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First my passenger door wouldn't unlock or lock with the remote or from inside the car, now that one works but the driver door doesn't work now?! Any ideas of what could be wrong?

 
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Could be the actuator. Try and find one at a salvage yard to replace it, you'll get it much cheaper that way.

 
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It's weird that it switched from one to the other, but I agree with Shift-E. It sounds like it's the door lock actuator. Mine just went out within a week of each other so I have no power locks for the moment

Here's a link to a write up about it. the link even has a second DIY linked lol

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...-actuator.html

Maybe check to see if there are any loose wires before buying new actuators? Or you can take the working one and plug it into the other side and vice versa to determine if it's wiring or the actuator itself.

 
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DONT buy a used actuator. They are not expensive to begin with. If u buy a used one it will most likely go out on u sonner than f you bought a new one. You'll end up spending more time and/or labor on replacing it AGAIN. Just my .02

 
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yeah i paid $40 for an oem one, super cheap and easy to change. not worth messing with aftermarket crap or used.

 
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^its actually much much cheaper than that (like $20) if u just buy the motor itself and not the whole assembly...but yes, the $40 is the whole assembly

 
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This actually happen to me a few months back. You have to replace the actuator. Its pretty easy. There is a DIY somewhere I forgot. DO NOT BUY THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY. They sell them at the auto stores. I called honda and other shops, they wanted $220 to fix it and I said F*** that. I'll do it myself for about $50(actuator)

 
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i paid around $50 for the whole assembly. but you only need that if the door lock or key is jamming. otherwise just the actuator should work .

 
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Has anyone attempted to just swap out the common motor in the actuator?

I suspect the brushes wear out over time. The motors are readily available on eBay and usually for about $2-5 each. I was thinking about undertaking this project because my driver's side actuator is kaput.

 
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I just swapped the lock assembly last weekend for my passenger door and its an extremely easy 20 minute DIY. If you need help see this DIY

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...st-27-a-2.html

I personally wouldn't mess around with the motor or actuator since a brand new lock assembly is 42 bucks and the new actuator assembly alone is 38 (Majestic Honda). If you have time to kill and like screwing around with that kind of stuff it should work, but it didn't seem worth it to me.

 
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who knows how reliable those dirt cheap motors are on ebay...all that work and they could break next week.

 
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Apparently, those motors are OEM per se (same make/model/etc) and brand new. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, seeing how the factory actuator motor burnout rate is quite high. I'm still on the fence because buying a new actuator is a lot simpler than rebuilding it. Then again, I have a rear hub that is whining to be replaced, so my winter budget is on the low side.

I've been conversing with a fellow who almost went that route, but just swapped out the whole actuator instead: http://www.chisheu.com/2010/03/honda...ock-mechanism/
A very simple swap looking at the above images, depending if the actuator housing is epoxied or riveted or ??? I'm just waiting for confirmation.

Everything is expensive up here in Canada. I was quoted $113 for an aftermarket actuator. Bleh!

 
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Wow i logged in & this thread was on the front page. Battery went out on me yesterday.. 4hrs after replacing it i realized my driver side lock won't lock/unlock anymore :/

 
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Yeah, seems as if the driver's side is the weakest link... perhaps because unlocking via the fob only unlocks the driver's side therefore the passenger side only gets half used. Just a thought.

Nevertheless, those actuator motors are very unreliable. I had a couple of Cavaliers prior with high mileage and only the window motors were tired out, never a problem with p-locks. Another issue of actuator paranoia I have is that when using the fob, how the funk can someone be rest assured that the doors have actually locked?! I could install a new driver's actuator and then the passenger one will go ***** up. I'm seriously considering aftermarket ones. If I wanted to use the key to lock the doors or do it manually, sheesh, I would have got a base model Civic with no frills like keyless entry. Hahha

When I first got my car, initially I had no idea the driver's side wasn't locking. You know, I'd hit the fob... lights would flash and the driver's door would be unlocked... apparently because it hadn't even locked in the first place.

I perused around the web for two hours one night and apparently this is a very common problem with Lexus vehicles too because it's said they use the same supplier for the actuator units. Honda should have retrofitted these sub par units with better quality ones. My car only has 144k (89,500 miles) and who knows when the actuator went out?

 
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Hey melmo. How did you fix the passenger door? Mine has been doing the same thing
my passenger door won't unlock or lock with the remote or from inside the car? Has been like this since I bought the car 4 months ago. Any help would be much appreciated.

 
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Hola from Tucson- Here's a tip regarding the DRIVER'S REAR POWER DOOR LOCK ACTUATOR - I looked everywhere (except the stealership) and couldn't find one. Finally figured that the Driver's front actuator that I was seeing looked the same except for the extra electrical connections (a switch?). Got the Driver's front and found that the angle of the arm was wrong. It was angled to the rear. I'd thrown away the old housing after I'd cracked it open and messed with it so I couldn't just swap out the motor.

Here's the trick to make the driver's front work on the rear- remove the pin and take the driver's front actuator arm off the shaft. Drill a small hole through it and ream/cut out the "shaped" hole to make it go all the way through (maintain the same shape!). Mount the arm backwards on the shaft and the angle will be correct. I don't think it would have come off while in use, but I also took a lighter to heat up a tiny panel nail and melted it through to make a pin. When you mount the new actuator onto the door, use a washer to hold the assy about 1-2mm out. I used a large enough washer to give some extra mating surface space (3/4 inch washer)