I have a 2010 Town & Country and the passenger power sliding door completely stop working yesterday. I cannot open it manually or remotely. For a the last few days, the door would make a clunk sound right when it finished closing (no strange sound when opening). The clunk sound was really strange and it seemed to be near the area of the door latching mechanism. I had a suspicion that possibly the lock actuator may be source of the clunking sound but I didn't have a chance to source it before the door just stop working altogether yesterday. I tried all the interior and fob remote buttons as well as the interior and exterior manual handles. I also tried unlocking and locking the door multiple times with no change.

From the few videos posted online showing the removal of the latch with a faulty actuator, the latch mounting screws that are on the exterior end of the door were removed first as it appears the Latch/Actuator assembly are buried inside the door frame. obviously, I cannot access the three Latch mounting screws as the door will not open. Has anyone had this issue and if so, is the actuator accessible without removing the door latch?

I had the same bad actuator issue on my 2000 5 series BMW where the door would not open manually or remotely and it required using an awl punched through the door panel to dislodge (destroy) the faulty actuator which allowed the door to be opened and the actuator to be removed and replaced.

 

 

Rachelmca, sorry for the delay in responding. What I ended up doing quite by accident is disconnecting the battery. My battery went bad not but a few days after my initial post about the "stuck" rear passenger door. I replaced the battery but I didn't try opening the door for a couple of weeks as I thought it was inoperable but one evening quite by chance, I hit the "open" button for the rear passenger door by accident and it opened. The door still makes a loud "clunking" noise when it closes at the latch so I suspect the actuator is failing and I did buy a replacement but I have not installed it yet.

So, to answer your question, I really have not figured it out yet as I haven't replaced the actuator to see if that is the problem (which I'm pretty sure it is) but by disconnecting the battery, the door became operational again (though I purposely do not use the door because I don't want it to lockup before I replace the actuator which involves a bit of work). So if you have not disconnected the battery and lit it sit that way for a few hours, try that and see if the door becomes operational again.

By the way, was your door making a "clunking" sound prior to it stop working altogether?

Tom.

 

Rachelmca, sorry for the delay in responding. What I ended up doing quite by accident is disconnecting the battery. My battery went bad not but a few days after my initial post about the "stuck" rear passenger door. I replaced the battery but I didn't try opening the door for a couple of weeks as I thought it was inoperable but one evening quite by chance, I hit the "open" button for the rear passenger door by accident and it opened. The door still makes a loud "clunking" noise when it closes at the latch so I suspect the actuator is failing and I did buy a replacement but I have not installed it yet.

So, to answer your question, I really have not figured it out yet as I haven't replaced the actuator to see if that is the problem (which I'm pretty sure it is) but by disconnecting the battery, the door became operational again (though I purposely do not use the door because I don't want it to lockup before I replace the actuator which involves a bit of work). So if you have not disconnected the battery and let it sit that way for a few hours, try that and see if the door becomes operational again.

By the way, was your door making a "clunking" sound prior to it stop working altogether?

Tom.