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Opening stuck door when the lock actuator fails

36K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  KeepbuildingVersa 
#1 ·
I recently came across this problem on our 2009 Versa and after an hour or 2 I found a good solution.
Basically what can happen is the door will get stuck shut due to the actuator failing and you won't be able to open it no matter how many times you go back and forth with the locks.
When it happened I couldn't find any solutions online other than cutting the actuator apart which is way too much work, so I decided to make a video for anyone else who may run into this problem.

 
#2 ·
Damn dude, where were you a month ago when I was having exactly this problem? In the end I beat mine up with a chisel and hammer until it let go. Very unscientific but it wasn't working anyway so I figured why not. Thanks for the video, if this ever happens again I'll know what to do.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I'll have to watch it as I had to learn the same with Fords, there was a way to get them open as well. I routinely take the latches 100% apart and repair them when they act up but haven't gotten around to one of these yet. On the Fords it meant drilling and adding a bolt but at $150 a copy saved it was well worth it.

A lot of the problem now is the compartmentalizing of the latch assemblies inside, the issue is simply grease dried up to make latch parts hang up but with all the little walls inside now there is no way you can possibly spray like grease in to hit the critical parts. It simply won't reach them but taking the latch apart and regreasing them they last as long or longer as they did before. I've got a couple that are now on enough years I can't remember any more.

So at least I personally no way will be throwing the old latch away.
 
#7 · (Edited)
But would you want to? Some of those latches have small limit switches inside them and likely ruined then. And little electric motors too. If latch has pin connectors on it your warning.

I would probably strategically break it in such a way I can recover most of the cover anyway. Rivet it back on if needed and possible. Whatever the disassembly requires to get back together. How you work out a regular method to do others in the future.
 
#9 · (Edited)
And what the rest of the world does. Patience getting in the way of making more per hour than you will ever get paid in the real world. The $150 I mentioned above was what I essentially paid myself on the first one, after that and knowing how to second time do it much faster I make double that or $300/hr.

That's nothing, many parts I have rebuilt to use over again and up to $2000/hr. self-paid roughly when I 'rebuild' an ATX by simply reshimming say a clutch piston or band when the usual norm is to get a new trans. I've done that more than once on more than one type.

I rebuild $200+ alts all day long at $50 max cost for the regulator and have rebuilt them to last years more for as little as 30 cents for simple solder, or nothing in a couple more cases. Lack of patience will stop 100% of that. FREE MONEY. The ones I rebuild last so much longer than what you can get OTC now it's not even funny. When I sold parts 20% of the new alts failed right out of the box and onto the alt tester and included the best most expensive ones we sold. Utterly ridiculous.

Just R&R'ed a/c system on one car for nothing more than the two $5 cans of refrigerant and it freezes my butt off now. Rebuilt the clutch, flushed compressor, and cleaned orifice tube.

Not only that, when you replace with the same exact quality part that failed before, you have also locked in the same failure rate. Many of the things I fix have the major fail issue repaired to not fail nearly so fast as the brand new OEM branded part will, I do it all the time. When you can pick up the new part and tell where it is going to fail before it even does that gets pretty easy, I do that too. The engineers that design much of this stuff now are incompetent as h-ll in my view, OR they are intentionally misdesigning parts to make them fail early on purpose (for higher parts sale throughput, with Ford it has become an art and a huge profit booster), the two choices you have there. Like window regulators that fail every one (4) in less than two years, I rebuild and they stop breaking but then I change a couple of very small things. $75 each and fixed using maybe $5 worth of non-OEM parts.

Lack of patience is what empties your wallet. At least in my view, but then, I was NOT trained 'in the box', so my view differs whoppingly from the conventional view. Why I haven't let 'conventional' mechs touch any of my cars in 45+ years. They waste way too much of MY money.
 
#10 ·
I'm all for fixing/rebuilding/reusing, I do it with a lot of things, anything from electronics to parts to simple tools, etc.

The Versa's actuator assembly isn't meant to be serviced and the back cover is plastic. In order to remove it you have to cut plastic, then the clips that hold it are very brittle, once you get it cracked open it won't split apart. That's where I stopped and ordered one. I didn't want to spend a bunch of time trying to take it apart, in hopes I can find the problem, then find a solution and put it back together hoping it won't get stuck again.

It's simply not worth it, especially since it's not me who drives the car, plus I have enough things to do with my time as it.

I set it aside in the garage and I will open it up some day when I have time but it's not something I want to do on the spot with the car sitting.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Yours and do as you will, and of course one has to have priorities.....................most of the stuff I rebuild was never intended to be done so with. They train you to junk the parts and even more so while servicing vehicles as a line of work, it sells far more parts. The conventional wisdom. I'm just saying that if an individual wanted to, he can pay himself far more recouping parts like that than he will likely ever get paid in the real world, the bosses value no one that much other than themselves.

I am one of the ones who because I know enough they don't want to pay for it has found it virtually impossible to get a job after 50 years old. So how I get back now at the system that set that in place, I was already doing a lot of it anyway and just redoubled my efforts to make sure I pay for nothing I do not positively need and that amount of money saved there, well, I can't put numbers to it, it being so high. I seem to be able to rebuild or fix some 90% of things without having to buy them new again. The more they intend and make it so I cannot fix the more I decide I'm going to and VERY rare not to be able to.
 
#15 ·
My driver side door locked on me and wouldn’t unlock. I had to get in through the passenger side for about 4-5 months. I saw this thread/video on top of this page and couldn’t do it. I was very upset at one point and just FORCED UNLOCKED THE LATCH MANUALLY! IT WORKED!!! I was scared it would relock again but it didn’t. Not saying it will work for everyone but give it a try. Not my picture but this is the latch I’m talking about
 
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