PhilMeUp Member 1,045 Member For: 15y 9m 7d Gender: Male Location: Perth, Western Australia Posted 20/08/14 07:49 PM Share Posted 20/08/14 07:49 PM I’ve been doing some basic repairs on a BA Falcon wagon this week and one of the things to sort out was the lack of central locking. BA and BF Falcons are known for having the central locking fail. This is caused by a broken plastic shaft in one of the door locking mechanisms.I started by removing the interior door handle. There is a screw that is covered by a small piece of plastic. I removed that plastic by levering it out with a small flat blade screwdriver.Note: On this car (BA) the screws are Philips head. For some reason, Ford switched to Torx T25 head screws for the BF.Once the screw is removed the door handle is easy to remove.I then removed the plastic at the front of the door. This just unclips. For some reason, this car was missing one of the clips.There is a total of seven screws to remove before the door trim comes off - the arrows mark the locations. As mentioned, on a BA Falcon they will be Phillips head, but will be Torx T25 on a BF Falcon. The plastic insert in the door handle comes out - I removed this one by carefully jamming a small flat blade screwdriver into one end and then levering it out.Once the seven screws are removed the door trim will come away from the door, but this will require a bit of force as the trim is held to the door with plastic clips.To get the door trim to come completely away from the door, disconnect the mirror adjuster cable and the electric window cable.The locking actuator is held in place by three bolts with Torx T30 heads.Note: wind the window up before doing this - you’ll need full access to the internals of the door later on.The actuator is attached to the inside of the door with three bolts, which need to be removed from the door.I bought a complete actuator so that I could easily swap it over with the old one.Then it’s time to disconnect the various rods so that the actuator can be removed.Once everything has been disconnected, the actuator can be removed from the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMeUp Member 1,045 Member For: 15y 9m 7d Gender: Male Location: Perth, Western Australia Posted 20/08/14 07:49 PM Author Share Posted 20/08/14 07:49 PM Problem time - the electrical connection on the replacement actuator was different to the original one, meaning that it can’t just be swapped over.This meant pulling apart the replacement one to extract the required plastic shaft. There are four screws to be removed.Once the casing half comes off we can see the electric motor and plastic shaft.I then took the old one apart, revealing the broken plastic shaft. This is common in BA Falcons, and happens in BFs sometimes as well.I initially wasn’t able to put the casing half back on. Turned out that I didn’t have the spring back in properly.A photo showing the broken shaft.The electric motor rotates a cog, which then rotates the plastic shaft. This moves a notch up and down, which connects into another piece of plastic that controls the door locks.Once I had the original actuator back in one piece (with the replacement shaft correctly in place), it was time to reassemble the door. The rod for the door handle slides in and then the clip rotates down to clip over it.The rod for the key lock easily clips in sideways.Make sure that the rod for the door handle is also connected to the door lock mechanism (ie red plastic area). It’s easier to make sure that this end is connected first before connecting the door handle end. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMeUp Member 1,045 Member For: 15y 9m 7d Gender: Male Location: Perth, Western Australia Posted 20/08/14 07:50 PM Author Share Posted 20/08/14 07:50 PM The remains of the replacement actuator, with the broken plastic shaft from the original one. Soon to be in the bin.Then it was time to put back the three bolts that hold the actuator mechanism in place.The door trim is attached to the door with a bunch of plastic press-studs. Three of them are broken off on this trim, but that’s not a problem.The cable from the actuator to the interior door handle needs to be in its correct place before pushing the door trim back on. The cables for the mirror and window switches also have to be plugged back into the window switch on the door trim before pushing the trim back on.Then it was time to put the various screws back in place.For this job, I bought a complete replacement actuator because I didn’t want to stuff around with pulling one apart. However, it turned out to be easy enough to do, and if I was going to do it again then I would be more inclined to buy a new plastic shaft on its own. Being new, it would have less chance of breaking in the immediate future. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discostig Manual mode ________________________ All day, erryday Donating Members 13,798 Member For: 16y 4m 30d Gender: Male Location: Probably above atmospheric pressure Posted 21/08/14 12:23 AM Share Posted 21/08/14 12:23 AM Great guide. I had my driver's door one go in my BFII and fixed it as above, the rotating plastic end at the top of the rod I couldn't figure out in time the first day so it's good to have it in a guide.You can buy the replacement repair kits in packs of 4 on ebay, so I've got a few spares now! Think they come with motor and cog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Moar Powar Babeh Lifetime Members 19,323 Member For: 18y 7m 1d Gender: Male Location: Perth Posted 21/08/14 12:51 AM Share Posted 21/08/14 12:51 AM Another great Guide Phil, Just as an FYI for people playing along at home, Ford do sell and adaptor harness to suit the newer style central locking units or replacement driver gears are avaliable on Ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixy Angel Expert Donating Members 9,132 Member For: 19y 1m 28d Gender: Male Location: North Jamberoo, NSW Posted 21/08/14 04:50 AM Share Posted 21/08/14 04:50 AM excellent post mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arronm Dropping a turd Gold Donating Members 9,520 Member For: 16y 5m 28d Gender: Male Location: Perth Posted 21/08/14 06:24 AM Share Posted 21/08/14 06:24 AM (edited) Phil, its a good thing your cars fall apart all the time , or we wouldn't know how to fix anything.......Did you try my discs. Edited 21/08/14 06:24 AM by arronm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMeUp Member 1,045 Member For: 15y 9m 7d Gender: Male Location: Perth, Western Australia Posted 21/08/14 06:31 AM Author Share Posted 21/08/14 06:31 AM Phil, its a good thing your cars fall apart all the time , or we wouldn't know how to fix anything.......It's my obsession with making sure that my cars don't fall apart that keeps me going.Broken down taxi = extremely expensive. Tow truck, loss of income, frustration, etc.The BA wagon in these photos is something that I found cheap on Gumtree. Figured I'd buy it, fix a few things and then re-sell it.Did you try my discs.Still waiting to get the ute back from the panel beater. It's been sitting there for four weeks now... just a leeeeedle bit miffed about the delay. All he's gotta do is paint a replacement front bumper, bog and paint a dent in the bonnet and then fit the replacement bumper. As soon as I get it back I'll fit the 325mm calipers and discs. Looking forward to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawlass Silver Donating Members 1,161 Member For: 16y 5m 15d Gender: Male Location: left right out Posted 21/08/14 07:37 AM Share Posted 21/08/14 07:37 AM Top work Phil, nice to be able to sort the little stuff ourselves with your great guides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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