2001 Explorer Limited 4.0 V6

[Graham Watson]

The drivers seat controls don’t work (passenger side does work), no radio, no fan, the Message Center info does work.
All fuses ( passenger and Power Dist. box) are fine.
The Relays ( all 10 in the Dist. Box) don’t appear to have any relevance to my problems.
Which fuses or relays relate to the above items?
I’m baffled so any advice would be appreciated.
Regards,
Graham Watson

 

[J_C]

Did all these things fail simultaneously, or did you acquire the vehicle with some or all these things not working, so there might be different causes? It does not appear that all these things are caused by the same fuse or relay.

There's lots of 2nd gen wiring diagrams linked in my sig below, or here's a fruity looking (easier to read on a color laser printer) fuse diagram for interior and power dist. box under-hood. It should match what's in your owner's manual.

Both L & R front seats operate off same interior panel #18 fuse, so I'd pull the harness connector and see if power is getting to the seat and if the ground has good, low resistance to chassis ground.

Does the radio illuminate, show the clock? The radio fuses should be interior panel, #20, sometimes #28 depending on sound system model, and #29. On some vehicle packages there's also #34 but it's for a rear control panel and CD changer, will not keep the head unit or amp (if so equipped) from working.

Do you have manual or automatic (EATC) air conditioning? I assume EATC since you mentioned a message center. Being a more complex circuit with EATC there is more to go wrong, but I'd start by checking whether there is power and a good ground at the fan connector. If there is, bad fan. If there is not, I'd suspect the fan speed controller transistor (aka by some, "resistor" but yours if EATC uses a transistor) module. There are several topics about these issues, and if a fuse is blown, it probably has some fault causing it to blow so the fault needs fixed first.

For example here's a topic where I attached the '99 Workshop Manual pages on Climate Control, and there's more info in that topic as well as others.

Repair info for the auto climate control module (EATC)

Looking to see if by chance there might be any repair info floating around for the automatic climate control modules in my 98 explorer and 2000 mountaineer. Both units won't turn on the ac and the blower motor is at hi or higher speeds. I have a hot air workstation and capable of doing smt...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[Graham Watson]

I apologize for the delay in replying to your response to my electrical problems on my 2001 Explorer Limited.

I bought the car new.
All the fuses are fine but I dont know how to test the relays but as your diagram of the relays under the hood (1 - 10 in pink) bear no relevance to my issues except No.9 (blower motor).
The passenger side windows can only be opened by the driver————-I have reason to believe that this could be due to the continuous opening/ closing of the door over 20 yrs. and broken a wire where the harness enters the door but I can tolerate that problem.
My biggest issues that don’t work are :-
Message center, clock, radio, CD player, the fan, drivers side seat adjustment ( passenger side works fine), the headlights which should come on automatically at night have to be turned on manually.
As you can see, there is a host of problems and as the fuses and relays appear OK, I am at a loss where the problems could be.
I shall investigate the possible fan issues and also look at previous Explorer electrical threads.
Many thanks for your help.
Regards,
Graham Watson

The drivers seat controls don’t work (passenger side does work), no radio, no fan, the Message Center info does work.
All fuses ( passenger and Power Dist. box) are fine.
The Relays ( all 10 in the Dist. Box) don’t appear to have any relevance to my problems.
Which fuses or relays relate to the above items?
I’m baffled so any advice would be appreciated.
Regards,
Graham Watson

all these things fail simultaneously, or did you acquire the vehicle with some or all these things not working, so there might be different causes? It does not appear that all these things are caused by the same fuse or relay.

There's lots of 2nd gen wiring diagrams linked in my sig below, or here's a fruity looking (easier to read on a color laser printer) fuse diagram for interior and power dist. box under-hood. It should match what's in your owner's manual.

Both L & R front seats operate off same interior panel #18 fuse, so I'd pull the harness connector and see if power is getting to the seat and if the ground has good, low resistance to chassis ground.

Does the radio illuminate, show the clock? The radio fuses should be interior panel, #20, sometimes #28 depending on sound system model, and #29. On some vehicle packages there's also #34 but it's for a rear control panel and CD changer, will not keep the head unit or amp (if so equipped) from working.

Do you have manual or automatic (EATC) air conditioning? I assume EATC since you mentioned a message center. Being a more complex circuit with EATC there is more to go wrong, but I'd start by checking whether there is power and a good ground at the fan connector. If there is, bad fan. If there is not, I'd suspect the fan speed controller transistor (aka by some, "resistor" but yours if EATC uses a transistor) module. There are several topics about these issues, and if a fuse is blown, it probably has some fault causing it to blow so the fault needs fixed first.

For example here's a topic where I attached the '99 Workshop Manual pages on Climate Control, and there's more info in that topic as well as others.

Repair info for the auto climate control module (EATC)

Looking to see if by chance there might be any repair info floating around for the automatic climate control modules in my 98 explorer and 2000 mountaineer. Both units won't turn on the ac and the blower motor is at hi or higher speeds. I have a hot air workstation and capable of doing smt...

www.explorerforum.com

View attachment 438950

JC,

Did all these things fail simultaneously, or did you acquire the vehicle with some or all these things not working, so there might be different causes? It does not appear that all these things are caused by the same fuse or relay.

There's lots of 2nd gen wiring diagrams linked in my sig below, or here's a fruity looking (easier to read on a color laser printer) fuse diagram for interior and power dist. box under-hood. It should match what's in your owner's manual.

Both L & R front seats operate off same interior panel #18 fuse, so I'd pull the harness connector and see if power is getting to the seat and if the ground has good, low resistance to chassis ground.

Does the radio illuminate, show the clock? The radio fuses should be interior panel, #20, sometimes #28 depending on sound system model, and #29. On some vehicle packages there's also #34 but it's for a rear control panel and CD changer, will not keep the head unit or amp (if so equipped) from working.

Do you have manual or automatic (EATC) air conditioning? I assume EATC since you mentioned a message center. Being a more complex circuit with EATC there is more to go wrong, but I'd start by checking whether there is power and a good ground at the fan connector. If there is, bad fan. If there is not, I'd suspect the fan speed controller transistor (aka by some, "resistor" but yours if EATC uses a transistor) module. There are several topics about these issues, and if a fuse is blown, it probably has some fault causing it to blow so the fault needs fixed first.

For example here's a topic where I attached the '99 Workshop Manual pages on Climate Control, and there's more info in that topic as well as others.

Repair info for the auto climate control module (EATC)

Looking to see if by chance there might be any repair info floating around for the automatic climate control modules in my 98 explorer and 2000 mountaineer. Both units won't turn on the ac and the blower motor is at hi or higher speeds. I have a hot air workstation and capable of doing smt...

www.explorerforum.com

View attachment 438950

 

[J_C]

Relays, there's ways to test them such as checking whether they are getting 12V on the coil pin socket contact (when they should be triggered) and a good sub-5ohm connection to ground, and whether they are getting 12V when they should, and 12V out on the other switched relay contact. However it is usually quicker and easier to try swapping around the relays, pull another same type and put in the position of the suspect relay since it's unlikely that two or more relays failed simultaneously.

I have noticed on my '98, that over the years, fuse and relay contacts are getting a bit tarnished. Not badly so (yet) but another thing you could do is simply pull out and put back in a few times, any related fuses and relays as the mechanical abrasion on the contacts may help, or of course clean them off.

I like to keep a spare relay in my glovebox. You can grab one at a junkyard or they're only about $10 on Amazon for a 3rd party, example:
(probably cheaper still on Rock Auto if already buying things from same warehouse so shipping cost is nothing)
This isn't the only type of relay the vehicle uses of course, just the most common one and also the one that the battery saver circuit uses which is a common one to fail.
Amazon product ASIN B000C83SRC
Otherwise, I would focus one at a time on a single thing not working, though I think you're likely correct that the window issue could be frayed wires in the door hinge area. Many of us have had frayed wire related problems.