Problem: Door doesn't lock or unlock from the remote or button on the door, especially when it's cold outside. Solution A: Buy a whole new door lock actuator assembly from Subaru for over $100, or take your chances on a used one from a junkyard. Solution B: Crack open the "non-serviceable" assembly and replace the crappy little brushed DC motor for under $10. I'm a cheapskate for life, and I like doing things the hard way, so you can guess which one I chose. Seriously though, it's not that bad of a job. Just a few more steps that weren't well documented anywhere, until now. There's a nice video by some Aussies on removing the door lock actuator assembly. I recommend following that (but use some plastic prying tools unlike that guy) until you're at this point: Pop this cable out first: This translucent plastic shroud has to come off to get at the rest of the goodies. It's held on by two metal tabs and a plastic clip. As you can see, I broke the plastic clip off. I don't know how to remove the shroud without breaking the clip, but it's not critical. You can just put an extra dot of glue there during reassembly: Next, pop this cable out. Rotate the metal end and lift it out of the bracket. Don't touch the screw: Remove the thin rod by turning it 90 degrees and pulling it out of its plastic bracket. It's a little tight, but it will come out: The thick rod has a latching retainer/bushing similar to the ones inside the door, just flip it down and pull the rod out: Okay, now here's the scary part. This plastic cover is glued on. You need to pry it off to get at the motor. I found it easiest to get a flat bladed screwdriver started near the arm that the screwdriver in the picture is pointing at. I slowly worked my way around in either direction from that opening, prying until I heard the glue crack, then moving on. Eventually I got the whole cover off intact: The brass pins that the wiring harness plugs into press into contacts in the back of the motor. You can lift them up with a screwdriver and they just pop right out: The worm gear is a slip fit on the motor shaft; it should come off without too much effort. I added a little more white lithium grease to the gears and pivot points inside the housing: Okay, now install the new motor, then clean the seam around the plastic cover on both sides really well. You need to remove any old grease residue in order for the new glue to bond properly. I used isopropyl alcohol and paper towels to clean and thoroughly dry the plastic without damaging it, then applied super glue to the perimeter of the cover where the original glue was: Reinstall the cover and clamp in place. Super glue works fast, but I gave it 30 minutes to cure just in case: That's it! Reassembly of the door is the reverse of disassembly, also covered in the video linked above. Here are the threads where I found the information that inspired me to do this: https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/door-lock-actuator-motors.190850/ https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/rear-door-power-lock-failed-and-fixed.38841/ And a bonus photo, here's the weirdest thing I found inside my door:
Love this! Haven’t gotten to this point with mine but I’m sure it’ll happen. Just swapped my mirrors with the JDM power folding mirrors and the mirror switch is made by Toyota. Smy sells the switch with the folding button for 80$ and it’s on Amazon with wiring “Toyota” for like 18$ which I found out after the fact. The more you know apparently.
Didn't know this was something I could want, kinda curious about it as well. Thanks. If any of your doors make a squeaky noise when you lock or unlock them, those are the ones that are on their way out. My driver's door was doing it for a while, now that it's fixed, I can hear that the rear passenger's door is next. I feel like I can put that one off for quite a while even if it fails, though (at the risk of triggering @predavore ).
I forgot to take pictures of the process. I should do that, and post a DIY. along with the blind spot camera install. JDM mirrors I found on eBay for like 300$ My mirrors already had turn signals and heated mirrors so it was the 10 pin connector, so plug and play. I ordered the SMY switch from their site alone with the Toyota switch from amazon and used some of the connectors in the Toyota switch to replace some of the wires in my terminals that needed to be added. wiring in the auto fold was pretty straight forward, I just followed the diagram on the "cheap amazon brand" auto fold switch. There's a decent write up on wrxforums from Power6 and monkiboy that was really fun to follow along as it was from years ago and they didn't seem to have access to amazon and Ali websites that we currently have access to. I'll go pull my mirror off and take pics. This isn't my car and I don't know how to post videos here but this is essentially my setup. https://www.facebook.com/1254619355/videos/pcb.4199430893613118/839904152243742
