Has anyone heard of all four door lock actuators going out at the same time. My local dealership is trying to tell me that and there is nothing else wrong with the car. The quote is $1600 to repair.

I've never heard of that on any make or any model for any brand. That really sucks and sounds like more than a just coincidence.

Yeah....the locks on my 2004 LS are beginning to act up. What is the dealer replacing for $1600?

It is not that uncommon. We just replaced all four actuators on a Murano at my shop just last week to fix a problem.

All,

Same problem on my 2005 Maxima. The front passenger door failed, then two weeks later, the rear passenger door. More specifically, when the lock system is activated electronically, the doors typically fail to completely lock or unlock completely. Visually, the inside lock 'button' only moves partway.

Here is a picture of the Maxima door lock assembly:

According to my local Nissan dealer, this is not a problem they have experienced. What I would like to know is this: Is the problem related to one of the cables (parts 7, 8, 10, or 11 - cheap repair), the door lock assembly (part 9 - expensive repair), or is it probably just something that needs lubrication?

Also, for CPS: what fraction of the cost of the repair that you described was for parts and what fraction for labor? Any ballpark estimates of the cost for this repair? (I assume that the only parts supplier for this is Nissan.)

I've got the lazy door lock problem on the Murano drivers side door.

How do you get at the door lock actuator. I pulled the door finisher off but see a sheet metal plate blocking access to the interior of the door. Where is the lock actuator located? It replacement an easy job?

Thanks for the help.

i just replace all four on a 2007

Did you do it yourself? How tough is it to get at the front door actuators? Does the window glass have to come out? Drivers door lock actuator needs replaced on my 2004. Thanks

Where did you get the parts and how much did they cost?

Our 2004 Murano has the same door actuator problem, both front locks are intermittant to reliably lock and unlock the doors. It even affects the gas cap lock, we can't put gas in it when the actuator doesn't unlock the cap. I find this HIGHLY coincidental that door locks go out at the same time. I think it has more to do with the amount of current and the length of time the current is sent to each of the solenoids. I just can't believe these fail at the same time.

As for the gas door lock, we finally got it open and I bent the lock tab back enough so the lock latch doesn't engage. Now we can put gas in the car.

I'm very interested to hear from anyone that's mechanically/electrically informed enough confirming if my theory holds any water. It would make much more sense that a circuit board is failing to deliver the right DC current impulse to all the solenoids than all these individual solenoid going out at the same time.

CPS wrote:It is not that uncommon. We just replaced all four actuators on a Murano at my shop just last week to fix a problem.

What did your shop charge the customer for this?

Seaduner, your problem is common, you have a bad fuel door actuator relay. It is located behind the driver's left side kick panel. Just pull the panel away and the relay is held to the sheet metal with a 10mm bolt. As for all four door lock actuators being bad, I would never had believed it until I saw an 05 maxima with the same problem. They replaced all four actuators and it was fixed.

ok fellas my 04 27k miles murano has same problem on it!! all 4 stoped working. I have extended warrentl whent to the dealer and he blaimed it and my aftermarket alarm claiming it was sending close signal to the all locks at all times and burned them out. I dont believe this because why would be working for year before stoping.???( Dealer did't fix it) offered me 1600 service aswell ....

DO you guys have aftermarket alarms and experiencing problems?

So i took the alarm off and now my drivers seat is not working properly meaning it wont slide front and back and car will sometimes start and shut down right away. Is this all coincidence??? or did i do something wrong???!!? Please help

I believe that a problem to all our actuator problems is bmc. This is the part that sends current to locks , power seats and some more thinks.Would explain why my car is geting worst.

Ideas??!?!?

I have a 2005 Nissan Murano and this same thing just happened to my front passenger lock!

I have created a petition to Nissan to fix this issue. Please sign it!

http://www.tighelory.com/2008/....html

PM_page, you may be onto something here. Your suggestion to replace the relay that powers the gas cap solenoid makes perfect sense. When relays go bad they stop delivering the high current needed for the application. In this case, since all the door locks are unreliable to lock or unlock, it could simply be a bad relay for each of the solenoids. The individual relays could be wearing out to a point that the solenoids are not getting enough current delivered to the solenoid for the right duration, hence the magnetics isn't enough to unlock or lock the door. Although the solenoid could be perfectly fine, the relay delivering the pulse of power could be marginal, making it unreliable. So now I'm wondering where all the relays are located for the door locks. I'll start looking for them.

I will change that relay you mentioned for the gas cap and see if that improves that function. Thanks for that tip.

Technically this is a safety issue. I urge all owners with this door lock problem to file a complaint to the National Hiway & Transportation Safety Administration here:http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm

With enough complaints filed the NHTSA will do something about it. They share all complaints with Nissan. If Nissan gets enough complaints filed with NHTSA, that helps to bring the defect to the forefront of discussion for recall.

So why is it a safety issue? You can use this justification when filing:

1. Having a secure environment is paramount in certain neighborhoods. When locking the doors it's imperative nobody can gain access at will by walking up to the car. If anyone can simply open the door to gain access, carjacking, injury, or even murder is easier. If the doors locked properly this provides a more secure environment for this type of scenario. 2. Nissan knowing there is a security problem with their locking mechanism and not recalling them for safety concern is negligent. It's an open door to a lawsuit if someone were to be murdered due to a door that didn't lock, although the driver pushed the lock button and heard the locking noise. Remember, in this case there's no obvious indication the door isn't locked unless someone walks up and opens it from the outside. The drive "THINKS" the door is locked, when in reality it's an "OPEN DOOR" for carjacking or robbery.

This failure is an intermitance of operation. Sometimes the doors lock OK, other times they don't. In addition, sometimes the doors unlock OK, other times they don't.

3. In emergencies it's important to be able to unlock doors QUICKLY. Since 99% of the time we all use the button to lock and unlock doors, using the manual locking lever is unfamiliar. And the Murano's design is such that it's not easy to comprehend if it's not your car, for instance a rental car. I can easily understand how some people would be confused how unlock a door using the manual level in an emergency when they virtually have no experience with it. In emergencies every second counts. The locking/unlocking solenoid malfunctioning is clearly a high risk in emergency scenarios. Some people who cannot afford the $1600 to have all the solenoids replaced (as quoted by dealers) will forgo getting them fixed, putting their family members at risk with the above mishap examples. This shouldn't be, Nissan should recall them.

It's only a matter of time till someone gets robbed, hurt or killed from a malfunctioning door lock, disabling the security which the driver "THINKS" he has when he locks the car. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen, especially in California where there are ambulance chasers on every corner.

Everyone: I have added digg to the post -- if you have the chance please Digg it. It will raise the awareness of the issue!

http://www.tighelory.com/2008/....html

I pulled the schematics on a 2006 Murano to see if there are any common mode faults that could cause all locks, or groups of locks to fail. There are many. If your dealer is giving you the "all locks must be replaced" line then he/she is unlikely willing to actually spend the time to diagnose the situation.

Here are some of my thoughts.

1. There is a relay that can inhibit the operation of the rear locks. It's called the Passenger Side Select Unlock Relay. If that relay has a bad contact then all rear locks could fail to operate. A simple test by the dealer should be able to determine if this relay has failed.

2. There are several failure modes in the BCM (Body Control Module) that could cause this although I'd hope the BCM had diagnostics built in to indicate an internal failure. Perhaps not. Anyway, the BDM is a common point of failure for all locks and should not be completely ruled out.

3. Very often in vehicle electronics the problem lies in connector contact issues. A very simple thing to do is try unplugging, inspecting and replugging all connectors in an affected system to see if that's the cause of the fault. In this case, a bad contact on one of the BCM connectors could cause a common failure and should be checked.

4. Several of the lock motors operate in parallel. Therefore a single low resistance or shorted lock motor could render all those wired in parallel to appear to be non-functioning. To diagnose this, each lock motor could be unplugged and the others tested to see if normal operation resumes. If it does then only the one lock motor needs replacement.

Let's be serious here, the likelihood of four or five lock motors failing simultaneously is pretty much zero. If you think you have seen this actually occur and have witnessed the repair all you have likely really seen is that the initial problem was missed. For example, if only one of the lock motors is shorted all would appear not to work, and replacing all four would of course restore full operation.

A dead easy way to tell of you're on the right track, when you pull out a lock motor thinking it is defective then TEST IT SEPARATELY!!! If it is still failed it is a problem. If is works then it wasn't the problem and should be reinstalled. If all four (or five) ARE actually broken then you more than likely have NOT found the problem and the BCM is doing something wrong like holding the locks energized for too long and overheating then burning them out.

There are diagnostic procedures in the service manuals for dealing with these systems. Make sure your dealer is actually using them and not deciding to do the "easy" and expensive fix of just replacing it all and hoping that's it.

OK....got to this thread when googling the issue of ALL 4 ACTUATORS GOING OUT SIMULTANEOUSLY ON MY 2004 Murano with only 49,000 miles on it!

I got the $1,600.00 fix solution this afternoon as well, and I have to tell everyone it seems like this must be a well known issue if everyone from Texas to North Dakota gets charged almost the same amount for the same problem.

I too think there has to be an underlying "cause" and the actuators burning out is just an "effect". Mathmatically the odds have to be astronomical to have all 4 go out at the same time.

Has anyone gotten anywhere with Nissan on this issue? My service writer at my local dealership thinks it's worth a shot to see if they will cover it out of 36,000 mile warranty.

Any feedback will be appreciated as I'm so mad I can hardly see straight. I'm thinking they didn't dig to far into the door issue to save me $$$ on the labor, but I'm thinking there has to be a voltage issue somewhere.

And what's with all 4 actuators being different prices?? They go from $175.00 to $300.11!!!

ANY UPDATES? From anyone on this specific issue? relays or BCM changes? bad harness connections ect? anyone?

You should try having only the most important lock fixed, such as the front passenger door. Pay for only one solenoid and labor. I think if they get one working the others will start working. That's what happened to me. I believe the root problem is elsewhere, other than the solenoid itself, but the dealers talk customers into thinking they need all of the locks replaced, which would normally make sense. Rip off.

I had the front passenger solenoid replaced. The rear passenger one is still acting up - not worth the money to get it fixed. Had the job done by an independent shop - he indicated that the problem was the solenoid itself.

Took my 07 Murano (36K miles) to Nissan today for a door lock problem. The driver's door doesn't lock when activated through the remote. Total cost of the repair: $115 (diagnosis), $220 (labor), $250 (part - lock actuator) for a total of $585+tax. Hmmmm.... Sounds really pricy for one door... In an earlier posting, someone mentionned $1600 to get the 4 doors fixed! How is this possible? Sometimes I'm convinced that these guys charged single women more than anybody else...

I am having the problem on my 05 Murano, the driver door does not lock or unlock with the remote. This is a big safety issue, i'm going to lodge a safety complaint and I just got the latest recall so when i go for that i'm going to ask about the cost to fix the driver door. Let's see what they want to charge me, (single lady).

I too am having a problem with Murano doorlocks. The driver side is not working properly. the auto door lock on the door and the key fob do not open the driver side door. I would really appreciate it if you who have gotten this repaired name your repair cost and what the repair is.

Also would be greatly appreciated if you have a good shop in or near Oakland CA .

A shop where I brought in the car for recall work wants to charge $160 for diagnosing problem, and then of course repairing it. Seems to me they should have seen this problem prior and know what the problem is- they don't so I'll look for another shop.

Also, I left my car for a week at the airport and the front door lock performed, and in colder weather it has also performed , any ideas of what this is an indication of ?

Finally this is quite frustrating- I have signed the petition and also contacted the NHTSA as to why this is a safety issue and should be a recall issue- hope you will do the same.

Yep same problem here in Northern California - 2005 Nissan - 58,500 miles - perfect condition except for the door lock problem on the driver side, as well as the passenger door on the driver's side. Intermittent as well - but getting worse. I have signed the petition and also contacted the NHTSA as to why this is a safety issue and should be a recall issue as well - as suggested on this site. Only other problem is the airbag light constantly stayes on - (blinking) have had it reset, but it persists.

Add Arizona to the list. '04 Murano with 54,500 miles. My wife started noticing this issue in the middle of the summer on the driver side door. It was not consistent and wouldn't do it for me when I tested it, until about a two weeks ago coming out of church. We were thinking it had to do with the temperatures. Seemed like the hotter the day the more chance of it failing. Now it is happening even when it sits in the garage. My wife loves this vehicle, from my standpoint the amount of maint. $$ we've had to put into it is starting to outweigh any benefits. We had the Sun Visor issue last year. The Bose CD player issue earlier this year. All of these items were replaced at least once or twice during the 3/36 warranty. Now, out of warranty and its starting to add up quickly. This year the motor mounts went out at about 47K. Can somebody point me to this petition on this door issue please.

Heated in Az.

One

I have the same problem with my 2003 FX35 Infinity - the passenger doors and rear hatch will not reliably lock/unlock. The front passenger door lock is most "lazy" and the problem worsens in hot weather. I think it is a poor ground connection, a connector, or the the Body Control Module. My next step is to disconnect connectors so that I can apply power (or grounding) to the actuator circuit and observe the actuation and get more clues.

What is strange is the problem appeared on the 3 doors all at once - the odds of all three door lock actuators failing all at once are very bad. It is not plausable that all 3 passenger door actuators failed at once while the driver door is OK. There is a common link in the 3 passenger door actuators - the electrical circuitry. The wiring diagram shows no relay (otherwise that would be #1 suspect). They are driven directly from the BCM ( Body Control Module)

I am think that an electrical part of connection is at fault. The driver's door works perfectly. Since one posting above indicated that their mechanic cleaned a grounding connection and it temporarily solved the problem it is possibly of better grounding - the cleaning fix quickly corroded so a modification to the original design may be req'd (such as splicing a 14 gu wire to make a better ground connection)

My wife's '05 Murano with 30k miles has the same problem. Front driver's side auto door lock works intermittently. It is more likely to fail in warm weather than in cold. Our mechanic(not the dealer) quoted around $500.00 to replace the entire assembly in the door as Nissan only sells a kit instead of just the actuator.

Modified by imwjc at 6:27 PM 2/3/2010