Rear doors not locking with key

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

Hi there guys, picked up a facelift 2003 a couple of weeks ago as a bit of a project. It was a bargain but for good reason. When I press lock on the key, the front doors lock as they should and also the boot but the rear doors remain unlocked. Thankfully the alarm sets itself, so If I open either of the rear doors it goes off but obviously the left and right rear doors don't lock up. When it comes to the right rear door, I solved this by flicking the interior door lock to the closed position whereby the red bit isn't showing and that has permanently locked it. Even when I unlock the car with the key it will not unlock and so I can just leave it locked as I never carry any passengers in the car. Frustratingly, the left rear one unlocks as usual even if I lock it manually like I did the right one. 

So...what I have to do each time I want to lock up and leave the car is to press the door lock button from the driver's window switch panel which thankfully locks all the doors even the rear one and then get out and press lock on the key. I've ascertained that I need to replace the door lock actuators in both rear doors. I have x2 questions though.....

1. Is there a way I can disable the rear left door from unlocking for now until I repair them? As I say, the rear right one will stay locked since I manually locked it from the inside but the left one will not.

2. The soft close function also does not work on the rear doors. 

3. Are the facelift actuators different from the non facelift ones? Do all actuators have the soft close mechanism within them? 

I see that on eBay some non facelift actuators are only £20-£30 but the 2004 actuators from Paul Frost are £100 each. His ones specifically say that they have the soft close function, so this makes me think that not all the rear door lock actuators include the soft close function. 

Many many thanks guys for any help you can give as always. Because this issue of all the things wrong with it which I need to tackle is probably the most annoying. It's booked in for its cam belt and water pump tomorrow as there is no mention of this in its service history and it is now on 105,000 miles. Will post pics once I get it up to scratch. 

[lex - eleven]

My 2000 had soft close doors so I can't see why yours isn't the same.

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

Just a little update guys, paul Frost told me through eBay that some actuators have soft close and some don't. Most do but there are some out there without. So that answers question 3 essentially but the thing that I'd love to find out most of all now is how can I temporarily disable the rear doors from unlocking so that they just stay locked for now? 

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

50 minutes ago, lex - eleven said:

My 2000 had soft close doors so I can't see why yours isn't the same.

Yeah mine definitely has soft close doors but turns out there are a few actuators out there without it which suggests that there might be a few cars knocking about in England without soft close, you learn something new everyday. 

At least now I know that I must buy an actuator which specifically has the soft close function included since they're not all the same. 

[BigBoomer]

Mine has a similar issue. I work around it by using the undocumented "double-lock" feature.
All you have to do to "double lock" or "deadlock" is to press the lock button a second time.

The only real fix is to fit either another lock mechanism or else to replace the motors in the lock mechanism.
The motors replacement is detailed on the US based Clublexus forum.

[Malc1]

might this be something a professional and competent  AutoElectrician could sort out seamlessly ?

Malc

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:13 AM, BigBoomer said:

Mine has a similar issue. I work around it by using the undocumented "double-lock" feature.
All you have to do to "double lock" or "deadlock" is to press the lock button a second time.

The only real fix is to fit either another lock mechanism or else to replace the motors in the lock mechanism.
The motors replacement is detailed on the US based Clublexus forum.

Sadly double losing it makes no difference in my case 😞 it is definately the actuators that have gone sadly but I think I'll be getting those used. 

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:30 AM, Malc1 said:

might this be something a professional and competent  AutoElectrician could sort out seamlessly ?

Malc

I think I'll just get the actuators off eBay and install them myself. Have watched Youtube and looked at a guide from the American LOC I think it was. If you have any tips/guides on rear door card and actuator removals do post them please mate 😉