How to remove and replace door lock actuator, exterior handle,keyhole and interior handle

[wangbungal]

First of all, I am not responsible if any damage may have been done to your vehicle when trying to do this, I just share this just in case some people having the same problem as I am, do this at your own risk.



I just replace my door because of a car that backed on to it and did not even bother to leave a number and no cameras on the supermarket..

Problem is the door lock motor from the junkyard donor door keeps on making noise and not opening it with the cars remote, and since the keyhole is not the same,i just thought of swapping the lock from the damage door,I wasnt planning on changing it,i thought i could get away with a remote access.

Anyways, i was looking at it and i notice the door lock motor is integrated to the door latch,so i have to remove everything....



Tools that you need:

A ratchet, 10mm, 8mm, a set of torx bit,sorry forgot the sizes of the screws inside, a roll of tape, flat head screw drivers and some patience.





Remove door panel, there are like 10 screws that is holding the panel to the door...



remove the front cover of the door panel handle with a small flathead screws,there is a hole on the side of that handle,stick that and pop the cover to expose the the two 8mm screws, and on the interior handle,pop the circle cover to expose the torx screw.




Unclip the black plastic cover that holds the mirror adjuster,unclip also the main window switch by pulling on the assembly and unplug all the connections,


Remove the speaker,it has four 6mm screws on it,remove the foam cover all around it, after you remove that,reach on the inside of the door where the speaker is at and press the tab that holds the interior door handle to release it from being connected to the door.



Now, on the main part, as I have said,I need to remove the whole door lock system,including the handles,

Remove this two torx screws that hold this black plastic support..




Remove this two screws that hold the exterior door handle,please make a note of where the screws goes as they are not the same..

This first screw,is a little bit tricky as the window regulator is on its way,there are two ways to do this,one is removing the whole power window mechanism,another is unbolting the glass and putting a tape and lower the regulator enough so you could unscrew it,i chose the latter,its a 10 mm bolt by the way that holds the glass..










Now to unhook everything,this black plastic that supports the exterior handle,you need a flat screwdriver,and push the tab that connects this plastic to the door lock latch,you wont miss it,as it is dark and lighter color,sorry,forgot to shoot that image,there are two tabs that hold this black plastic,this is one and there is one tab right next where the door lock key cylinder is,but once you remove the first tab,you just push this black plastic up and it would release itself from the second one.




Now to remove the exterior door handle,you see this tab,to release it,at the same time,push this tab while pulling the exterior door handle and everything will come off,





This is how it looks after your pulled it,



Now,unbolt this three torx screws that hold the door lock latch,




Now tricky part as well,since i chose not to remove the power window regulator,it would be hard to pull out everything at the same time,what I did is I left that black plastic support inside and pull the door latch assembly,with the rods connecting the keyhole and the interior door handle.



After I pulled it, i just learned another easy way of pulling the assembly out,looking on the door latch assembly and the rod that connects it to the exterior handle,there is this plastic tab that connects it and when you turn it, it releases the rod,after that just twist the keyhole assembly to free the rod that connects to the keyhole cylinder,just a reminder,this tab is facing the other way so you have to feel it first and turn it,the same as the rod for the keyhole..





To put everything back just do everything on reverse,

comments are welcome..

[Sponsor]

[ltwfcusa]

My 2007 ford focus rear door also will not lock manually or with the remote. Report this issue on Safercar.gov https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ This is a safety issue because our kids can just open the rear door because you have no ability to lock the door and/or use the child safety lock feature. This happened to my 2007 Focus and dealer asked for $500. Please report all car issues to the people who force the Auto companies we just bailed out to fix our cars. You are leaving the public at risk. If your kid or a disabled passenger opens the door moving down the highway and falls out of the car because of this issue; Ford is going to pay big time lawsuits on this one. REPORT REPORT REPORT!!! Will you help each other and submit your car safety issues to the authorities? Please let me know if there is something else I can do to get FORD to Fix this issue!

[rambleon84]

Originally Posted by ltwfcusa

Please report all car issues to the people who force the Auto companies we just bailed out to fix our cars. Y

I understand the rest of what you are saying but Ford didnt get bailed out...


To the OP thanks for the write up, I have wanted to pop off my door handles to get painted but wasnt sure how they were attached. I will have to keep this in mind once it gets a little warmer out.

[ltwfcusa]

If we didn't bail out the Auto companies then Ford would have gone under as well. Ford didn't take money but they stated to congress if we the people didn't help the other Auto companies Ford would fail because the suppliers who supply the Auto Industry as a whole would go out of business. If we didn't bail out the Auto companies then Ford would have gone under as well.

Ford did benefit from the bail out or they would have never gone to congress in their privet jets to testify to congress.

[DavidJHarrison75]

Thanks Wangbungal! This is going to help out tremendous. Now I need this piece.



Anybody? Please?

[bunaca]

I have same problem as you. Looks like Ford has some problems with a door handle. Mine is driver’s side door and it is broken on the same spot as yours. I wander if Ford had any recalls on that issue!
Please let me know if you have located that party anywhere and how much it is to get it.
Thanks for the nice explanation of how to repair it.

[zx3_bmxrider]

Originally Posted by DavidJHarrison75

Thanks Wangbungal! This is going to help out tremendous. Now I need this piece.



Anybody? Please?

I had this problem as well last summer. I wound up going to a dealer to get the part, but they gave me the wrong part. It was a super long drive to get it, so I wound up filing it down and made it work. lol

[dtecPwr]

I just replaced my power door lock because the drivers door would lock but it wouldn't unlock electronically via the door switch or remote (the passenger door still locks and unlocks, even when using the driverside switch). So I replaced the driver side and it still won't electronically unlock.
Anyone else had this problem?
Any idea's where to look?
I am starting to suspect something electrical in the wiring somewhere (I freaking hate working on electrical stuff)

[DrkKnight614]

Originally Posted by dtecPwr

I just replaced my power door lock because the drivers door would lock but it wouldn't unlock electronically via the door switch or remote (the passenger door still locks and unlocks, even when using the driverside switch). So I replaced the driver side and it still won't electronically unlock.
Anyone else had this problem?
Any idea's where to look?
I am starting to suspect something electrical in the wiring somewhere (I freaking hate working on electrical stuff)

Yea, not sure if all this is what I need to do either. On mine it sounds like the little motor where the door latch is on the drivers side is not working. The passenger side is though. My drivers door manually locks and unlocks, but it doesn't electronically. I'm figuring that little motor is shot?

[blakeclevenger]

did you guys ever find a solution to this. My passenger door is having a similar issue. It started to make a terrible electrical sound when locking or unlocking. The it just froze all together. Couldn't get the door opened or closed. Somehow, not sure how, I got the door to release. I took the latch and electronic motor (attached to the latch) off and replaced it with a used one from Ebay. This didnt fully solve the issue. The door now opens, closes, lock and unlocks manually, and it locks electronically, but it wont unlock electronically.

The only way to unlock it is to pull the handle. I assume this is a linkage issue? Any thoughts? Did I just get a bad used lock?