1996 Explorer driver door will not lock, with remote, key or door button

[grantgrabert]

First off, thanks to all that take the time to help people on this site. The world needs more of you.
My issue:
1996 Limited Edition 4 door. Driver door will not lock, even with the key in the tumbler. The door lock indicator rod will not budge. When I press the lock button on door or remote I don't hear the electric actuator in the drivers side door. All other doors lock and unlock fine.
I'm guessing the electric actuator failed. Any suggestions on how to confirm? Anyone else experienced this? I searched the site and found other folks with door lock issues but none like this.
Thanks for any help!
Grant G.

 

[XLTrunner]

Even with a dead door actuator, you should be able to unlock the door with your key. When I had lock problems on the driver door, it was the small spring inside the latch that had broken and jammed things up not allowing the lock rod to move.

 

[grantgrabert]

So it was the door lock actuator. It was rusted and would not allow movement of the lock mechanism.
Here is what you should have (first image YW7A-54218A42-BB) and the box shows part number to get. After you remove the door panel, remove the one wire clip on the window rail in rear area of door (see second image), then remove lower bolt holding the window rail so you can remove the rail. Then you will have easy access to the actuator in this image. When the rail is out of way, the rest is fairly easy. Apologies that my images are out of order as I wasn't planning on posting this until after the job was done. Hope this helps anyone with same issue in the future.

 

[XLTrunner]

Thankfully that didn't seize in the locked position...huh? In hindsight, with as many of these vehicles that I see at the local U Pull with at least one door that won't open, I suppose it would have been prudent for me to be proactive and replace the door actuator when I did the latch. Can't imagine it's much fun trying to get a door panel off with the door locked shut.

 

[CDW6212R]

Good repair there, and thanks for the pictures, others will appreciate them. The lock actuators can die from very old age or water getting into the door from a cracker outside window seal(the bottom edge). Ford changed the rubber they use for the window "felts", before the 90's those seals would not last 15 years before cracking badly.