I happen to disagree with it being tricky to get out. I recently pulled mine (found out that the internal shaft for one of the gears just snapped in the actuator), and the hardest thing about the job was getting a new/used actuator and getting the door handle off. It only took me about 20 minutes to get everything apart, but I'm still waiting on the actuator from Mazda ($51) so I had to put everything back together because its going to take a week to get it.

 

I have a 92 Protege and the left rear door actuator has gone bad. The cheapest I could find online is $261.49. Is that really the going price?

 

If your lock actuator is making a strange noise then it probably need to be replaced due to some gear related problem. However, if it works OK on cold days but not on hot ones or works once but not twice, there is a cheap easy fix for this. If you remove the lock actuator and take it apart, you'll see a small flat black plate standing on end in the housing with an electrical contact on each side. That is a thermal resistor. It is intended to protect the lock motor from overheating in the event the lock is continually locked and unlocked. So I've read two solutions. One is to wrap it in aluminum foil and the other is to remove it and solder the contact from each side together. In other words bypass it. Also works on many other cars/trucks. Did my F150 the same way.

 

Thx, babyhuey, for the part number for the power lock actuator. I would have had to buy the entire assembly ($160, locally), but I ordered the part directly with the number and paid about $60. And, everything worked as you indicated.

You're the man...
-d

 

I'd go even further as I've disassembled the actuator and found it's working fine, but the motor inside (probably the brush in it) is failing. So I'd replace just this motor, together with the axle and the worm gear, preferably from a broken vehicle. My car is a european MPV from 2002 (2.0D) - does anyone know which other models can be compatible with this?

 

In the near future, I'll be selling the shaft gear replacement part (For the door lock actuator, All doors have same gear). My daughter's car did the same thing, just making a terrible noise when locking or unlocking. I took the door lock actuator apart, and found that the shaft gear broke into two. I looked all over and finally found a guy in Australia that remanufactured the part (uses a stronger plastic material) and sells them in Australia (because some Ford models use the same gear) Ford and Mazda are together). It looks like from 1999-2003 Mazda Protege, the shaft gear is the same size. The shaft gear only should be around $15.00. The starting price on a new actuator is around $42.00 + shipping, and you are still getting the inferior gear. Just type "repair gear only" on the Ebay search, and you should find it. Thanks.