Guide to replacing the door latch actuator assembly

This is part 2 to the original post regarding diagnosis of the latch assembly. HERE


I finally got the replacement part (took 3 weeks to arrive as most places didnt have it in stock and had to order from Honda, but it did come in official OEM packaging and looks identical to the part being replaced.)


Time: This should take about 30 minutes or less. Dont be scared by a long guide, half of it are pictures and the other half an overly detailed description. In reality this is a 5 sentence long job.


Difficulty: 2/5 - If you can put together a complex IKEA piece, then you can do this.


Tools needed:


- TORX 40 screwdriver (for 3 bolts on the door jamb)

- Phillips screwdriver (for door panel screw)

- Door Latch assembly, part numbers are different for each door, but for driver door it is 72150-TRT-A02 (~$240 at Honda, can be found OEM from dealers online for ~$140)

- A piece of tape (any tape, masking, or scotch whatever) to keep peeled back weather guard up

- Gloves (optional but recommended due to the black stuff keeping weather guard on really sucking)


Steps:


Take off the door cover, I described how to do it in part 1 linked above, but the gist of it is this:


1. Use a flathead screwdriver (or a plastic pry tool if you have one) and insert it into the gap towards the front of the car (you can see it if you look closely, here is a Paint drawing of where it is (red arrow)).



After inserting it pull up and the panel should come off.


It will have 2 wires going to it. Both of them have a button/lever in the center, it is easily pushable with your finger. Press it and unplug both wires.


Look at about middle point for a screw attaching the door panel to the door. Use Philips screw driver to unscrew it.


Now the panel is only held on by clips. Get your hands underneath the door panel somewhere near the middle and yank. This step is exactly the same on any car made in the last 30 years, if you arent sure how to do it, look up a video for any car. Clips step is the same on all of them.


You can see an example of it being done here (on an Accord), ignore rest of the video, just look at how the clips are popped off at 3min 17sec mark:





Take a note how he wiggles the top right before the panel comes off, you have to do the same for Clarity. The part where the handle is (handle stays with the door it does not come off with the panel) has some plastic pieces that have to be wiggled out (its not a clip). If you are having a hard time, keep wiggling. The only screw that holds the door panel on is the one you removed under the control panel, so there are no other screws.


Careful of wires, there will be 2 more wires going to the door, one for seat positioning (driver 1/2) and other for speaker. The speaker one is a pain to remove, so just remove the seat one and rotate the door panel sideways out of the way with speaker still attached.





2. Now that the panel is off, lets actually make sure actuator is what you need before we start disassembly further. You can see a round plug near the door jamb.

Unplug the wire and plug it into the new one. Attach the door control panel (just the big plug, small one is for mirrors that one can stay unplugged for now). Start the car or set to standby and try the door lock. Does new actuator make noise? Yes? GREAT! No? Then your issue is probably not the actuator (use guide part 1 to diagnose electrical).






3.

Now to remove the old actuator. Put on gloves (you dont want that black stuff on you, its like tar), remove the black clip holding the weather shield (top left), it should just pry out easily, then prepare a piece of any tape and start peeling from bottom left corner, then from top left to try and open up whole left side enough for you to be able to stick both hands in there. Use a piece of tape to keep the shield up (I attached one end to the plastic of the shiel and other around one of the wires near the top of the door.





4. Now to remove the old actuator.


Use T40 Torx to unscrew the 3 screw in the door jamb, they are identical so no need to remember which screw came from where although Id still try and keep them all in same spots just in case there is a tread variation. Mine were fairly easy to remove with a standard T40 screwdriver.


Now the only things that are keeping the actuator in place are a rod and 2 wires. You can see the wires coming in from the right side (green square in image above). The bar is coming straight down from top of the actuator inside the door. Luckily its easy to remove.

Dont worry about the 2 wires for now, you need to remove the bar. It is inserted into a lever (marked with green arrow), that lever is easily movable down with your finger, simply press down on it and move the whole assembly down (you can see how to works on the new actuator you have), the bar should come out of it as you move it down.




5. With bar detached the whole assembly can be moved out, you have to work your way around the window (glass) guide rail, it is tight in there, but it is definitely removable without forcing anything or any further disassembly. Once removed take a note of which wire goes to which terminal, they attach differently, but still note which is attached where. Mine had convenient color coding (orange and white) and they criss crossed.


When ready use a small flat head screwdriver or a plastic pry tool to gently pry open the clear cover (arrows show where to do it), it is on a hinge (visible in picture on the right side) and will pop open (note how they go into sort of slots, make sure to put them into same slots on the new actuator). Then simply remove the 2 wires, one will have a big ball on the end, the other will have a ball with a sort of a hook. Pay attention how they are attached.





6.

Almost done. Take the new actuator and attach wires to it as they were on the old one, then pop on the cover. My replacement OEM actuator came with a new cover and foam pieces (As seen in the picture), some 3rd party ones do not, so make sure you dont need these pieces before doing something destructive with them.


With wires in we do the process in reverse. Wiggle the actuator back into place around the glass rail, lightly insert the T40 torx screws to just keep it in place (like 1 revolution, dont tighten them). Insert the bar by doing the reverse of what we did before, press the lever down and slide it into the hole, I had to use both hands for this, careful with the black goop dont get it all over your clothes. Once bar is in, tighten the screws (take turns tightening them, dont get one all the way until you cant turn it and then move on, get one lightly tight, then next one, then next one, then come back to first one etc... this will ensure proper positioning).


Remove the tape holding the weather shield up and place it back into place matching up where it was, press down on it to get the goop from both sides to stick. Insert the clip that was holding the top corner.


Make sure clips on the door panel are in order (did not fall out or arent broken), if they are good to go, make sure the actuator is plugged in, the seat positioning buttons are plugged in, speaker is plugged in (if you didnt unplug it then it is), feed the 2 wires for control panel through the hole in the door panel and pop on the door panel, start at the top (near the door handle) to make sure everything is aligned. Once you think everything is in place tap around the perimeter to make sure all the clips are in.


Put back in phillips screw that holds the door panel to the door. Then attach the 2 wires to the door control panel (windows/doors and mirrors wires). Pop it back on.


7. Test the door (make sure it closes completely/latches).


Test walk away lock

Test the lock buttons on the door panel and on the fob (note if door is open the button wont lock it this is normal).

Test the window, make sure it goes all the way down, but for the first time roll it down slowly, dont want to crush or break something if you did not reassemble stuff correctly.
Test all the buttons (seat positioning, mirrors)
Test speaker

That should be it.


My total cost for repair out of warranty was ~$148.53 and 30 min of my time (add another 30 min for when I diagnosed the problem). Honda was asking for $240 for the part and $400 for labor. Which is insane, considering how easy it is to replace this part.

 

I did attempt to disassemble the old one but it appears that the 2 parts of the shell (white and black) are melted together plastic, so there is no way to disassemble it in a non-destructive way. Therefore, I dont think there would be a way to repair it. The part that failed is likely the motor itself as I checked all of the levers/switches on it and those worked and were as easily moved as on the new one.

We know that at some point Honda did a revision on this part, it went from 72150-TRT-A01 to 72150-TRT-A02. The part itself has no markings as to the part number, so I cant tell if my car's original (that broke) was a -01 or -02, but if it was -01, there is a chance that -02 was made with a different sourced motor or something.

 

Regarding disassembly of the old one, Ill keep it around, if this issue happens again, in lets say 3 years... Ill probably try and crack that one open to see if I can repair it. It probably uses a standard ~$5 motor. Until then I dont plan to open it. There is a chance its held together with some clips, but it wouldnt budge when I tried taking it apart, which lead me to believe that its melted/glued together. There was no obvious way to pop it open, nor any visible clips. But you cant see through the plastic so maybe its clips. Its very rigid plastic, not meant to be taken apart. I have a feeling the plastic will crack when trying to take it apart... so repair it I may, but to reassemble may have to epoxy the whole thing back together (if it doesnt shatter into a million pieces).