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Driver side door randomly not unlocking

942 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  DrFeelGood 
#1 ·
Hello.

I have a weird issue with my 2007 Mazda 6.
If the car is not used for a longer period (a day or days) then the driver side door doesn't unlock using the fob. But if I press the unlock button 2-3 times then then it finally unlocks. Other doors don't have this issue. If the driver side door finally unlocks after pressing the unlock button a few times then it doesn't have any issue locking the door using the fob and also no issue unlocking the door until the car is not used for a period of time again.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
It could be that it is just dry in there. Then again it could be the actuator not working correctly.

1 other thing that I can think of and you should be aware of is that there are springs deep inside the actuators that are prone to break. When this happens, the door will not unlock from inside or out. I had to rip my door panel off from the inside with the door closed to jiggle the rods to get the door to unlock and open. This resulted in me breaking the door panel in 2 because I wasn't careful enough. :crying:

I'd start by taking the panel off and take a look at all the cables and the actuator. Spay a little bit of lithium grease down into the actuator where you can as well as in the cables. Try cycling the door locks while you have the panel off and watch to see if anything is binding up.
 
#9 ·
It could be that it is just dry in there. Then again it could be the actuator not working correctly.

1 other thing that I can think of and you should be aware of is that there are springs deep inside the actuators that are prone to break. When this happens, the door will not unlock from inside or out. I had to rip my door panel off from the inside with the door closed to jiggle the rods to get the door to unlock and open. This resulted in me breaking the door panel in 2 because I wasn't careful enough. :crying:

I'd start by taking the panel off and take a look at all the cables and the actuator. Spay a little bit of lithium grease down into the actuator where you can as well as in the cables. Try cycling the door locks while you have the panel off and watch to see if anything is binding up.

I had the exact same thing happen to me with the broken spring. I have also come across cars in the yard that have had this same issue. Terrible design IMO. I think this is sound advise to try lubricant.


Something else I have noticed is if you have converted to LED interior lights (specifically the door courtesy), some of the units interfere with the electronics is strange ways. In my 2004 it would prevent the fob from working at all until the interior was done dimming (up or down) and this was also semi-random. Just a thought.
 
#3 ·
+1 on the sticky actuator and +1 on the locked door due to the broken spring, happened to me on my old silver 6 but was able to remove the panel without damaging it.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Auto part Metal


The spring was a heads up as a common issue. What happens is the slide rivet circled in red will go past the red line and bind. When it gets to a certain point circled in blue, all hell has broken loose.

Start as stated and take the panel off and take a look. Have some grease ready and give things a spray. 12 year old grease will have a sticky feel to it vs an oily feel.
 
#6 ·
View attachment 228218

The spring was a heads up as a common issue. What happens is the slide rivet circled in red will go past the red line and bind. When it gets to a certain point circled in blue, all hell has broken loose.

Start as stated and take the panel off and take a look. Have some grease ready and give things a spray. 12 year old grease will have a sticky feel to it vs an oily feel.
I've read that it's very difficult to access the latch/actuator. To do that the inner panel have to be removed as well which means that the door glass have to be removed too. Or Is there some easier way?
 
#7 ·
There is an easier way. With the window all the way up, tape the window in its place with masking tape of choice up and over the window frame. Take the 2 nuts loose that hold the regulator in place from the inner panel. Take the 3 longish bolts that hold the regulator motor out and move the motor to the side. Once those are out, you can get enough swing from the inner panel to get to what your looking for.
 
#8 ·
An interesting thing I noticed today. At first the lock wouldn’t open from the fob for a few times and then I wasn’t able to open/close other door’s windows from the driver’s control panel. I had to redo the programming procedure to be able to control other windows again. Not sure anymore what’s going on here.


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