Actuators - electric door lock/latch

Last Fall I changed the right rear door actuator. Six months ago the
left door began buzzing but before I could get to it, the door locked
and stayed locked. Neither the Chrysler dealer nor the local AAA
towing company could get it open. So I drove it 'till now trying to
devise a plan. I was just getting ready to remove the back seat, pull
up the door bottom plate, and hope I'd see the door panel access
screws when for no reason whatever... as I drove from the parking lock
and the car hit 15 mph... the left rear door buzzed. I was elated!
Today I drove direct to the Chrysler dealer where I got that gawddamn
hundred dollar part with intent of dropping everything and and
replacing the motor. The guy lost his franchise and his computers were
down! I loosing this door lock battle.

Does anyone have a source for these parts? I even called Summit Racing
in Akron, Ohio and they told me neither of their two sources could
supply them. Tomorrow, I'll walk through the yellow pages for Chrysler
dealerships.

 

What car are we talking about? Year?

 

Sorry, Bill. That would help, wouldn't it. It's a 2000 Concorde LXi
four door with 3.2 engine.

P,S. By the way, the service manager of that ex-Chrysler dealership
who I've gotten to known over the years asked me why I was asking to
have the timing belt changed at 105,000 miles. He said it was the 2.7
engine that was at high risk. He claims never to have made a
maintenance-type replace on a 3.2 engine like mine. Now I'm confused.
Your opinion on the service manager's comments please.

 

The same things happened to my '00 300m. Over the years, I've had to
replace both rear door lock latches. It's a PITA to replace (connecting
all the linkages). Strange that the front ones are just fine (so far).

If your car is like mine, it will auto-lock the doors when you start the
car and either reach a certain driving speed or drive more than a few
hundred yards. You can reduce the wear-and-tear on your door locks by
reprogramming the car to NOT auto-lock the doors.

I'm still wondering if there is a way that ALL 4 doors can un-lock with
a single press of the key-fob unlock button.

I bought my first one from the dealer. I bought the second from a
junkyard. I'm pretty sure that they're the same unit across many
chrysler/dodge car models.

Take the old one out and bring it to the junk yard when you go, to make
sure it matches the one they try to sell you. (I did that - I kept my
rear door closed while driving around by putting a small C-clamp around
the door latch).

 

Left rear door latch: P/N 4574023AE - list $123 - mopardiscountparts.com
$82.41

His personal experience aside, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Here are the two links that I provided to MoPar Man - read and heed:

http://300mclub.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17498
http://300mclub.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=19928
(just two examples of many seen all the time on the various LH car
forums - the 3.5L used in the 300M is the exact same engine as the 3.2L
in your Concorde - the *only* difference is the bore size)

The 2.7L has a timing chain - which would last the life of the car,
except they incorporated the water pump into the timing chain. If it
wasn't for the water pump, you could leave the chain alone.

I have two Concordes - one with the 2.7, the other with the 3.2. I did
the first timing chain and water pump replacement on the 2.7L last year
at 207k miles - I did take a little risk waiting that long, but what
would have failed was the water pump - not the chain (until possibly the
water pump failed and caused the chain to crash).** My 3.2L on the
other hand will have the belt and water pump replaced without fail every
100 to 105k miles.

**What's really weird and amazing about that is that the old water pump
turns like a new pump by hand (I was so impressed by that that I have it
sitting in my garage - can't throw it out) - smooth as glass turning by
hand, and yet not one spec. of detectable play in the bearings.