So my door locks started messing up. When locking or unlocking the doors I blow the fuse that controls door locks, dome lights, and stereo. If I pull the breaker (12V 35A) that runs those for a few minutes and put it back in (new breaker one and an old one), it works for a few times, then starts blowing fuses again. I've checked the ground for the relay behind the kick panel, it's still good... does it sound like the actuator(s)?

I hate taking my door panels off, they are not in the best of shape from the previous owner. I have replaced the actuators once before, but they were squeaking and losing the power to move the locks, and it wasn't cheap so I'm trying to make sure that's the problem again. Does it sound like the actuators are the problem? Any tips on testing just one actuator at a time without pulling the door panels? Thanks!!

 

Do the locks move easily? If they're sticky they may draw too much current and blow the fuse.

 

They work great until they blow a fuse. When it fails you don't even hear the actuators move at all, just the pop of the fuse blowing

 

 

Ok thanks for the tips, guys! I finally got a free moment and here's what I was able to find. I tore my doors down and checked out all of the wires. Everything looked fine, so I disconnected the actuators and tried the lock buttons. Lock worked fine but unlock didn't, the lights dimmed and after pushing it 3 times, the fuse blew. I double checked the grounding and wire connections, those also seemed ok. It looks like it was just the relay behind the driver's side kick-panel failing. I replaced that and got everything hooked up and now it works great.

Hopefully this will help someone else some time in the future.