97 ford ranger door lock

I have a 97 ranger with a hornet t554 installed and recently the drivers side door lock doesn't want to work properly, i'm almost certain its not the alarms problem. The drivers side door lock actuator will quit completely and neither the remote nor the switch will open it, only the passenger side. But usually if you open the door handle to pop the plunger up and push down on the plunger at the same time you lock it it will work from anywhere to 5 minutes or a day. It sounds like its laboring to work and is a little slower to move then the passenger side. Do you think its the actuator? I tried having a closer look at it but didn't want to take it out unless i absolutely had to as it looks like a lot of fun! (sarcasm) Thanks for the help Derek