2006 MPV Door Lock Actuator Repair
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04-22-2019 | 07:12 PM
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From: Blowing Rock, NC
2006 MPV Door Lock Actuator Repair
2006 MPV Actuator repair.
Thought I'd contribute my experience with a 2006 MPV that I worked on this week. This MPV has power doors, but no security system, but I don't think having a security system would make a difference. Both the rear hatch and side door actuators were acting up and not consistently locking and unlocking the doors. I could see them trying, but it looked like the lock actuators were weak and failing. The actuators are $160-200 apiece new, so I decided to repair the existing actuators by buying and installing new Mabuchi servo motors instead of replacing the entire actuator.
I couldn't find a write-up on replacing the MPV rear hatch door actuator, but I did refer to this Mazda5 thread. I grabbed and firmly pulled the side window trim off the rear hatch. It's held on by pressure fit metal clips. Then removed the door handle strap screws and popped the lower panel at the lower edge (it's held on by plastic trim retainer clips). Once it's hanging from the window side, lift it off and set it aside. Once inside the hatch door panel, the actuator is attached to the door latch, so the latch has to be removed. I unbolted the 3 bolts at the bottom of the outside of the hatch (that held the latch in place). Then, from the inside of the panel, I unhooked the two electric wire connectors with a flat blade screw driver, and also disconnected the 2 control rods attached to the lock mechanism. Then the whole latch/actuator assembly easily came out. Once out, I unscrewed the actuator from the latch and began the process of opening it to get to the little Mabuchi servo motor that powers the actuator.
The actuator looked different from the ones I've seen in other Mazda threads. The rear actuator was a simple device with only one (2 wire) connection. I had to split it open with a razor knife and a screw driver to access the servo motor. It split open relatively easy. Inside was pretty simple: a 2 wire connection to the servo motor, and a worm gear engaged with a round, toothed gear to control the lock lever. (A very simple device, and certainly not worth $200). I popped the mabuchi servo motor out, and replaced it with a new one I purchased on ebay for $4. (See my below note on the servo coupling). Since the actuator case didn't have screws to keep the case together, I glued the two case halves together with shoe goo. I wanted a strong glue to keep the case together, but soft and flexible enough if I had to crack the case to access it again. I believe it's important to glue it together, because the motor puts a lot of torque on the gears, and when I tested it without being glued, the gear slipped.
Next I worked on the side door locks. To access them, I had to remove the inside door latch, using a trick I saw on
: I opened the side, sliding door about 6 inches, and starting from the bottom, gently pulled the door panel away from the door. Once the inside door panel was off, the actuator was easy to access. Two screws hold it in place. Once the actuator is out, it was dangling by 4 wires entering the case. There was NO connector for the wires, so I had to unscrew the 4 screws holding the actuator case together, and access the servo motor still connected to the power wires. I used a small screw driver to pry up the servo motor. It was an unusual connection, with 2 wires connected to the servo with contacts that inserted into the female servo power connection. I had to pull them out individually, mark them, and leave them hanging, while I installed the new servo. I had to insert the two loose connectors into the new servo with my thumb, and then press them in with the flat blade of a screw driver. It was tricky and at first I didn't think they were going to fit, but they did. I lubricated the gears and put the 2 halves of the actuator case back together and used the 4 screws to hold it together. (No need for glue on this one). Then I reinstalled the actuator into the door with the 2 screws. Later, after testing, I reinstalled the door panels. All in all, it was a relatively easy fix, that saved about $600 for the 3 door actuators I worked on, so very worthwhile.
The Mabuchi servo on the MPV is different from the ones shown in other Mazda actuator threads. The MPV servo has a metal coupling that slides on the 10mm round power shaft that protrudes from the servo. You have to remove the coupling and install it on the new servo. I found this thread on a Lexus forum that uses a different actuator, but the same servo/worm gear/coupling setup. I found it helpful when trying to decide how to remove the coupling. I tried holding the shaft, under the coupling, with a pair of needle nose pliers and then tapping the shaft from above with a small rod (I used a small allen wrench) to try and tap the shaft out of the coupling. It didn't work. I was afraid I would damage the coupling. Others have tried heating the coupling and tapping it, but then they complained that it didn't fit snugly on the new servo shaft. I ended up buying a small Walkera motor pinion gear puller on ebay, and using it to remove the coupling. It worked adequately well, even though it's not a high quality metal puller. It made the job easier. Once I had the coupling off, I had to place it on the new servo and tap it into place. I found that inserting the servo shaft into the opposite end of the coupling gave a more snug fit. Others have had problems with the coupling slipping after doing this, so it's smart to use some thread lock sealer.
One other thing I'll mention, is that after doing the above repair, I tested the locks and found out they worked backwards. When I hit the door lock button on the remote, they UNLOCKED the doors I worked on. As it turns out, I apparently ordered reverse polarity servos. They were marked as appropriate for Mazda, but apparently not for the MPV. I had to cut the power wires to the actuators I repaired and reverse the polarity, by connecting positive to negative wire, etc. I'm not proud of this jack leg approach, but I didn't want to order new servo motors, and reinstall them. So be careful what motors you purchase.
Here's the servos I purchased from ebay that turned out to be reverse polarized for the MPV: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4pc-Mabuchi...72.m2749.l2649
I didn't document the whole process in pictures, but here are a couple I took, that may help someone else trying this same repair on a MPV.
Here's the rear hatch with actuator attached:
This is the rear hatch actuator removed:
https://i.imgur.com/caCVmGD.jpg
This is the sliding side door actuator removed and disassembled (the servo and wires are out):
https://i.imgur.com/xGg8MRl.jpg
This is the servo with worm gear (both rear hatch and side door actuators used the exact same servo):
https://i.imgur.com/y1iyPYB.jpg
Thought I'd contribute my experience with a 2006 MPV that I worked on this week. This MPV has power doors, but no security system, but I don't think having a security system would make a difference. Both the rear hatch and side door actuators were acting up and not consistently locking and unlocking the doors. I could see them trying, but it looked like the lock actuators were weak and failing. The actuators are $160-200 apiece new, so I decided to repair the existing actuators by buying and installing new Mabuchi servo motors instead of replacing the entire actuator.
I couldn't find a write-up on replacing the MPV rear hatch door actuator, but I did refer to this Mazda5 thread. I grabbed and firmly pulled the side window trim off the rear hatch. It's held on by pressure fit metal clips. Then removed the door handle strap screws and popped the lower panel at the lower edge (it's held on by plastic trim retainer clips). Once it's hanging from the window side, lift it off and set it aside. Once inside the hatch door panel, the actuator is attached to the door latch, so the latch has to be removed. I unbolted the 3 bolts at the bottom of the outside of the hatch (that held the latch in place). Then, from the inside of the panel, I unhooked the two electric wire connectors with a flat blade screw driver, and also disconnected the 2 control rods attached to the lock mechanism. Then the whole latch/actuator assembly easily came out. Once out, I unscrewed the actuator from the latch and began the process of opening it to get to the little Mabuchi servo motor that powers the actuator.
The actuator looked different from the ones I've seen in other Mazda threads. The rear actuator was a simple device with only one (2 wire) connection. I had to split it open with a razor knife and a screw driver to access the servo motor. It split open relatively easy. Inside was pretty simple: a 2 wire connection to the servo motor, and a worm gear engaged with a round, toothed gear to control the lock lever. (A very simple device, and certainly not worth $200). I popped the mabuchi servo motor out, and replaced it with a new one I purchased on ebay for $4. (See my below note on the servo coupling). Since the actuator case didn't have screws to keep the case together, I glued the two case halves together with shoe goo. I wanted a strong glue to keep the case together, but soft and flexible enough if I had to crack the case to access it again. I believe it's important to glue it together, because the motor puts a lot of torque on the gears, and when I tested it without being glued, the gear slipped.
Next I worked on the side door locks. To access them, I had to remove the inside door latch, using a trick I saw on
The Mabuchi servo on the MPV is different from the ones shown in other Mazda actuator threads. The MPV servo has a metal coupling that slides on the 10mm round power shaft that protrudes from the servo. You have to remove the coupling and install it on the new servo. I found this thread on a Lexus forum that uses a different actuator, but the same servo/worm gear/coupling setup. I found it helpful when trying to decide how to remove the coupling. I tried holding the shaft, under the coupling, with a pair of needle nose pliers and then tapping the shaft from above with a small rod (I used a small allen wrench) to try and tap the shaft out of the coupling. It didn't work. I was afraid I would damage the coupling. Others have tried heating the coupling and tapping it, but then they complained that it didn't fit snugly on the new servo shaft. I ended up buying a small Walkera motor pinion gear puller on ebay, and using it to remove the coupling. It worked adequately well, even though it's not a high quality metal puller. It made the job easier. Once I had the coupling off, I had to place it on the new servo and tap it into place. I found that inserting the servo shaft into the opposite end of the coupling gave a more snug fit. Others have had problems with the coupling slipping after doing this, so it's smart to use some thread lock sealer.
One other thing I'll mention, is that after doing the above repair, I tested the locks and found out they worked backwards. When I hit the door lock button on the remote, they UNLOCKED the doors I worked on. As it turns out, I apparently ordered reverse polarity servos. They were marked as appropriate for Mazda, but apparently not for the MPV. I had to cut the power wires to the actuators I repaired and reverse the polarity, by connecting positive to negative wire, etc. I'm not proud of this jack leg approach, but I didn't want to order new servo motors, and reinstall them. So be careful what motors you purchase.
Here's the servos I purchased from ebay that turned out to be reverse polarized for the MPV: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4pc-Mabuchi...72.m2749.l2649
I didn't document the whole process in pictures, but here are a couple I took, that may help someone else trying this same repair on a MPV.
Here's the rear hatch with actuator attached:
This is the rear hatch actuator removed:
https://i.imgur.com/caCVmGD.jpg
This is the sliding side door actuator removed and disassembled (the servo and wires are out):
https://i.imgur.com/xGg8MRl.jpg
This is the servo with worm gear (both rear hatch and side door actuators used the exact same servo):
https://i.imgur.com/y1iyPYB.jpg
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