My 09 Fit's right rear door lock has been making a loud clack when commanded to lock the door, either with the remote or when shifting out of Park. Then today it made a much more nasty sound, like gears in a drive motor stripping/loose. It will sometimes clack like the push/pull rod to the lock is loose, or it may grind. Still physically locks/unlocks OK. How big of a deal is it to get the door panel off and change the thing? A Honda parts check shows p/n 72610-S7A-003 is $110. Guess I'll have to take care of that after oil change time & brakes maintenance are done. Is this a common failure on our Fits?

 

Sounds like the actuator rod has fallen part way out of it's hole.

 

No big deal to pull the panels off.

 

Hopefully that's all it is. Doesn't matter if you're shifting out of Park or lock the doors with the remote. The door actually does lock and unlock OK, and only makes the noise when locking. Listen to what it sounds like, pretty nasty:

 

O yea that is not just a rod out of place. Never heard anything like that.

 

Well, I got into the panel this afternoon (that wasn't fun or easy). Shoulda' looked for the procedure first After finally getting the panel off and peeling back the plastic film, I can't tell where the door lock mechanism is at. Only thing I see that looks like a gearmotor that would do this, is down in the bottom, just to the right of the speaker, but I think that's the window motor. Power window works fine. I found how to temporarily disable the lock motor, by unplugging the connector in the upper right of the door, towards the rear. That seems to control it, won't operate. So for now I just have to leave that door alone and lock it manually for now, doesn't affect the others.

Anybody have a good take-apart R&R DIY for this thing? Something tells me this ain't gonna be easy. I hope I'm wrong!

 

I got into the door again yesterday to try and get the lock actuator removed. Quite a task, it turns out. The actuator is in the rear of the door panel, and is very firmly held in place by 3 large screws on the door jamb face where the door actually latches shut when closed. These required an impact driver to remove with good bit of banging. After that, pop out 2 rubber plugs covering access holes to take out 2 bolts holding the outside door handle on. Use a magnetized socket here or something sticky in the socket, or you may drop a bolt down inside the door like i did and have to get a magnet tool to fish it back out. Then remove the pull rod off the door handle, disconnect the cables from the inside door handle. One more big screw holding it to the door panel, then try to figure out how to actually get the mechanism OUT of the door. Here I became totally stuck..... the window channel is in the way..... WTF..... I later discovered the bolt holding said channel inside the door. At this point, I was rather pissed and tired from all this crap, and had to re-assemble it all BACK together so the door can be shut so I can drive it 'til parts get here ($132 later). The door won't stay shut unless the whole thing is installed with the 3 big impact screws, and you must "manually" lock that door by pushing on the lock cable. Other 3 doors still work normally with the remote. So, with luck, next week this whole thing will be over with!

 

Hang in there you are getting closer and closer.

 

What was the final solution to this? Replacing the actuator? My car started making that exact noise over the weekend.

 

I just fixed mine today. Follow the above instructions until you get to the place to remove the actuator. To remove the metal rod attached to the yellow piece on the door handle, you have to apply quite a bit of force to snap it out. I ended up using a metal forked weeding tool to give me enough leverage to apply against the rod and the door handle. My Honda Fit is a 2010 basic model.

1. Take off the bolt holding the lower part of the window channel and slide off the lower part of the metal channel off of the rubber section. That should make it easy to remove the actuator.

2. Remove the bolt holding the door lock. This will allow you to remove the actuator and the cable attached to the actuator and the lock.

3. Once you get the actuator, cable assembly, and lock out of the door, there will be a small white piece with two tabs holding the lower part of the cable assembly to the actuator. Slide it away from the actuator to release the it. Then separate the cable assembly from the actuator.

4. Reverse the procedure by attaching the cable assembly and lock to the new actuator. Slide down the white plastic piece to lock in the cable assembly.

5. Install the actuator back into the door. Screw in the three screws on the side of the door to secure the actuator. Attach the screw holding the side of the actuator.

6. Place the lock back into place and attach the bolt. This will secure the lock back to the door.

7. Snap in the metal rod into the plastic yellow piece in the plastic door handle section.

8. Slide the metal window channel back on to the rubber and slide it all the up until it mates with the upper metal window channel. Attach the bolt to secure the lower metal window channel.

9. Then, attach the door panel and side plastic panel and you should be done.

 

whats everyone's opinion on buying a cheap actuator ? i see some for 140+ but others for $20....

my driver door doesnt always unlock but im planning on selling it soon.

 

If you look carefully the $20 ones are probably not the correct part. There's a huge price disparity between car models, years, and even passenger vs driver door.

I ended up shelling out the $180 (2010 fit, driver's door) when I started having to try multiple times to get my car to unlock.

If there actually is a $20 one, I would totally buy it. The little bits of plastic are in no way worth almost $200.

 

So, I'm having the same problem with my driver's door not unlocking sometimes with either the remote or the key itself.

When it doesn't unlock, you are up shit creek. Cause if it doesn't unlock you can't get into the car. There is no other key lock in any of the door or the rear hatch.

With mine, it appears the culprit is the connection between the actuator and the cable coming from the outside key lock. It appears to be jammed. Or, it could be the key cylinder itself.

Perhaps you guys can tell me something...when you insert your key into the outside lock and turn it, does it seem smooth and when you reach the end of rotation of the key it firmly stops?

Or, does it seem mushy and not have a firm stop to it?

If I disconnect the cable from the outside key to the actuator, the actuator works fine, and the key seems to rotate easy and stops firmly at the end of the rotation (although the cable end isn't connected.

If I insert the cable into the actuator, the actuator won't unlock with the fob, it seems jammed. It will lock properly though. And, the key turn seems mushy with no firm stop at the end of the rotation.

So, the actuator won't turn properly when it also has to force the key cable to turn, and vice versa. So, is the key lock not moving freely or is the connection at the actuator not moving freely?

What do you guys think?

 

The lock on my car is "mushy". It unlocks after about a 45 degree turn, but keeps going with increasing resistance to about 70 degrees.

When my actuator was bad, the keyhole unlock didn't work (turned but just didn't unlock). This caused some issue when my battery went dead... Called AAA and the guy tried to stick the rod through the door frame and pull the handle, but it wouldn't open. I knew the remote unlock still worked (with buzzing) so he was able to grab the hood release with the rod and pop the hood; we attached a battery and I unlocked my car.

So I don't know if it's normal, but at least for me replacing the actuator fixed the manual door unlock.

 

Can I just pull the electrical connector to my grinding actuator and use the key and manual lock buttons?

 

My mechanic quoted me $600 to replace the actuator. Do I run risk of being locked out of car?

 

I know this is an old thread but did you ever find if this is acceptable? My passenger door actuator is acting up and I'd just as soon remove the power and just use manual but not sure if this is doable. I've been searching the forum for a good bit without a solid answer.

 

For anyone that found this thread like I did (using a Google search) I just wanted to add that we accidentally discovered that the door lock only makes this sound when the Engine is off. If the engine is running then it was fine. Did a voltage test and found that the battery is a little low (12.3 volts instead of the 12.5 to 12.6 that it should be with the engine off). With the engine running the voltage is around 13.5V, which appears to be enough to allow the actuator to work normally.

So, before you dig into a project to replace a door actuator, you might want to confirm that voltage isn't the issue. Could be a problem with the the battery, or the alternator or voltage regulator for example..