Strange power door lock sound

On my '03 when I lock it, the drivers side door makes a loud cranking sound that scares almost everyone who gets in my truck. I find it plain annoying. Brought it into the dealership and they said it was the actuator that was causing the sound which unfortunately they don't sell by itself. Has anyone else had this same problem or have any suggestions on how to fix it?

would this work?
http://www.topgearautosport.com/part/A101Q8QR176/Universal_Power_Door_Lock_Actuator.html

 

Are these aftermarket actuators? If so, the only fix is to replace it. I've seen these go bad in the past and they sound like exactly what you described. The good news is that they're easy to replace (hardest part is removing the door panel) and relatively cheap.

The one you pictured looks like it would work, but I'd suggest pulling the door panel first, just to be sure that it is indeed in need of replacement and that it looks like the replacement would fit.

 

myself and a few others have the same problem...

mine no longer locks... i have to manually lock my driver side now...

it's the gears inside the actuator...

as mentioned, it's a dealer only item and i was quoted like $275 for the part alone...

 

so that universal actuator wouldnt do the job replacing the old one?

 

if it looks like the aftermarket one on your alarm, it should be a straight swap...

or if it looks like it connects to the same rods for the door lock, it should work...

im wondering now if would work with the OEM configuration...

don't feel like paying almost $300

 

ya know, i got this thread confused with another thread where someone is having issues with the actuator on an alarm they put on their manual locking taco...

sooooooooooooo, maybe take your door panel out and see what the OEM actuator looks like and see if this universal one would work...

 

haha gotcha i'll do that. Thanks!