Power Door Lock Repair for 2001 Ford F250

The Power Door Locks on my truck began to fail every few operations after about 5-6 years of age.  First on the passenger side, then about 6 months later the drivers side.  I had read on thedieselstop.com forum where someone repaired their actuators and it didnt cost anything but time.  I was hesitant but decided to attempt it as they werent working so I didnt have much to lose.  Im glad I did because they now work with authority.

Many thanks to Rob (Lariatrob69) and all the others that contributed of TheDieselStop.com (and Our discussion) for his assistance and persistance in motivating me to keep forging ahead.


This was my process and I hope the process and photos help someone.  This process fits the passenger door.  There is no difference between the 2 doors except everything is reversed.

If you have marginal eyesite, I suggest finding a magnifying glass...you may need it.  The parts inside these motors are small.

You remove the door panel by removing the electric panel plate (holds the door lock and power window buttons) by inserting a screwdriver in the front pointed area and gently pry it out.

Remove the short panel piece at the front most part of the window at the A-Pillar by inserting a screwdriver at the top pointed area and gently pry it out.

Remove the safety light in the lower rear of the door by inserting a screwdriver at the front most end (the slot) and pry it out.

There are 2 screws holding the panel to the metal door.  One screw is at the just above the handle assembly behind the switch panel just removed and the other is in the safety light.  Once these screws are out, gently lift the panel upward and pull the panel away from the metal door.  Go slowly as you will need to remove the light socket from the door panel.  This is a 1/4 turn socket.

Peel the inner insulation skin back and tape it out of the way.

Once the door panel is removed, this is what you will see.  All these steel rods are what make the door handle, lock/unlock the door from the key hole and the electric door locks operate.  Each of these must be removed.
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The yellow one is easy.  This is the manual door lock rod.  Just pop the clip up (see pic below) from the rod and gently pull the rod toward the inside of the truck.  It should come out very easily.

Photo shows the plastic clip rolled back/unhooked - now just pull the rod elbow from the hole.
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At the other end of this rod, toward the plastic plunger (about 4" below the bottom of the window sill) there is another small yellow clip that holds this rod to the inner door skin.  This can be removed but may not be necessary if the rod isnt in the way.  To remove it, just pull it lightly.  This clip is shaped like an arrow with plastic 'barbs' that hold it in place.

The next rod to remove is from the white clip.  Just use a screwdriver to open the gap and pull the rod toward the door hinges.
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The last one is the tough one and I recall a comment from Rob so I made me a special tool.

IMPORTANT!
This gray clip opens in a similar direction as the passenger door - hinges outward and unhooks on the back side.  You just need to reach to the back side to release the clip.

This is just a nail with 1- 90º and 1 - 100º bends and the end slightly ground to make it flat.  Then I taped it tight to a large Phillips screwdriver.  This serves as a pry and hook to get to the back side of the gray colored clip.  Dont laugh...it works like a champ :)  A small screwdriver may work too.
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Once all the rods are disconnected, you can remove the 3 'Torx' screws that hold the latch mechanism in the door jam.  I used a screwdriver (Torx tip) and had to put a Crescent wrench on the handle to break them loose.  The ends are coated with Locktite too.
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Once the 3 screws are completely removed, you can get the entire lock mechanism out of the door.  It will take a bit of jockeying around, but it will come out but the cable and wires will still be attached.

Unplug the 2 cables.  They are both held in place with snap-in connectors.  Pry the clip open and gently pull them out.

Remove the cable from the door handle at the ball and wire area.  The plastic shroud/housing will come off.  There is a spring loaded bracket that will work against the lever - hold it out of the way.  Push the plastic slide that holds the cable jacket in the bracket out of the slot.  It too will push out and makes the rest easy.


Now the fun starts...

Not knowing what to expect, I put a towel down on the workbench to cushion the parts and catch any pieces that might fly out.

The plastic part is what contains the electric motor and that is what you will be working with.  With a screwdriver (see pic) pry the clip apart, slide the plastic housing toward the screwdriver handle.  You can separated the metal from the plastic housing.  If you look at the parts, you will better understand the location of the screwdriver and the clip to release.
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With the plastic actuator in hand you are ready to open the shell (disregard the metal screws - the pics were taken after re-assebmly).

Drill out all the plastic rivots (6 places) - they look like a mushroom head melted to the siding.  I used a 9/64" dia drill bit.

It has been noted that you may not need to completely take the black shell pieces apart.  Some have indicated you can just drill the plastic pins leaving the steel rivots at the end intact.  If this is the case, just pry the case open enough to remove the motor out of the cavity.  Otherwise, drill out the 2 small steel rivots at the end of the housing.

Gently pry the plastic cases apart and you should see something like this.  The motor may be on either half of the plastic pieces.


The motor only goes in one way, so it should not be a concern with direction.  Everything else should stay in place.

With the motor in hand, you need to remove the gear from the motor shaft.  Just gently pry it straight off the motor shaft.

You need to remove the ivory colored plastic end of the motor.  To do this, I used an awl to pry out the 2 small tabs bent into the plastic area.  Pull the ivory colored piece from the metal motor housing.

This picture is a little blurry as I enlarged it to show the plate on the left side and brushes in the middle that surround the shaft hole.


With the motor apart I cleaned it up with a soft paint brush, bent some of the pieces to make sure they were making contact and reassembled it just to do a test.  It didnt work but should have.  It should spin without resistance.

I thought I might have bent one of the brushes or dislodged something but I kept trying.  Each time I would try with power from truck battery by holding small alligator clips onto the small brass pieces on the outer part of the motor.  Still didnt work.  I thought perhaps Im not getting to the actual connections of the motor.

After several tries, I put the motor back into the actuator cases (the black plastic pieces) and plugged it back into the truck wiring in the door.  Viola!  It worked.
 Lesson learned:  Apparently those brass plates dont make good contact with just touching the outside with clips or wires.  The pins on the motor must make deeper penetration for necessary contact.

But since it was apart, I thought it would be wise to add the foil.  This seems to be a key factor is a strong working actuator.

Once you have the plastic piece out of the motor case, you can see a small plate (thermistor or whatever it is called) on one side of the ivory plastic piece.  This can be pulled out with a pair of needle nose pliers.

This is the part you want to wrap with the tin foil.  I cut a strip about 2" long and 1/4" wide.  Wrap the piece (about 2 wraps) around the waistline (narrowest part) without covering the ends as it will become too thick to get back into the slots of the ivory plastic piece.  Cut off any excess after 2 wraps.

Push it back into the plastic ivory piece and reassemble. Be careful getting the brushes around the rotor.  You cant really see, but try to insert from the open end of the brushes and push the rotor upward.

Then test just to be sure.  Test the repaired assembly with the black plastic parts and plugging it into the wire in the door of the truck.  If all went well, you should have a strong working door lock.

With the foil and plate in place, tap the tabs from the metal motor casing back onto the ivory colored piece.  Push the motor gear back onto the motor shaft and make sure the motor still spins freely by hand.  Reassemble the black plastic cases around the motor.

After drilling the plastic pins, some holes were so close to molded ridges, I couldnt get a screw/nut into them.  In some instances I used a brass wood screw and they worked very well.  I used #6-32 X 1 1/2" in the thickest part, 1" long in the middle section (had to grind down) for the wide part of the body and brass wood screws for the middle.

The big question now is 'How long does this fix last?'  Only time will tell.  This was done on Feb 8, 2009.

I now have 2 strong working door locks.  This was another great learning experience for me.  Each time I gain confidence to pursue other tasks - all saving money.

Thanks to all for their assistance.  And if someone benefits from this and I may quote Rob - just 'Paying it forward'.

Bruce A. Wittmeier (wittmeba on the forum)