Door lock issue

Before I start, I will say it is NOT the actuator. I tried two refurbished ones myself and the dealer tried a brand new one.

Every door locks just fine. However, only the drivers door will not unlock electronically. The key has to be inserted in the door or the knob has to be manually unlocked from the inside. Like I said though, it locks just fine electronically.

Took it to toyota where their $150 diagnostic said it was the actuator and quoted $600+. Few hours later I get a call saying it wasnt the actuator and I'd have to leave it over night to further diagnose it. I said screw it, not happening.

One important thing to note is when I hit the fob unlock once, it does not beep. When I hit it twice it beeps and unlocks every door except the driver’s.

Anyone have a similar problem? Could it be a fuse??

 

I do not but the dealership said they had checked it and I believe he said there wasn’t an issue there. Not 100% sure.

don’t think it’s an issue with the door not getting power because like I said it locks just fine electronically

 

Crazy.

A couple days ago, my truck started doing the same thing.

Push fob “unlock” once, no sound, push second time, car beeps and unlocks all doors except the driver.

Push fob “lock” and all the doors will lock including the driver.

From the inside pressing the “lock” control locks it, but “unlock” still does not.

I did some googling over the weekend and quickly self diagnosed it as a victim to the problematic actuator/motor. Thought it was weird that it’ll lock but won’t unlock. Ordered the replacement motor to do actuator-motor-ectomy because manual unlocking is so primitive.

But.... if dealer is saying it isn’t an actuator problem for an easy $600 then...

Dealers have been known to be wrong before though

 

@DTSPtundy lets compare some specs and see if we have any parallels

I have a 2016 TRD Pro, dbl cab.

The only electrical mods I’ve done so far are the 2018 LED headlight/fog conversion. And that was done a year and a half ago with no issues.



Some other considerations...

I’ve never taken the door paneling off, so a mechanical failure of the actuator cables not engaging the latch is unlikely. And the truck not wanting to even audible on the press of the key fob makes it seem more of a problem than just a loose cable.

It can’t be a power-to-the-actuator issue because it has power.

A fuse is unlikely, unless the truck had some purpose to stop only the driver door from unlocking...then that system may have a fuse. But to my knowledge there’s only the feature of all doors locking around 12mph, and then the child lock taking away door controls except the driver.


I’m still hoping it’s an actuator motor issue. But why the truck doesn’t make the beep beep sound still baffles my mind and puts doubt to that theory. Your dealer requesting another day to diagnose doesn’t help either.

damn.

 

Thanks for the input. Same exact problem I’m having. Like I said though, it’s had 3 different actuators in there. None of them worked any different.


Things I’ve done that did not affect the door locks in any way:

LED head light and fog light bulbs
Hardwired dash cam and led foot lights using add a fuse
Light bar
Door speakers
Subwoofer and amp

like I said, none of these would have affected it as they were installed before the door stopped working and it continued to work properly, or they were installed after the door lock stoped working.

 

Well damn.

I’d say, if you’ve already paid the $150 diagnostic fee, then let em finish the diagnostic to find the root cause

It doesn’t seem like a common fix

 

They ended up refunding the fee. No way I was spending $150 for them to tell me something false

 

Word. Well, I’ll let ya know if I figure anything out on my end

 

I'm no mechanic, I think you have a wiring problem.

As @T-Rex266 stated, it is time to get a DMM out and start testing wires and plugs.
Seems your driver's door isn't getting the signal to unlock with the remote.

Could be something as simple as a connector pin has backed out of the plug.
Even the key uses an electrical signal to unlock the driver's door, but it seems to be getting that.
So it isn't the actuator....

Pop up the driver's window control panel and inspect the main plug that goes into the lock/window switch.
If there isn't enough slack in it (and there probably isn't), you may have to remove the door panel.
But be careful popping it out, the door panel scratches VERY easily...

Diagram from a 2015.

 

Get someone you know with a tundra to swap out the master switch with you.

 

Yep, I hope you’re right.

So neither the key fob nor the switch will unlock the door, only the key turn will. In the wiring diagram, where does the key fob signal come in?

 

Took it in today and was told it was the master switch

 

How much did that switch cost?

 

Was quoted about $800 installed, $475 for the part. Of course it is cheaper online and an easy instal. However, my truck has the automatic up and down for the driver and passenger but the ones online only have automatic up and down for the driver. I don’t care to have that feature if it’s cheaper without it but my only concern is if it will still work.

 

Ouch

 

Any Pros in Austin want to donate 5mins of time to let a brother try your master switch before dropping dime on a replacement?

@DTSPtundy let me know if you get your hands on one and try it. I’ll do the same

 

I will let you know. Yours might be the actuator so don’t get too worried about it. I cannot find another case in which it wasn’t other than mine

 

Have you guys seen this YouTube video? Not sure if it will help... (jump to 1:45)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhZ6Mzra67M&t=227s

 

That is want I suspected the problem to be based on working on my Camry.

 

Go to a salvage yard for the masterswitch.

 

Unfortunately there’s not too many salvaged 3rd gen tundras. Only found one by me. They want $85 for the part. I’d rather spend the extra $150 and get one with the automatic up and down on both windows so it matches my tundra part number exactly. Plus, the part is warrantied as well

 

Ask @Roman for a parts quote or visit the cool springs Toyota parts website

 

Welp..

Tried an actuator motor swap, and then a master switch. Neither worked.

any other ideas?

 

I would start looking at power and grounds. You have the diagrams above. actuate your FOB and see if the signal is being routed to the actuator.

 

My 17 did the same thing. Took the ground off the battery for five minutes reconnected and not had a problem since.

 

Yeah, tried that too.

 

The beeper thing really throws things off. I guess the beeper could be after the door lock operation but that would be weird because the beeper doesn't go off when you manually unlock the door. Either way, if I was going to verify wiring the first thing I would want to see is at connector NJ1, pin 1. Should be down by your left knee if you pop off the plastic cover down there. See if that is receiving a control signal during unlock operation. Although, this diagram confuses me a bit because it lists NJ1,1 for both lock and unlock, that may be a mistake. I could help you get some reference readings from a working circuit this weekend if its still giving you issues. Hopefully its nothing worse but the circuit should be easy to verify and at least give a direction of the problem

 

I appreciate the schematic, I’ll be taking my boy camping this weekend, So I’ll leave it as a manual lock for now and dig deeper sometime next week.

 

I replaced my master switch with a used one. Completely shorted all the window and door lock switches. Brought it to the stealership. They had to order a master switch which they swore it was so I took it back for the night. Locks were working like they were before (drivers unlock still wasn’t) and only the front two windows worked. Took it back and they installed the new master switch and it did nothing. Now they say they traced it to the fuse box and there was a short but claim it needed a new master switch. The drivers door unlock is still not working and they swear it is an actuator now that the short and master switch are fixed.