My power door locks don't work. I had to replace the locks. Now the power door locks don't work

[rickyd123]

I just got a 1994 ford explorer. The door locks were totally shot. I went to a wrecking yard with the key and tried it in every 1994 Ford until I found one the key worked in the door. It worked in a 94 Ford Ranger. I then pulled the door locks out and put them in my explorer. My Explorer has little electrical tabs that plug into the end of the lock. I reattached them, but the power door locks don't work any more. I was wondering if anyone has advice as to what I did wrong or how to fix it.

 

[rickyd123]

I pulled the panel that the power windows and door locks switches rest in, and used my ohm meter to test it. I'm getting power to the door lock switch, but I'm not sure if when I push the switch power is going down the line. I'm going to use a jumper wire today and pull the switch and see if I can jump the locks with a wire. I really don't have any other ideas of what to try. I'm not very good at electrical stuff.

 

[rickyd123]

I made a mistake. I said I was getting power to the power locks switch. I'm not. I said I wasn't very good at electrical stuff. I tried to jump the connection. That didn't work. What I thought my multi meter was reading as volts was mini volts. I can't even read power to the power windows which work. They'll read like .45 mini volts. I'm very confused. I would run a hot wire straight from the battery if that would do any good?

 

[Roadrunner777]

Let's recap and then go to some suggestions. Please confirm:
1) You had door locks with bad cylinders, the physical key barely worked or did not work at all, but the power locks worked.
2) You replaced the lock assemblies from a junkyard source.
3) Where the power locks once worked, they have stopped working after you replaced the lock assemblies.
Please confirm this is correct.

I would check the fuses under the hood. One of the larger ones (#6 if it is labelled) feeds the power locks.

It it's ok, I would go to the lock/window control assembly in the drivers door. It has to be this one, it is the master and it controls everything else. Look for +12V on a black wire with a white strip, two places, one going in the window side, the other going to the lock side. Test both please.

Then, look for two wires, just black, on the window side. These are both grounds, please verify they are good grounds.

If those are ok, look for a Pink wire with an Orange stripe. When you press to lock, this wire should ground. When you press to unlock, it should be +12V. If you are not pressing any switch, it will just be floating.

Likewise, look for a Pink wire with a Black stripe. It will do the reverse, +12V to lock, ground to unlock.

If you are measuring voltage, please be sure you are connected to a good clean ground. It will be tough to find, but it is the only way to get reliable measurements. I actually prefer an old-school test light for this because bad connections can create the appearance of being ok with a digital meter.

If you decide to start jumping voltage from the battery, please put a fuse in the wire you are going to use to jump with... 30A would be about right.

That should be enough to get you started. The basic premise is that power and ground go to the master switch, and the switch flips them one way or the other to lock/unlock.

Might not hurt to get a little help if you are new to digital voltmeters. Yeah, be sure you notice Volts versus milliVolts (mV), as you have already discovered.

I usually check in this forum daily. Let me know.

 

[rickyd123]

Thanks for the help. You are correct that the lock cylinders were bad and I replaced them from a wrecking yard for ones that worked good. I just found out from the former owner that the power locks haven't worked for about 8 years. I thought I messed them up. I guess they were already broken.
There is a black wire with a white strip going to the power mirror adjust switch. When I turn the key on it has power. The power mirrors work fine. I've checked all of the fuses inside the SUV and under the hood. They are all good.The power windows work, but when I test those wires for power I can't find the power wire. Until I found the power at the mirror adjust switch I couldn't find power any where on the whole control assembly.
There is no black wire with a white strip going to the power door locks.
Here is a list of all of the wires going to the door locks. I need to know which one is supposed to have constant power to it. I was thinking if I could find that wire I could run a wire from the cigar lighter to it with a fuse in between and maybe fix the power door locks. Here's the list of wires: Peach or could be pink with a red strip, Blue with a black strip, Red with a black strip, Yellow with a black strip, Solid black, Grey with an orange strip, yellow with a blue strip, peach or pink with a light blue strip, Red with a yellow strip, White with a yellow strip, Yellow with a red strip, Pink with a yellow strip, pink with a green strip, Solid black

 

[Roadrunner777]

The black with white stripe should be powered constantly, not switched. If you can patch constant 12V to that, and make sure the black wire is a good ground, you should be ok. Maybe. It is starting to look like the wiring has been modified, perhaps there was an aftermarket alarm system in the past somewhere.

I think at this point, I should just post the schematics and let you digest them. I need to know two things:
1) 2 door or 4 door? (I think all XLT's are 4 door, please verify)
2) Is there factory keyless entry? (I think probably not, but again, please confirm)

Give me those two answers and I will post the appropriate schematics, with connector layouts. If you can answer tonight, I will post them early tomorrow morning, unless I get called into work, which is unlikely but not impossible.

 

[rickyd123]

It's a 4 door. When I bought they never said any thing about key less entry. It doesn't look like it's been altered in any way, but I could be wrong. It all looks very stock under the door panel.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Ok. Yeah, just looking, it's hard to tell about keyless. The easy way to tell is if there is a factory remote FOB that opens the doors, which can get lost in a 1/4 century. And it's important because the wire task and color code are different. Now the interesting thing is that the keyless version does not have a black with white stripe wire... which leads me to think you have keyless entry, just a missing FOB.
I'm attaching two diagrams for the driver's door lock/window connector. 'standard', which is without the keyless entry option, 'keyless' with the keyless option. Let's see which one matches.

 

[rickyd123]

Thanks Roadrunner777. I have the schematics printed and will compare them today and get back to you.

 

[rickyd123]

Well, I looked at my explorer and your schematics. It looks like I have a key less entry Explorer. The schematics show a wire listed as "Safety relay load Terminal to Window Regulator Switch Feed. I figured this was the power wire. I was right. I only got power after the key was turned on. That's the only power I could find except for the one I mentioned earlier about the power mirrors. I tried jumping power to the wires that are describe as locking and unlocking wires. Nothing happened. A few days ago I removed the switch that controls the power locks. When I put it back in its place I could see the ends of its electrical terminals sticking through the master control platform that it plugs into. I took my jumper wire and touched the hot end to the terminals of that switch. The doors locked. I moved my wire to another pole. It sparked. I moved it to a different terminal and nothing happened. I moved it back to the first pole and heard the locks activate again. Unfortunately, the next attempt it sparked again and I pretty sure I fried the switch. I checked all the fuses and they're all still good.
I'm starting to think that the master control panel maybe bad. It looks very difficult to replace. I need to figure out how to remove the wires from the control panel and put them in one I get from a wrecking yard. I'm beginning to think that it doesn't have power until the key is turned on?

 

[Roadrunner777]

The wires connect to the control panel with a connector... I believe there are two screws on the ends of the connector.

Unfortunately, the sparking and then nothing could also mean the keyless ignition module is fried. I guess what I would do is replace the control panel, and if wires are coming loose from the connector, well, you will see that when you take out the screws and whatever is wrong should be obvious. Perhaps this will solve your problems. If not, then the next suspect is the keyless ignition module. If it comes to that, I can post schematics of that. But, we are going to get into a level of complexity that is hard to deal with in a message board, and I do not have experience with that system. So, I would have you look at other threads specifically for the keyless system first.

Let me know how it goes with getting the connector loose, any damage, and it's replacement.

 

[rickyd123]

The two screws that connect the control panel have always been broken, but they screw into a trim housing piece. The wires going into the control panel are secure. It might help if I could post a picture of what I'm dealing with, but I don't know if I can.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Well, here is what is supposed to happen...

 

[rickyd123]

I compared the picture you posted to mine and they're a little different. Your picture shows trim piece then below that 2 buttons with the numbers 3 and 4 in circles then another piece below the buttons with wiring going into it.
On Mine the trim piece is separate then there are the buttons and the wiring sections which are connected. The windows button and one of the power lock buttons are 1 piece. There is a second power lock/unlock button. That is the only button that can be separated from the wiring section easily and is the button I was talking about in an earlier post. I thought I might have fried it while use it as part of my electrical jumping attempts. There are 6 tabs holding the buttons onto the wiring circuit thing. ( I believe that under the plastic it is similar to a modern printed circuit, but it's from the early 90s., so the circuits are about 3/16 or 1/4 of an inch wide and made of tin or steel instead of copper like today or whatever they use today. ie WIRING CIRCUIT THING) When I release the 6 tabs there is something holding the power lock button to the wiring circuit thing. Mine is also shaped like a rectangle. The one in your picture has points at the ends mine doesn't.
One thing I'd really like to know is if the power door locks on 1994 work with the key off or removed. If they do, then you're probably right about my issue being in a component further down the line. Because the only power I can get to the master control circuit is with the key on. If it is another component, once I know what and where it is I'll just go to the wrecking yard and get one.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Unfortunately, I cannot test the way the power door locks are supposed to work, I have an aftermarket remote start, so I can't tell how a stock keyless system would normally work. My strong suspicion is that they should work with the key off/removed, it would be really inconvenient for them to work otherwise.

I just went out to look at the control panel on my '94 Explorer Sport 2-door, and it matches the pictures I have been posting.

There are two harnesses, one to a square connector, which is all for power mirrors. It has a grey connector on the wiring, plugs into a white piece of plastic, which is the backing for the power window 4-way switch. This is on the front end of the panel relative to the vehicle. The back on mine is how my pictures look, rectangular with pointed ends.

If you can get pictures of yours uploaded anywhere on the web, it would be a great help.

 

[rickyd123]

I went to the wrecking yard looking for a rear view mirror. I figured since I was there I'd get another control panel. I got one from a 1994 ford explorer XLT just like mine. It has two more wires than mine. It has the black and white stripped wire and two other solid black wires that mine doesn't otherwise all the wires are the same and in the same place. I have a solid black wire in the same spot as the stripped wire on the wrecking yard control panel. There is no power to that wire with the key on or off. I thought about getting power to my solid black wire then I remembered I probably fried something when I was using the jumper wire. The only way I could switch control panels would be to cut all of the wires and crimp them back together using the wrecking yard panel. Do you have any ideas what I should try next? I posted some photos on my Facebook page. I know very little about Facebook. My girlfriend talk me into setting it up about five years ago. My user name is rickyd123. They did it like this. rickydonetwothree My name is Ricky Dobson. The pics are there. You may have to click on my name to see them. I don't know. I'll try to insert a link to the page. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001035953213

 

[Roadrunner777]

Yeah, that link works fine, I can see the pictures. The blacks are all grounds, so don't apply power to them. Ok, let me do a little brain dump...
Based on your photographs, we can say conclusively that you have the keyless entry option.

Now, here's the snag and it's a whopper for what you are trying to do.

In the regular power locks, the power lock switch sends +12V and ground to the locks on two wires. To lock, the polarity is one way, to unlock, the +12V and ground are reversed. It's like a DC motor going forward or backward. You swap the wires and it changes direction. It's very simple without the keyless entry.

The keyless entry is entirely different, and if you follow me, this is going to answer a lot of your questions. The power lock switch does not go to the power locks. It feeds inputs to the keyless entry module. The module has outputs that drive the actual locks.

So, it will not work to simply apply additional power to the lock switch because it doesn't go to the locks. It goes to the keyless entry module. And, it doesn't apply power, it sends a ground to the keyless entry module. This is why there isn't power at the switch, that's by design. So, there isn't wiring at the switch that directly drives the locks.

Switch -> Keyless Module -> Locks

Now, where to go from here?

Option 1: Rewire
You could pick up the wiring to the locks from the drivers door, so it's actually pretty close. You would need to get a constant +12V into the door. And, I think you should probably cut the door lock drive wires at the keyless module to prevent backfeeding +12V. Maybe that damage is already done, and it wouldn't matter.

Option 2: Troubleshoot and replace the keyless module
This almost sounds like the easier option, except it's in a terrible location, behind the plastic over the left rear wheel well.

I'll write more in the morning.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Update: Option 1 to rewire is going to be more complicated than I imagined because, of this:

Power -> Driver's Door -> Passenger Door -> Door Locks

The rewire job would be require:
1) Running constant +12V to the driver's door panel
2) Splicing/repurposing about 5 wires at the driver's door panel
3) Splicing/repurposing about 5 wires at the passenger door panel
4) Tapping into the lock drive wires at the passenger door panel
5) Disconnecting the keyless entry module

And, I do not know positively all of the circuitry in the door lock control panels, so I cannot say this will work absolutely. There could be something internal that creates an issue.

If there was ever an example of butchered wiring, this is it. But, I think it will work.

On Option 2, fix/replace keyless entry module:
I just saw a picture that makes this a little more reasonable. I think you can get to it through the hatch where the jack goes.

If you go option 2, I'd want to verify power at your existing keyless entry module, as well as the wiring from the switches to the module. If all that looks good, then the next step for this option would be to replace the keyless entry module. Honestly, my gut feeling is, if you replace this module, you are done, or close to it.

 

[rickyd123]

I think you're right about option 2. Option 1 is over my head. I'm going to find the keyless entry module. I've looked on google this morning and it looks like you're right about it being under the jack compartment. If I can find it, I'll get the one from the XLT I pulled parts from yesterday. I wonder if I'm going to have to find one with the same type of control panel as I have?

 

[Roadrunner777]

There are basically two control panels, the 2-door version and the 4-door version (because of the window switches). I think we got sidetracked because I was describing a 2-door, like I have, but the 4-door control panel is shaped differently, has different ends, as you see on yours.

However, the control panel is the same with respect to keyless entry. You should be fine.