Repair Mini Cooper Electric Door Lock Actuator / Locking Mechanism

This instructiable details how to repair a Mini cooper door lock actuator. I did this to my 2003 mini cooper s. I was sick of reading about the countless number of people who have been forced to replace this poorly designed component with a new one ($130) because BMW made them "non-serviceable". This unit IS SERVICEABLE - if you are clever enough ;)

I would also like to thank the guys over @ NAM (northamericanmotoring.com).

~enjoy

Step 1 Are you sure you have a broken unit?

Confirm that  in fact you do have a bad door lock actuator. Check [1] fuses [2] other door locks functionality [3] wiring harness.

get your tools ready. I used torx, flat head screw drivers, pin, acetone, multimeter, DC-power supply.

Comments

[MolecularSandwich]

It has been about a month and everything is still working well!

[oakback]

Nice! My rear door lock actuators on my Mazda 5 are all but dead, but I was dreading taking them apart. I'm sure all door lock actuators have a lot in common, so I'm sure this will be helpful when I decide to tackle it.

Where is a good place to buy the little motors, if necessary?

[MolecularSandwich]

Its been my (limited) experience that generally you can repair most electric motors. As for a replacement - I woudl look to source a motor from another actuator - it is very tight in those cases and hacking one to fit would not be easy. Good luck!