Windstar door lock.....burning smell

We have a 2001 Windstar LX that has recently begun not unlocking the passengers side rear door when pressing on the main unlock button. If we try it a few times, it was eventually unlocking. Well today it did not want to unlock for anything, and we repeatedly tried it and started to smell something. It smelled like that "burnt electrical smell". The other doors still lock, but obviously something is not right. And if something burnt up, seems to me it must be local to that particular door as the other door locks still work. I would like to know how all the doors are controlled, how all other doors can work and not this one. My kids ride around in that thing so having smelled something burning isn't a good feeling. But I want some understanding of what is in place before I go into the Ford garage and get a line of BS with a huge estimate to fix the problem. I just want to be armed with some info on how it works and if there is any easy way to fix it. Thanks in advance.

 

The motor/solenoid for the lock seems to be binded up. Continual attempts to unlock it will cause the part to overheat and result in the odor that you smell.

Your can remove the plastic door panel by removing any screws and prying the panel outward with a flat head screwdriver. Once the panel is off, you may have to peel back any plastic sheathing that is attached to get to the door lock. Hopefully Ford left you with some room to work with.

This part is probably only available through Ford and is probably under $50-60.

I'm guessing Ford would charge you about $300-400 to change it out.