1984 Mercedes 300sd keyless

Hi, I just finished installing a remote  lock on my Mercedes. Everything went very smoothly throughout the project. I wired up two relays and installed the door lock actuator inside the driver's door. Programmed the Omega Research REC43 and bingo, it worked flawlessly. But after a couple of days of using it, I noticed that the actuator was losing power and now the actuator doesn't work at all. The relays are still clicking, though I haven't pulled the car apart yet to verify their proper operation. The actuator that I used was one of these generic $5.00 actuators and my guess that I got what I paid for. In any case, is this a reasonable diagnosis? And without paying $100 for a Spal, is there an intermediate actuator that I can buy in the $20-$30 range that will have enough power and last longer than 3 days? Thanks for any help.

Tom

Mo,

I have the actuator linkage mounted so that I can attach the little coupler without any bending or effort, and the door lock really did pop nicely when it was operating.

I am using outboard relays.

I have set the transmitter for a timed pulse of 4 seconds. Could that be what is frying the actuator?

Thanks for your help. I am new to this and appreciate your time.

Tom

Mo,

I reduced the actuator time to about a half second, checked that the throw of the actuator was not impeded and made sure that the actuator had some movement both at the top and the bottom of the throw. The unit has been working flawlessly for about 3 weeks. I believe that the reduction in actuator time did the trick. Thanks again for your help.

Tom