jahannah

I have been enjoying the no locking/partially locking door problem for some time on the front and rear driver's side doors. I have tried several things, including lubrication and changing the key fob batteries, but nothing has worked. Now the problem has worsened, with the car's alarm going off multiple times throughout the night. I have begun unhooking the battery in the evening, but that is no solution.

My question is whether the door actuators are failing, causing the body control module to think that a door has opened, or whether the BCM itself is failing, or both? Has anyone had any sucess in testing the BCM or the door actuators? I am reasonably handy with a multitester, but have no idea what the various values would represent and I am afraid of blowing up the BCM.

Courtesy sells the BCM for $272.16, but even if I could install it (and it does not look too difficult), I would still need to go to my local dealer to have it programmed to recognize my keys. Does anyone have any ideas (or perhaps a shortcut to unhooking the battery each night)?

jahannah

Anybody have thoughts? I unplugged the horn relay, so that I (and my neighbors) can sleep at night without pulling the battery cable. I am inclined to believe it is the door actuators, but would hate to put in the work to change them only to find it was the BCM (or to burn out the new actuators).

Apollos2

iTrader: (16)

Wow, haven't heard of this problem before. Sorry. Maybe have the dealer diag it then fix it?

CanadianMoFo

I recently replaced my drivers side rear, and passenger side front lock assembly's. The lock would twitch a bit when the unlock button was pressed on either the door or the keyfob. The acutator did not seem strong enough to operate the lock.

After replacing the assembly the lock worked fine. Total time was about 2 hours. The front door is a little more difficult than the rear.

I had the alarm go off unexpectedly. The BCM assumes the doors are locked. Since they're not, if someone opens a door the alarm goes off. Dunno if someone is trying to break into your car or not.

CM

jahannah

I think it may be the door lock actuators as well, but just want to be sure before I devote the time. The alarm is going off without any doors being opened. I have firmly shut all of the doors and manually engaged the locks and the alarm still sounds. I was not sure whether the door open/door closed situation for the alarm might be affected by a bad actuator. The door switches themselves (on the inside of the door well) appear to be working, since they turn the dome light on and off when depressed with the door working.

CanadianMoFo

Unless it's a door switch that is working intermittently. Shorting to ground causing the alarm to sound. Maybe pull the switches out and look at the connections if it's not too much trouble.

jahannah

Good point. Those door switches are easy to remove and check. I just assumed they were not the problem, since it seems weird that they would fail at the same time that my door locks started acting up. If they check out, I will be back to figuring out actuators or BCM.

jahannah

Okay, evidently not the door switches, as I could see nothing wrong with them. I ordered the remote door lock assemblies from Courtesy (after having been given poor service at the local Nalley Nissan dealer in Decatur, GA) and will update after I have changed them out. Does anyone have a how-to (hopefully, with pictures) about how to change them?

CanadianMoFo

Search for the LED lights in the door handle install post. It's got some good pics of removing the door panels.

The rear door is easy. Essentially one screw behind the handle. Pull off the trim in the center of the door. Two screws to be removed there. Then the door latch assembly, will need Torx screwdriver. Two screws there. Pull the small part of the handle out. Shift the handle to the side and remove. Two screws holding the window track to the door need to be removed. Three screws holding the latch assembly need to be removed. Pull out the assembly. Detach the cables from the door handle, detach the electrical connection. Assembly is the reverse.

The front door has a metal plate in front of everything. There are like 12 screws to remove. The issue is the window tracks are held up by this panel. Once you pull it back to access the door it starts to fall. It's a bit of a pain to manage. But not too bad. I had practice on the rear door first before I tackled the front door.

CM

jahannah

Thanks for the great info! Hopefully, this will work. I will update when the parts are shipped and my work is done.

21max

Do u have any signs of scratches on your windows ive seen similar problems when actuator rods get bent when somebody tries to slim jim doors open!

jahannah

I have not seen anything on the window. That could be the case, because the ATL is not the safest place for any car. I will let you know when I have it open this weekend.

1hawaii50

iTrader: (14)

I would NOT probe anything on the BCM. It doesn't take much to screw it up...don't ask me how I know.

jahannah

Ouch! I can only imagine. An update: I took out the rear door lock assembly and replaced it yesterday. I used the LED install post suggested above as a guide, but an incomplete one, since that one involves the front door. The whole operation took me about 2 hours, mainly because I went really slow and hit some roadblocks. Sorry, no pictures because I was limited in time.

The process went as follows: I pried off the silver trim piece at each end and carefully removed it and the one screw that it uncovered. I pried off the plastic screw cover by the door handle and removed that screw. I then tried to remove the door, but found that it was still attached. After some pondering, I pried off the window switch bezel and uncovered the other screw for the door handle, which I removed. When I pulled the panel slowly away from the bottom of the door, it came off easily.

With the door planel off, I removed the 2 rods attached to the door handle, which were pretty easy to remove. This might be a two person job, with one person holding the door panel, which is still attached by the courtesy light wires, the rods, and the window switch. I removed the entire switch from the bezel, rather than just the harness, since the whole assembly easily fit through the door panel. The wires for the light came out easily from the harness.

I removed the three Torx bolts holding the assembly from the door (I think it was a Torx 27). Then I found that the rod attached to the exterior door handle is all but inaccessible and impossible to see. Taking this part out requires removing the exterior door handle, which I did by following the LED install post. With the handle disassembled, the rod is easy to remove.

The final challenge was removing the door lock assembly from inside the door, because it is a very tight space. I finally learned that the entire assembly would rotate and pass under the window guide bracket at the bottom of the door. Removing the wire harness from the actuator only involved prying on the bottom of the bracket and pulling the wires.

Assembly was the reverse of the above, with special care taken to align the door panel so to spare the plastic snaps. Monday means doing the front driver's side door.

The lock appears to work great, snapping open and closed, and the door handles work smoothly. One down, one to go (unfortunately, the rear passenger door started acting up the other day, so I may have to repeat).

1hawaii50

iTrader: (14)

I'm glad you got it worked out...this is good info to have for when mine eventually start to act up!

jahannah

Finished the front, driver's side door. With the help of the LED install tutorial and the experience of completing the rear door, the project went smoothly in a little over an hour (with a helper).

After installing the new part, the door locks worked crisply and consistently. I reinstalled the horn relay and had a wonderful, alarm-free night. It appears that the door lock actuator assembly was not closing the lock all of the way (perhaps the electric motor was worn), causing the alarm to sound as the lock shifted slightly. No need to change the BCM and no need to pay the dealer $400 per door for replacement. Total cost: ~$170 and 2.75 hours.

1hawaii50

iTrader: (14)

Glad everything worked out for you! Thanks for keeping us updated!

CanadianMoFo

Glad it's working out for you. The upside is that the rear doors are way easier to do. There's no metal panel in the way.

CM

1hawaii50

iTrader: (14)

On the flip side...when I sealed/Dynamat'd my front doors, that metal panel was a true blessing. I couldn't believe how well the front door were sealed from the factory!

CanadianMoFo

I was thinking the same thing. A little Brown Bread deadener would go a long way on those doors. A nice easy install.

CM

ebc702

Hi there! Can somebody tell me the part numbers of those door lock assemblies or actuator? Mine is acting up too in drivers side, front pass. side and rear pass. side .. thanks!

jahannah

The numbers are different based on front or rear and left or right, and they may be different based upon model year (I only looked at '04).

The numbers for the front for my car were 80501 (front right) and 80500 (front left), and 82501 (rear right) and 82500 (rear left).

Check out courtesynissan.com (http://www.courtesyparts.com/maxima-...2801_2816.html) or call them at 800-527-1909 and they can help you figure out your parts numbers.

CanadianMoFo

While you're in the mood for it, replace that last one too. You know it's on the way out too.

ebc702

Thanks guys! Mine is SE 2005, sorry for the stupid question but how do I determine the right and left side? Is it from looking at the front of the car or the back?

MadMax07SL

While sitting in teh car...driver's side left...passanger side right...

Now, put down the bong...

maximus nismo

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for this information. I'm also tracking down some door gremlins.

ifti_sit

iTrader: (3)

Being a 2004 Owner - I am in with this problem too..
My rear left door lock does not operate properly..I can confirm its the actuator . Yesterday I took the door panel off and found the actuator hiding behind the metal part. ( i took apart the plastic inside panel ). I read the above posts and LED install post - but dint make out whether its possible to replace the actuator from inside ( just removing the plastic door panel) or I will have to remove the outer part of the door also ?

Kryogen

had to replace my 2004 door lock "assembly". its all sealed. cant really fix it. was partially locking and unlocking too. costs like 130$, you can easily do it yourself just a pain to dismantle all the door.

works number one now

ifti_sit

iTrader: (3)

I ordered the part from https://www.dealerdirectparts.com/Pr...61438-MAXIMA-4.

It took me ( along with my Friend ) about an hour to complete the job. Once you know the way out - It should be piece of cake.

Here's some pictures help those who are still thinking whether to go to dealership or not.

I assume, we all know how to peel off the door panel. Its real easy.
Follow the earlier posts.
Once you completely peel off panel - then the main job starts. I will not explain in words - I mentioned all the steps in pictures and hope that will help.





It was worth fighting for an hour

Let me know if you need high quality pics