How to remove AUIII door/locking pin

[Timeshift]

Originally Posted by JC

A quick fix for a broken actuator is to take the inside door trim off, make sure the child lock is not on (ie make sure door handle on inside will open door), then remove the rod connector between the outside door handle and the lock mechanism. This will mean that you can't open the door from the outside, so the car will at least be safe in a carpark etc.

I repeat, BEFORE doing this, nake the sure the child safety lock is OFF!!!

Last year my right rear door's actuator blew and I had to get it replaced under warranty. Now, my left rear door has stopped locking for what I can only assume is the same problem. Ford is quoting $300 to replace the actuator, others are quoting $180 and upward.

In regards to the above post, is someone able to expand on this a little bit on how to do it? Like,take the inside door trim off? How much of it and how do I actually get it off? How do I and is it hard to remove the "rod connector" once the door is off? Cheers for info that anyone can provide, i'm not too savvy with this sort of stuff! :nutsycuck

[antilooped]

Its a piece of cake mate, ive done a couple of them, just pull the inside trim off in one piece, then any plastic shielding over the inside of the door behind the trim, i believe the actuator module just unbolts on the au, just unhook the 'u' pin that goes to the latch mechanism from the module and slot the new one in and plug it back in and reconnect the 'u' pin, u dont have to cut any wires. U should be looking around 100 bucks for a new actuator from ford and around an hour to do the job first time round. Most parts in the door mechanism just unhook so you wont have too much to worry about breaking anything just dont apply too much pressure to anything. Take the trim off and its pretty straightforward and explanatory. Ull see how it all works Its not hard.

Good luck.

[Pinkbits]

$130 odd for new from Ford, or $60 odd from FTG auto parts.

[Timeshift]

After three weeks of putting it off (yes, shame on me, been in various parking lots etc, I would have totally kicked myself if someone got in to my car) I finally got around to fixing the non-locking door.

Following a bit from this thread and a bit from http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=45184 - a lot of it ended up being guess work in the end! I don't know if what I did was what people were suggesting (as the quick fix instead of getting a new actuator) or whether I just can't understand instructions properly, but this is how I did it/would have written it:

1. Unscrew all screws you can find (only the exterior ones)
2. Pull the door cover off
3. Unscrew the inside handle so you can take the foamy stuff off without ripping it and ensuring nothing gets in the way when fixing.
4. Once foam is off, look at the top left of the door. There will be a bare metal silver rod, around 3 inches long and only a few mm in diameter. Twist the black latch at the base of the rod which will allow you to lift and unclip the rod out of the white plastic thing it was inserted in to.

Now the door can't be opened from the outside but still ok from the inside! $300 saved! :

EDIT: And of course, cheers for everyones help! Fordforums an excellent resource as always! :