Solved The power door locks are blowing fuses.

[nrancour]

2002 Mountaineer blowing fuse #2 in the power distribution box under the hood.
It is labeled as a 20 amp high-current maxi cartridge fuse. (5 bucks each)
If I change the fuse, it will blow again when I drive the car and the locks attempt an auto lock.
Everything else on the car works except the door locks.
From reading many other posts, the problem is either
(1) a shorted wire (usually in the driver door jam or on the floor board)
or (2) an actuator drawing a little too much current.
How can I determine if it is a short or an actuator going out?
I read one post where the guy replaced the 20A with a 30A and now his locks are working fine.
Is that something I can try to eliminate a short circuit?
Because if it is a short; it should blow the 30A just like the 20A.? Right?
If they work for a while then I can start to eliminate one actuator at a time and go back to a 20A fuse.
How can I determine which actuator is going bad without replacing all 5???

Any help is appreciated.
Neil.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check the door jam by each door for pinched wiring. Did you try to lock & unlock the doors while all of them are open (not in the closed/locked) position? There is a short tester tool which replaces the fuse with a circuit breaker during short testing troubleshooting.

 

[nrancour]

SOLVED:
My short started out being intermittent and then became a full short circuit.
(1) I made a "reset-able fuse" by soldering wires from the blown fuse to a reset-able circuit breaker. This allowed me to test without constantly blowing fuses.
(2) I purchased a Power Probe ECT2000 circuit tester ($90)
(3) I traced the short circuit from the driver floor board under the driver seat to under the console.
(4) As luck would have it, I was playing with the wires and I saw a spark.
(5) Repaired the frayed wires that were shorting to ground.
(6) Tested and all is OK.

There are several wire bunches that route to the computer under the center console.
The wires bunch that shorted was trapped under the plastic console and was rubbing on the long screws used to bolt the computer to the floor.

Thanks for all the previous forum posts that helped me figure out where my problem was located.

 

[nrancour]

Here are some pictures....

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update. Your thread is now marked solved.