My elocker actuator hasn't been working lately. I removed it and took it apart to find the typical rust and grime. I also found that two of the magnets had broken loose and shifted all to one side of the housing. So, I cleaned everything out, corrected the position of the magnets so they are evenly spaced apart and glued them back on to the housing.

I hooked everything back up and still….. nothing.

I rigged up a bench test to test the actuator on its own. I did this by running 12V to the two pins that turn the locker on and off. When I do this, the motor "twitches" once and then stops. If I reverse the direction of the current, it will "twitch" the opposite direction and then stop again. I can keep reversing the current and move the motor back and forth within this tiny range but thats it.

After the bench test, I hooked it back up to the harness under the vehicle and it does the same "twitch" when I press the locker switch.

Can anyone tell me why it can't move any farther than this and complete the locking/unlocking process?

Am I missing something with the orientation or positioning of the magnets? When I have the motor cover loose, I can spin it freely and feel uniform "notches" of resistance as it rotates. There is no point in the rotation where I feel it get stuck as if the magnets are opposing each other or something.

Just in case you haven't seen it ........


Have you checked out these TWO threads?

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I've done a ton of google searches. I did not come across that elocker troubleshooting thread though. Don't know if the magnet polarity issue is mentioned there but I just found out thats my problem.

I just ripped off the magnets I had reglued and swapped them. The actuator now moves its full range of motion!

It turns out that two of the magnets have opposite polarity to the other two. Its crucial that the like magnets are across from each other.

If that isn't mentioned in the elocker troubleshooting FAQ, it should be added.