eBay motor was worth...)

One little addition....

I went to my dealer today and purchased a new actuator, which I quickly installed and my door locks now function perfectly. However, the price I was quoted at the parts desk was about $75 more than the $273 I found online. I told them I had gotten the $273 price from the dealer's own website. On hearing that and verifying it, they matched the online price. The verification consisted of them looking up their own public website, printing the appropriate page and attaching it to their copy of the sales order. I don't know if they would match any online price for something other than a genuine Toyota part (I rather doubt it), but be aware of that if you elect to swap out your complete actuator. Caveat emptor.

 

Thanks very much for posting this. I had to repair the passenger side about a year ago, and last Saturday I had to do the driver side. The dealer quoted me $700 to repair the passenger alone. I didn't even ask about the driver. So the $12 in motors and two hours in time I spent saved me about $1400...I'll work for $694/hr any time.

I too bought my motors from ebay seller mopselectric. I bought a 2 pack last year for $12 including shipping, and both were the correct polarity.