Hello,
I have a Mazda Protege 2000 ES. All 4 of my electrical doors are acting up: they don't lock/unlock at times. Sometimes they lock/unlock w/ the remote or switch on driver's side, and sometimes they don't. The problems seems to vary; sometimes 1 of the doors will do it; the other time 2-3 will do it; and sometimes none will act up.
Is it a broken actuator or an electrical problem?

 

Are the locks making a somewhat loud buzzing noise when they do not work? Or are the locks at each door quiet but just do not work? Lock actuator motors are a common failure component on that year Protege.

 

The sound is the normal lock/unlock. Not loud buzzing. If the actual lock moves up and down occasionally, then the actuator should be bad, I suppose, right? If the actuator was bad, then the lock wouldn't move at all..I think.

 

the actuators may just be dirty or rusted a little. my friend had this problem on her civic and she just had the actuators cleaned and they worked fine after that. i think if it were an electrical problem, the locks wouldn't make any sound at all when they didn't work, instead of making a noise and not working at the same time, but it also may be a low voltage issue, although, i don't know how it could really be that when it is from the battery source and not the alternator. i would look at the actuators and see if you can physically see the problem there, then get a voltometer to check the voltage at the fuse box. if nothing at either one of those, i must tell you now that, when it comes to wiring, i am like a chimp trying to disarm a bomb.

 

Hi,
Thanks for the input. I am going to go see a mechanic do find out if it is the actuator or the wiring per se. God, I hate how minor problems can be so dubious.