Door wiring harness fixture

[ScienceofSpock]

EDIT: Disregard, I found the bolt at the top. Man, looking at something for too long gives you tunnel vision, lol.

Does anyone know how to disconnect the wiring harness device on a 98 explorer? I am replacing my driver door, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to disconnect this thing.

This is the thing I'm referring to. There is a threaded screw inside the new one, but there doesn't seem to be a nut on the bottom of the old one (I have removed the rubber boot, btw).

Thanks,
Keith

 

[MustangCobra03]

It's an old thread, I know. But I should know that too now because I have to replace the wiring for the door speaker. I can cheat around it and seal it with silicon, but if anybody nows how to open that thing it might be helpful.
Thanks

 

[AppleWood]

Second that Mustang.

Loosening that screw on the top made my driver door window not work. Tighten it back up and window works again? But still can't get it to come loose from door.

 

[koda2000]

You'll find the bolt doesn't come out as much as the lower 1/2 of the cylinder pushes down and off. If necessary don't be afraid to remove the entire driver's door. It's really easy (just 4 bolts) and there's little-to-no adjustment to worry about when you reinstall it. Removing the door makes it MUCH easier to examine/fix the multitude of wires found there and/or work on the door's innards.

 

[bobflood]

Right - that is a "capture" bolt in the top part. The bolt doesn't raise up, but pushes the bottom part down to separate the two parts.

 

[CountriSquire]

2000 Ford Expl XLT driver's door wire harness

Have any of you folks gotten into this driver's door wiring harness boot assembly?

Looks like I'm forced to open it up as I have multiple 'intermittent' opens inside from 15 years and 225K miles worth of flexing. Best I can gather the conductor(s) finally break inside the insulation.

I was hoping I'd find a plug in connector in the cab, but appears all connections to door controls switches are the ends of a major harness that runs under dash and from kick panel area to rear of body.

Has anyone tackled this job and, if so, what was the best approach? I haven't yet pulled boot from either end, but looks like there's little or no room to work if I can 'compress' it one direction or the other.

Am I looking at disconnecting all the terminal ends in the door in order to gain enough slack at the hinge area to repair? I'm thinking solder and shrink tubing as it doesn't appear there's room for very many butt crimp connectors.

I'm sure it's broken conductors as door locks, passenger window and LF speaker all work intermittently depending on how far out the driver's door is opened.

Not at all looking forward to the job, but I've gotten such great service out of this ride that I can't trade in based on this problem.

I'd appreciate any insight as to best way to tackle the job from someone who's 'been there; done that.'

Many thanks!

 

[fixt]

I had this problem back in 2011, had to go find the post as I didn't remember exactly. My problem was passenger side door locks. Your wire colors may be different.
There's not a lot of room if the break is between the plug and entry into the truck body. I used solder and shrink tubing, tubing goes on and have to slide it out the way to keep it from shrinking when soldering. The wires are kind of oily so you'll need to flux.
The end of the boot can be pulled away from the body side for inspection.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.

From 2011 post
Between the door and frame driver side you will see a rubber boot going to a large cannon plug with a 10mm bolt on top. There may be a tie wrap around the rubber boot where it attaches to the plug.
Back out the 10mm bolt to remove the cannon plug (female) from the door. It's a captive bolt which won't come out completely, you'll see the plug moving away from the male side. Pull it lose when it stops dropping down.
Remove the tie wrap and peel back the rubber boot. You may see a broken wire which will need to be resoldered with shrink tubing. There's not much room to work depending on where it's broken and little to no slack to be gained, so you may have to add a section just to have something to work with. 18 ga I believe.

Mine was a pink wire with green or light green trace. All other doors would not unlock from driver side master switch, but would lock. Close anyway.
Mine was completely broken in two so it was easy to spot.

 

[CountriSquire]

Thanks fixt! I;m encouraged to hear there's a M/F plug connector in that housing. Old enough to know there'll probably be some Murphy's Law involved with any job I tackle. Wanted to watch Talladega today, so I'll get a jump on it early one day this week since it's my sole ride and looking like a lot of the wires are going sour.

I'll try to take some pics along the way to post when done. Many thanks again & I'll post an update.

 

[AppleWood]

CountriSquire,
I too had to open up this connector. Passenger power window quit on me. Long story short: after pulling motor, subbing new switch and further troubleshooting just disconnecting and reconnecting cannon plug a couple of times got window to working again. If you need a brand new single window switch, let me know! hehe

 

[bobflood]

Have any of you folks gotten into this driver's door wiring harness boot assembly?

Looks like I'm forced to open it up as I have multiple 'intermittent' opens inside from 15 years and 225K miles worth of flexing. Best I can gather the conductor(s) finally break inside the insulation.

I was hoping I'd find a plug in connector in the cab, but appears all connections to door controls switches are the ends of a major harness that runs under dash and from kick panel area to rear of body.

Has anyone tackled this job and, if so, what was the best approach? I haven't yet pulled boot from either end, but looks like there's little or no room to work if I can 'compress' it one direction or the other.

Am I looking at disconnecting all the terminal ends in the door in order to gain enough slack at the hinge area to repair? I'm thinking solder and shrink tubing as it doesn't appear there's room for very many butt crimp connectors.

I'm sure it's broken conductors as door locks, passenger window and LF speaker all work intermittently depending on how far out the driver's door is opened.

Not at all looking forward to the job, but I've gotten such great service out of this ride that I can't trade in based on this problem.

I'd appreciate any insight as to best way to tackle the job from someone who's 'been there; done that.'

Many thanks!

As koda said, remove the door if you are going to work on the wires inside the flexible boot. Four bolts hold the door to the hinges; door is heavy so you need to support it while you are unbolting; think they are 12mm; easier with two people. With the door out of the way, you can cut off the wire tie that holds the boot to the connector, then peel the boot back on itself to expose the wires. I used a curve jaw locking plier to hold the boot back near the body; soldered and shrink-wrapped the repairs. Good luck.

 

[CountriSquire]

Hi folks. Sorry for delay in posting some feedback on my problem.

Thanks to all & perhaps most to Applewood. All good input, but that (and old age) reminding me of a saying a long friend always says, "Don't go kickin' in the front door til you see if the back one's unlocked."

So I stepped back and rethought the problem and how so many items failed so quickly. When I went to loosen the bolt that secures the 'cannon connector' and it seemed to freewheel. It appears somewhere along the line, either by age or a previous owner it really wasn't securing anything.

Since I had gotten that far curiosity and I decided to pull the plug (pardon the pun) to see what the set up was. I'll offer this in partial repayment of the help received here. I believe I counted 35 wires.


Tried to insert a pic here, but asks for an http: link and I'm not nearly that PC savvy.

My other offering would be on a possible alternative method of repair should you be unfortunate enough to have a broken wire.

I pulled door panel along with the driver's side 'kickpanel panel' to see what it looked like where the bundle entered the cab. About six inches in they join and even bigger bundle that most follow downward toward the back of the cabin along the floor.

Under my circumstances, pulling the door was not an option. Well, I coulda pulled it off, but you know the rest.

I have not tried it, but perhaps the female side of the connection could be pulled / pushed back into the cabin along with the boot. The boot (by virtue of it's molded shape) seems to be already installed on that harness along with the female socket. I would hope that might allow more working room to get to the most likely break point in the conductors. Might require removing some of the electrical tape to free a bit more from the bundle.

My theory is that assembly got pushed out on the assembly line and then connected to the door. Certainly appears the socket will fit through the opening in the body sheet metal. Maybe worth a look for those reading this long after I've written it with similar problem.

Bottom line was reconnecting and snugging that connector bolt cured all the ills (including LF speaker Yea!) save for the remote mirrors, but they died long ago.

Sorry for delay and if this was too long winded, but thanks to all.

 

[koda2000]

FYI: The part of the connector which is attached to the door can be unbolted and passed back into the door for examination/repair. it's not easy to do, you have to play with it until it fits back through the hole, but I've done it. I strongly suggest removing the door first, as it's very easy to do and there is little room to work unless you do. I removed the door and laid it on some sawhorses to work on it. Made the job relatively easy. The easiest way to remove/replace the door is to use a piece of 2x4 on top of a floor jack and have a buddy balance it until the four 13mm bolts are removed. Replace the door in the same way. There is little-to-no adjustment possible, so getting the door to line up again is pretty easy.

 

[kansei]

Many apologies for digging up an old thread...

I started having issues with my LF speaker not working. Have isolated it down to a break in the positive speaker wire (orange with green tracer) between the head unit connector and the female side of the cannon plug. There was water inside my rubber boot, even though the wire tie was intact, and evidence of corrosion on several of the pins on both sides of the cannon plug, so I think I may have an overly corroded female pin that needs cleaned or replaced. Has anyone figured out how to release the female pins from the connector? By looking at the red plate, it appears that it is what locks everything into place, but I can't figure out how to release it- the two small tabs that I thought were what retained it don't seem to want to retract in any direction...

Ideas? Help?


Thanks!

 

[Eggshell]

Many apologies for digging up an old thread...

I started having issues with my LF speaker not working. Have isolated it down to a break in the positive speaker wire (orange with green tracer) between the head unit connector and the female side of the cannon plug. There was water inside my rubber boot, even though the wire tie was intact, and evidence of corrosion on several of the pins on both sides of the cannon plug, so I think I may have an overly corroded female pin that needs cleaned or replaced. Has anyone figured out how to release the female pins from the connector? By looking at the red plate, it appears that it is what locks everything into place, but I can't figure out how to release it- the two small tabs that I thought were what retained it don't seem to want to retract in any direction...

Ideas? Help?


Thanks!

Hi Kansei,

Did you ever figure out how to release the pins from the connector? I have one broken wire that is cut just 3mm from the pin, so no way to strip and reconnect.

Thanks

Andreas

 

[J_C]

Hi Kansei,

Did you ever figure out how to release the pins from the connector? I have one broken wire that is cut just 3mm from the pin, so no way to strip and reconnect.

Thanks

Andreas

I have never taken one apart, but generally with ford connectors you look at the two different colored pieces of plastic and pry tabs to release one color from the other, or sometimes there is a separate plastic interlock piece that you pry/pull off to allow release. A few good, high resolution and brightly lit pictures of the connector might help, looking in at the contacts.

 

[snickersdad]

I have never taken one apart, but generally with ford connectors you look at the two different colored pieces of plastic and pry tabs to release one color from the other, or sometimes there is a separate plastic interlock piece that you pry/pull off to allow release. A few good, high resolution and brightly lit pictures of the connector might help, looking in at the contacts.

Am rebuilding drivers door jamb cannon plug. the female half (lower half) has a red plate covering the fixyure you need to get into to releaseb female pin coupler. You will be looking for an Org./Lt. Grn 18 awg wire located at 10 o'clock from the flat base of the cannon plug as it sits mounted in the door jamb. Remove the reed plastic plate using a small screwdriver prying up underneath the red plate. Mine came out easily. Looking at the outer ring of female recievers count 9 going clockwise and you should be at 10 o'clock. Look inside the hole of the back plastic connector housuing and you will see small retainer levers. press the rewtainer lever agains the inner wall of the black housing and it will release your female connector out the bottom of the housing. Be careful not to damage the connector as they are no longer available. I cleaned, opened the crimp, and resoldered my connecting wires. If you take the time to rewire the entire cannon plug you will need both 18 & 16-14 awg wire. It would pay you for your time and aggravation to find pre-tinned copper wires. Have fun!!!