Thanks guys!
Just wanted to pop in and express my gratitude to you guys. This thread basically saved me $300. I bought the motor mentioned previous for about $5 on eBay and it did the trick. I'm a pretty handy guy and I have to say that it was more difficult than I first anticipated. Heres more tips on how to get it done.
Here's what you'll need to replace the motor:
1 set of torx (star) wrenches
1 phillips screwdriver
new motor
small flathead screwdrivers (for prying open actuator)
vise
lubricant (if needed)
Step by step (from what I can remembered)
Precursor:
Check the fuse (consult manual for exact fuse location) under in the front hood to see if it is good before you go on this wild ride. I did that as well verified the rear-latch actuator was getting power before I replaced it.
1.) manually open the door
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Open the rear window if you can, and get inside the car. Pop off the plastic door panel covering the inside of the lift-door (from the top down). You won't be able to remove it all the way because the panel has screws that can only be exposed when the lift-door is open. Just expose it enough so that you can reach your hand inside. Go outside the car and reach your hand inside the opening of the panel and lift up on the latch assembly lever (Its a silver 'L shaped' lever which you may have to feel around for).
2.) complete taking off the panel
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Once you have the door open, you'll see 4 phillip head screws keeping the panel in place. Unscrew these and remove the door panel.
3.) Take off the rear latch assembly
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Carefully remove the two electronic connectors. Then, using a hex wrench, unscrew the bolts to take off the latch assembly.
4.) Remove and open the actuator
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Unscrew the two silver hex bolts, and carefully remove the actuator from the latch assembly. It is very difficult to open the black box part. I did so by prying with a small screw driver for a good while. Once you get the case open, be sure you also remove the electrical connector pins (L shaped black plastic thing with 2 metal prongs sticking out) before you attempt to take out the motor. This also quite difficult to remove
5.) Take out motor
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Once the box is open and the L connector is off, wedge a small screw driver in a pry out the old motor.
The hardest part (as mentioned) was getting the gear off the old motor and onto the new one. To accomplish this (not recommending this - it just so happened to work for me) I just put the old motor in the vice and crushed the plastic part until it started pushing out the gear. I am really surprised that worked, due to how difficult of a time I was having originally.
To put it on the new motor, I used a vice to press it most of the way, then used a small nut on the end of the gear to press it on even further for a proper fit.
6.) Reassemble and test
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I put the new motor in, supplied some lubricant to the plastic (up and down) part. Closed it all up and put everything back together and it was good to go. Make sure you open the lift-door window when you put the panel back on for easy access.
Note for the weary: If you are worried that is may be too hard for you, you can buy the entire latch assembly for $68 on Ebay at the moment or about $100 from amazon. The part number is 9L8Z-7843150-B and will be much easier to replace. Basically just steps 1-3 (10 minutes) and easy swap out.
Hope this helps someone!