Spyder187

Hey everyone,

My front passenger side door lock seems to be sticky. When I use the remote on the key to unlock the doors, the thing to manually unlock or lock the car on the passenger side only goes about halfway. When trying to open that door, by chance the thing will just go back into lock or else the door will open. Seems to be something is sticky in the locking/unlocking mechanism. This is also prevalent when I use the power lock button to try to unlock or lock that front passenger door.

When I use the remote to lock and arm the alarm (and the front passenger door is unlocked), the system usually does the power locks twice. The first time it tries, the locking thing usually goes halfway. Then the system tries again and the door usually locks and then the system will emit the "beep" sound and the alarm light comes on to signal that the car is secured.

I hope I'm making sense. Anyone know what I should be looking for before I take the door panel off?

Thanks~

tekkie

Hey Spyder,

The same happened to my 92 ES, soon you will find that the locking mechanism won't even move. This is a sign that your door lock solenoid is going. I replaced mine with a used one from eBay ($45) back in May. Don't know how long it will last. This is something you can do it yourself and save some money. It took me almost 4 hours since it was my first time. Had to learn how to take the panel out etc...

Spyder187

Thanks tekkie for that reply!

I've got a few questions now:

Would the door lock solenoid for the Toyota Camry be the same for the Lexus?
How much of the door would I need to take apart to gain access to the solenoid?

Also, I searched on this forum and found that there is another component called the door lock actuator. Could this be faulty as well or in my situation does it seem to be the solenoid?

Thanks.

tekkie

Hey Spyder,

The actuator/solenoid are the same thing. I'm too sure if the actuator for the Camry is the same or not, but I would imagine so. Most of these parts (door motors, actuators) made for Toyota are from Denso. You can take it out, and bring it to Toyota parts department and they will be able to tell you right away. The problem is you may have to wait a day or 2 for the part since they don't stock these.

As for removal, you have to take the panel out, unplug all electrical connnections, carefully peal out the covered plastic, and remove the covered metal piece to give you access to the "hollow" part of the door (easy part). You will see 2 metal rods used for connecting the actuator to the locking mechanism. Make sure you got a picture of how it is hooked up before disconnecting them. There are plastic pieces that these rods snap in. I found that when installing the new actuator it was hard to get my hands in there to snap the rod back on, but with patience you should be OK.

Good luck!

Spyder187

Hey, I really got to thank you, Tekkie, for those instructions.

Now I'll just need to wait for a day when I'm feeling up to it to go try taking the door panel out.

Thanks again~!

Bluesman

I have the same issue as well. As much as it annoys me to reach over and unlock the passenger door, the dealer repair price is not worth it. I'm hoping to eventually find the part on Ebay and have someone replace it for me. If you are successful in replacing it yourself, please let me know.

Thanks.