A simple cheap fix for weak Central Locking Motors on FTO's

Introduction

How many of you guys (or girls) have central locking that does not always work? My FTO had a very weak drivers side lock. (200bhp and they can't get an electric motor to open the door!!) So far I've cleaned the central door lock mechanism twice. The first time I pulled the little motor apart that drives the whole thing and cleaned the sensor switch etc, it lasted two months. The second time I cleaned all the moving parts of the door lock to remove all the old grease and lubricated it with thin silicon oil. It lasted two weeks!!! I got bored with this and came up with the following solution.
 
Parts Required
 
A Door Lock Motor from Maplin. There are two types, a 5 wire (Order code YD78K £8.99) and a 2 wire version (Order code YD79L £7.99). Either will work all you need is the 2 wires but the 5 wire version has a built in 2 way switch (May be useful if you want to use it to fold in your mirrors or something)
A couple of Lucas spade connectors (Halfords or Maplin)
 
DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK
 
There are a couple of things I'm not sure about. What effect it will have on the Mitsubishi Door Controller (Under the dash on the driver's side). How long will the Maplin Door Lock Motor last. The Maplin Door Lock Motor moves about a lot when it operates, is it going to fall off. (Time will tell)
 
How to Install

1. Disconnect the battery. (It's up to you!!! Reset your ECU/Gearbox or blow a few things up) 
2. The first thing to do is to remove the interior door panel. 
3. Disconnect the cable from the bottom of the original central door lock assembly.
4. Remove the BLUE/RED and BLUE/BLACK from the connector housing, use a very small screwdriver to release the catch inside between the metal connector and the plastic plug housing. This is very fiddly. 
5. Now reconnect the connector (with the two remaining wires) into the original central door lock assembly so it can use the original central door lock position sensor. (Providing this is not the part that’s faulty - normally it's the motor that gets weak) 
6. Fit the Maplin Door Lock Motor as per the photo below.
   just make sure that the window does not hit the new Door Lock Motor. You will need to drill 2 small holes in the metal inner panel and bend the connecting rod to suit. DO NOT fully tighten the adapter that fixes the new rod to the original connector rod, this will need adjusting once it's all working. 
7. Connect the BLUE/RED to the GREEN wire and the BLUE/BLACK to the BLUE wire on the Maplin Door Lock Motor. You will have to solder on some new connectors onto the Maplin Door Lock Motor as they are the wrong type. 
8. Now connect that battery. Look for smoke!! 
9. Now operate the locks with the remote control. You will have to operate the door lock manually at the same time to keep the original central door lock position sensor in sync, if not the locks will do some funny things like unlock and lock straight away. 
10. Take note of where the adapter that fixes the new rod to the original connector rod, adjust and fix to suit.

This guide has been taken from mitsubishi-fto.org