I just picked up a door lock actuator from a junk yard to discover the plugs dont match up exactly but everything else looks identical. I decided to take the guts out of the new one and put them in my original. The electric motor is working fine but the large gear inside that has a spring load on it does not seem to be doing what it is supposed to. Just wondering if anyone out there has done something similar and could tell me the secret to resetting this spring loaded gear.

 

Was the used one from another 2nd gen TL ? They should interchange if so, unless you're going from rear to front actuators.