This question pertains to the coupe, has anyone ever taken the lock assembly apart and replaced the servo motor itself? I've read several threads for other cars where people just opened the motor up and cleaned it, or replaced the servo itself.

for example:
http://www.rav4world.com/forums/96-4...ocks-free.html

http://www.newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?t=335506


And these servo motors look pretty standard, here is a listing of ebay auctions for them:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...All-Categories


I haven't had access to the lock mechanism yet to see if it can be taken apart or if the servo motor is the same, and I don't want to pay $400 for oem locks nor do I want to do any of the aftermarket band aid fixes. If I have time this weekend I might try and take one apart but wanted to see if anyone else has done this before first.

 

Man just to get the door lock actuator out is a big pain. Taking the door panel off is the easy part.Now you got to take the window off, unbolt the window regulator and motor off the metal plate. now unbolt the metal plate that's held in by a bunch of 10 mm screws .I bought a OEM actuator and ended up returning it to the dealer because it was to much of a pain in the *** to install it . I bought a kit off ebay and it was so much easier to install and still working fine. Here is the link if you want it http://www.ebay.com/itm/INFINITI-G-3...-/281397111236

 

is this kit that you bought the same as this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Heavy-Duty...item258c9d3e3c


also in case anyone who reads this cares, I found an FX35 thread that shows the unit taken apart, someone had the same idea as me but never updated the post:
http://www.infinitiscene.com/forum/t...lock-actuators

if you scroll to the bottom you'll see it is the same generic actuator listed in my first post, just has a worm gear that slides on the output shaft. I can't decide if I want to spend the time and do it like this and have a true OEM lock fix for $5 or rig up one of these aftermarket actuators and splice into the cable or whatever. I don't like to cut corners and I can't decide how I feel about this. Still can't figure out why Nissan didn't offer a recall because this problem seems to be so common.

 

No that's not the kit i bought. The actuators look different. In fact all the actuators i seen on line looks like the one you bought .Seller stated that these are made by the worlds biggest aftermarket security company.

 

I haven't bought anything yet, still trying to decide what to do. What do your actuators look like? how does your actuator integrate into the factory system, does it clamp on to the cable?

 

yes it clamps onto the cable here is a video of someone doing the install.

 

With the ebay kit that you posted, do you still need to splice the thick wire like the guy did in the video? And do you need to drill any holes into the door lock housing like the other aftermarket diy? The video above doesn't really show the finishing steps after he cuts up the thick wire.

 

You still got to splice the cable to get to that center core of the cable.Then use the clamp that's supplied with a special U clip (the clamp will not hold the center core without the U clip, it is to thin)There is no drilling of the door lock .You have to splice the wires onto the factory door lock actuator wires which he gives you the colors and where to find them. It works great. Beats paying the dealer $479 to fix one door that's for sure

 

Is that kit supposed to come with the U-clips? I bought my kit from ebay and it didn't come with the U-clips. I tried the installation anyways and the oem core is too thin to fit in the larger clip. Can the clips be bought somewhere else separately? Thanks

 

Did you get it from the link i put up or someone else.It's a cable clamp kit that the seller sends with the actuator.May be you can go to the link and ask him if he will sell you one,Not sure if they sell it by itself but worth a shot or return the one you got and order his.If you got it from that same seller it comes in a little plastic bag with some mounting hard wear or maybe he forgot to put it in .

 

No I bought from a different seller on ebay Canada. I thought it would contain the same things but I guess not.

In the video at about 7:30, it looks like the guy gets his U-clip from a different bag. The contents of the bag looks very similar to this kit link This kit appears to have the U-clip. I might just order these and give it a shot. Luckily its not too expensive

 

Back to the original question about whether the actuator can be fixed with either the tinfoil trick discussed in Ford forums or by replacing just the $5 internal motor as discussed in the Celica forums:

Today I took the driver's side OEM actuator out of my 2003 g35 coupe and used a razor blade to shave off the 3 or so mushroom heads of plastic that hold it together. Then I carefully used several flat screwdrivers to loosen the other pawls that hold the two halves together and slid the pieces apart. I broke a few pawls, but I expected that since the plastic is very brittle.

Anyway, once I got it apart and looked inside the motor, it was all black inside just like on the Ford and Celica forums. The motor is a Mabuchi door lock motor that has "VN252719" stamped into the metal. I thought I might try to find one of these on eBay and just replace the little motor, because after reading the Ford and Celica forums I was 99.99% sure that was the cause of my weak locking force. However, when I looked closely at the internals of the actuator mechanism, I found one of the plastic bars inside that forms part of the latching mechanism was also broken part way through, making it weak. Therefore, I suspect my problem is a combination of that broken part, as well as the old "thermistor" inside the Mabuchi motor. The mechanism still works with the broken part, but I wouldn't trust it long term even if I could get that small piece out, clean it up and glue it back together. I will be getting the full OEM actuator at a cost of around $200 and putting that in, so I can put the car back together and be done. I'll try to attach pix of the actuator internals, but no guarantees.

 

Shaving off the plastic mushroom heads

 

Carefully prying the pawls apart

 

Prying the two halves of the actuator apart