Door Lock Actuator Question

[rpm8100]

I recently had a shop install a Viper keyless entry on my car. The system worked perfectly well for a total of 2 days and then my door lock actuator failed. This unit cost me over $400!

My question is, is the stereo shop liable for this unit to fail, or did the actuator unit fail due to wear and tear? I guess another way to put it is, can the door lock actuator fail because of bad wiring? Can the wiring job be bad even if everything worked great for a couple of days?

The shop claims that they have done numerous Mercedes cars in the past including older models with no problems.

The new features that the Viper system added was the auto locking of doors whenever the ignition was turned on or off. It also flashes the parking lights when arming and disarming the alarm. It also has a kill start feature that will prevent the car from starting if the alarm system is armed.

Opinions please, I am debating whether to have the shop re-connect the keyless entry system after having the actuator replaced.

Thanks.

[Uncle Acky]

What year/model car is it?

Is it repaired?

From what I understand the remote entry unit is wired in series with the wire from your lock actuator. Any damage from improper wiring would possibly cause damage right away but probably wouldn't work properly at all.

A properly installed unit would not cause problems.

Do you know what happened to cause the actuator to fail?

Are you sure the actuator is faulty?

Acky

[rpm8100]

Originally posted by Uncle Acky
What year/model car is it?

Is it repaired?

From what I understand the remote entry unit is wired in series with the wire from your lock actuator. Any damage from improper wiring would possibly cause damage right away but probably wouldn't work properly at all.

A properly installed unit would not cause problems.

Do you know what happened to cause the actuator to fail?

Are you sure the actuator is faulty?

Acky

Hello Uncle Acky,

My car is a 1995 C36 AMG. It came with an alarm system but no keyless entry.

The problem was my vacuum unit. I don't know if it was just coincidence or if it had something to do with the Viper alarm installation, but the vacuum unit failed.

I had my mechanic replace this and then had the Viper alarm re-connected by the audio shop. This time I had them disable the autolocking feature with the ignition. The keyless and alarm have been working great (knock on wood) for over 6 months now.