ALL 4 door locks on my '04 Mo failed AT SAME TIME..HELP!!

[ewald88]

I just had my wife's '04 AWD SL Mo into the local dealership for oil change/maintenance and wanted them to take a look at the door locks as they weren't working correctly.

The problem:

The doors would sometimes lock, sometimes unlock...sometimes 2 or 3 doors would lock/unlock....and never the same doors having issues at the same time. We first noticed it when I opened the front passenger door and the alarm system went off. I looked at my wife to see if she as surprised by this (sometimes she doesn't tell me about possible "issues" right away) and I could see this may have happened before. When I asked what was up, she told me it had happened earlier in the week. She also said when she checked sometimes the rear doors didn't lock or unlock either.

What I checked:

Both factory fobs and the Astro Start fob (which she hadn't used in a couple months, but I wanted to double check anyway). All seemed to fail at fully locking or unlocking the doors equally.

What dealership found:

Checked electronics and had good positive and ground (wanted to see if it was the master switch in the drivers door). Could hear the locks "trying" to close or open, but locks not moving.

What they are saying:

ALL 4 ACTUATORS (spelling is wrong I'm sure but act -u -ators is how it sounds and yes that is piss poor for a college educated guy but my head is a little hot right now as you'll soon see why) HAVE GONE BAD SIMULTANEOUSLY!!

Better news:

Front Drivers door - $240.00 for part
Rear Drivers door - $244.11
Front Passengers door - $178.69
Rear Passengers door - $300.11

w/labor estimate = $1,364.44 !!!

Question to the group (the Mo only has 49,300 miles on it, all maintanence done routinely at dealership):

What are the mathmatical chances of all 4 actuators going bad at the same time?

What are my options with Nissan if I call them directly?

Does anyone have any thoughts as to what could cause this to happen...I'm thinking this is the "effect" from something else like a fuse that didn't blow to protect the system or something. The service writer just blew that thought off.


HELP IN ANY WAY WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!!

[ekaxel]

You could change them yourself. Actual parts cost is about $600 from one of the online suppliers...

[ewald88]

As a former farm kid I'm willing to take a crack at it, but what is the skill level required not to screw up my Mo and it's apparently fragile electronics system?

Even if I have the dealership put in the parts, it sure sounds like I can get them a lot cheaper online....that at least is a starting point.

Thanks for the reply!

[zebelkhan]

It is odd that all 4 actuators went bad at the same time. If I was a betting man, I would bet that actuators are not the problem. Before you invest so much money in this, I think you should pop the door panels and check for voltage going to these actuators when they are not working.

As long as you are careful, there isn't anything in the doors that you can destroy. I would invest in a Service Manual, downlodable online through Nissan for $19.95, and then use it to guide you through the job of taking the door panel off.

[ekaxel]

No "electronic" issues. Just a lot of disassembly/assembly. If you have the shop manual and follow the directions, it is not too demanding. You DO have to completely disassemble the door (on the car) to get the lock out. It was the first piece down the line!

[ewald88]

If the voltage was incorrect to the actuators, what would be the culprit?

Is there a way to check that part/parts before giving permission to the dealership to spend $125+/hour on labor to get to the actuators?

I was over on the NICO website (Nissan Infinity owners website) and saw that this actuator issue in '04 and '05 Nissan Muranos and Maximas isn't new. AND strangely enough, the only other vehicle that my local dealership has EVER had this happen to is an '05 Maxima.

[05MAROONSL]

I am having this exact same problem on my 2005 murano. If you find out what the issue is, PM me please. I'll do the same for you if I can figure it out.

[zebelkhan]

Originally posted by ewald88
If the voltage was incorrect to the actuators, what would be the culprit?

You will need the SM for this because it will give you almost all the info you need, including tests you can do.

Low or intermittent voltage could be the sign of a bad ground or a relay. I don't have my MS here but if I am not mistaken, BCM controls door actuators and they are notorious for malfunctioning due to grounding issues.

[05MAROONSL]

I just talked to a nissan service tech and he stated that power is sent through the first drivers door actuator. If it fails it can cause all the locks to malfunction. The reason people are having success changing all actuators is because they are changing the drivers doors in the process. Just change the drivers door actuator, it should fix the problem. I'm going to order it and let youll know.

[catlyn]

Had the same problem with my 2004 SL AWD last year (at approximately 50000 miles) and all 4 actuators went bad within a few months. I asked my dealer's service department if they thought Nissan would help, and they gave me an 800# which I think was Nissan North America. I reported 3 that weren't working at the time, and the dealer ended up doing comp(free) work to replace all 3. I was rather rudely told by the service manager not to expect any free work ever again from them.

The lock that wasn't repaired still doesn't work all the time. I often have to manually lock or unlock it.

From what I've read, the actuators are a problem on the Murano and possibly the Frontier, to the extent that it should be a recall item.

[ekaxel]

Originally posted by 05MAROONSL
I just talked to a nissan service tech and he stated that power is sent through the first drivers door actuator. If it fails it can cause all the locks to malfunction. The reason people are having success changing all actuators is because they are changing the drivers doors in the process. Just change the drivers door actuator, it should fix the problem. I'm going to order it and let youll know.

Didn't work for me. Drivers door was the only one I changed, and I have 2 other bad ones at present....

[05MAROONSL]

Originally posted by ekaxel
"I just talked to a nissan service tech and he stated that power is sent through the first drivers door actuator. If it fails it can cause all the locks to malfunction. The reason people are having success changing all actuators is because they are changing the drivers doors in the process. Just change the drivers door actuator, it should fix the problem. I'm going to order it and let youll know."

Didn't work for me. Drivers door was the only one I changed, and I have 2 other bad ones at present....

Thats odd. It's not always the culprit, but he said often times is. He stated that its always the best place to start before spending alot of money on other parts. He said the next place to check is usually the BCM. Which is under the drivers side of the dash. Before just assuming the BCM make sure all your power wires and the main ground has a good connection at the battery. If you do replace the BCM. You will have to get your FOB and ignition reprogrammed.

[ewald88]

Just thought I'd let everyone know that Nissan America blew us off and offered NO HELP OF ANY KIND WITH THIS ISSUE. No splitting of costs, helping the dealership with labor or parts costs....nothing!

This is an issue easily found on NICO.com (or .org.....can't remember right this second), a website for Nissan and Infinity owners. And one online petition is upwards of 200 people on it with same issue on 04 or 05 Nissan Mo, Quest mini vans, Maximas and Infinity G35's and FX 35/45's.

I have the website address to post complaint to federal saftey agency and will be doing so shortly. As I sit here in a hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada ( a major metro city that I believe is Canada's murder capital), it very much occurs to me that I've had to manually check the 5 locks every time I, my wife, my sister in law and our 4 year old daughter get out of the vehicle in a major city. I don't know if the doors are locked or not, whether we could be car jacked thinking we were safely locked in....or whether the door locks are actually locking automatically as we go down the road and my 4 year old can't causally open the door at 80 mph on interstate. This sucks and is unexcusible and I truly hope that Nissan isn't taken to task on this only after someone losses a life or is severly injured and has to sue the living @#$! out of them.

While we truly love the Mo and wish to keep it for years to come, this is leaving an unbelievably sour taste in our mouth. If competitors are wondering why people are taking their "Cash for Clunkers" money to Ford....please see this as exhibit #1 as we are very much sharing this with anyone we know who is looking for a vehicle. I and my family have had literally upwards of 50+ vehicles over the last 25 years as I grew up on a farm and I've never had to replace an actuator, let alone all 4 go bad at once (and that's including the "horrible" K cars of the 80's even!)

The dealer was going to try and get somewhere with Nissan after the rep at Nissan America refused to answer multiple messages left on her voice mail over a 10 day period (she gave Nissan's decision to my wife via cell phone after dealing with me on everything up to the actual decision....and I wanted clarification on their reasoning before going to National Safety Board or whatever it is that I found online). I've had no answer one way or the other from the dealer for 10 days now either.

[Gonzo]

Maybe I missed it in the above posts... I would confirm the relay is working correctly, heck I might even replace it. I don't know the cost but would bet its under $30 and they probably all share the same relay.

Opening each door to replace the actuators would be time consuming at best.

[catlyn]

2004 SL AWD - My hatch lock had also gone out, but fortunately it was under warranty at the time. I think it was actuator related, so be sure and check this lock out too if you're having problems. I also had lock hardware problems around the same time. The hatch lock wouldn't open, and I had a trunk full of luggage while on vacation. What fun to have to fold down the back seat & unload everything through the back doors.