My 1998 Explorer XLT doesn't lock.

[kgzak]

Hi,
I am new here but I have a question. I have a '98 Explorer and when I press the lock button on the driver's side, passenger's side, remote and keyless entry the door doesn't lock. It will however lock if I press the lock button in the back. If I use the remote to lock the alarm goes on. I think this might be electrical but I also have another issue that may or may not cause this issue. In the door there is a rod attached to the lock that is kinda sitting there and was jammed under the key lock. Where does this go? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Kris Zakfeld

 

[Turdle]

Welcome to the forum.

I think this thread will answer your questions

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165081&highlight=yellow+clip

 

[kgzak]

Welcome to the forum.

I think this thread will answer your questions

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165081&highlight=yellow+clip

Thanks, but I can't see the pictures. Are the links broken or is it just my computer?

 

[Turdle]

This is the picture I was looking for

This thread has info also

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170619&highlight=yellow+clip

this one might help also

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135023&highlight=yellow+clip


I am not sure why those pictures aren't working in the first link.

 

[Turdle]

yellow clip--I almost bet yours broke off

in the first link I found this--
if you read though it there are some fixes for the issue

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the stock 95-01 section. Check the Help/Motormite/Dorman section in the auto parts store for a replacement clip.

 

[kgzak]

ok, so if I do this fix should it fix my electrical problem as well? I'm only 17 and this is my first car. I love it. I don't have much expireience in cars but I do know quite a bit about electronics and things like that. This is my first big project on this car. I really want to make sure it locks when I go off to college. Thanks for all the help.

 

[kgzak]

My dad just informed me that he broke the spring off the door when he tried to fix the locking problem. The yellow block is still there. I will put a new spring on but what else do I have to do to make the car lock? I have a picture of my door but my phone won't charge so I'll get that to you later. I have a bar that attaches somewhere in the bottom of the door to the lock and is right now sitting underneath the key cylinder, where does that go? Again thanks for all the help.

 

[budwich]

its kind of good news bad news... IF your door is locking at all (from any switch), the good news is it is UNLIKELY to be a mechanical problem (especially IF you don't hear any "door noise" when you press a non-working button) although fixing mechanical issues always helps. Lots of posts on the bad news.... your problem is more than likely a broken splice in the rear left passenger cable raceway.

 

[kgzak]

ok here is what happens. I press the button in the back of the my car and the door tries to lock but doesn't because of the rod that is stuck under the key cylinder (I think I found where it goes) but the driver switch, passengers switch, keyless entry, and the remote all do nothing. the remote make the horn honk and activates the alarm though. I've checked the resistance between some of the wires on the drivers door (the ones I've heard to break) and they are all connected, but the relay does not click and I don't think it's a bad relay because I swapped relays and it still does nothing. Also when I hold the unlock button it continues to unlock until I let go. I am going to look more into it tomorrow, I've been kinda busy with robotics so I can't work on it all the time.

 

[budwich]

not sure I understand what your "checked the resistance between some of the wires on the drivers door" means.... but I stand by my statement... IF you hear nothing mechanically happening when you press a "non-working" switch, you have an electrical problem AND IF there is more than ONE non-working switch then you have likely have the "standard broken splice" problem as I stated.

 

[kgzak]

used a multimeter to check the resistance in a wire. if they are connected = low resistance and I am getting low resistance so the wires are connected all the way through. (at least the pink/yellow and pink/green wires on the drivers door) what other wires normally break?

 

[budwich]

ok... let's go down the road further as I am slow in my understanding of how you carried out your measurement. For continuity, you need to measure at the wire of a switch (non working) all the way over to where that wire shows up at the relay in the back quarter panel. Of course, this is most easily achieved from the cargo switch but that's the one that works... you need to do this from each of the other switches... is that what you did???

 

[kgzak]

what other switches are there in the car?I know of the relay in the back and the lock/unlock switch that you press in the door.

 

[nathaniversen]

You don't by chance have the Electrical and Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual for 1998 Explorers, do you? It has diagrams for all of the major electrical systems in the truck. If you plan on keeping the truck for a while I would suggest picking up one off of ebay or wherever you can find one you're willing to pay for, or maybe even seeing if the nearest Ford dealer can print some diagrams for you.

 

[budwich]

what other switches are there in the car?I know of the relay in the back and the lock/unlock switch that you press in the door.

I think we aren't communicating well. Of course, there are three switches that allow lock/unlocking PLUS potentially a keypad on the door AND a remote. You stated that the switch in the cargo bay works at locking and unlocking if I understand you correctly... great. You then stated that you did "some sort of resistance measurement on the wiring and switches" to check something. I stated that it wasn't clear how you did this measurement... To help makes things clear (I hoped), IF you were checking for continuity (as you said you were), you had to do a measurement of the wire from one of the non-working switches (either the driver's side or passenger's side) all the way back to the same wire at the rear cargo bay where it hooks up with the appropriate relay. Although this is hard to do with "normal" leads provided with a meter, it is doable. I then asked is this how you did your test? IF not, please explain how you did your test (ie. where do you place one test lead and then the other) so we can figure out what you actually tested.

Further as suggested, a wiring manual might be useful for you BUT also there are lots of posts of this problem, some with associated wiring diagrams.

 

[kgzak]

Ok, sorry. I took a meter and measured the pink/yellow and pink/green wires from the switch in the drivers door to the relay in the back of my car. they were connected. (my dad is a robotics engineer we have many attachments for our multimeter.) I am going to measure again though maybe I shorted to ground or something. I also have read other threads and I appear to have a really weird problem maybe I missed a thread. None of my switches work except the back one and most of the threads talk about single switches not working. If you could please point me in the direction of those threads, I would appreciate it. I'll go out and work now and get back later tonight.

 

[kgzak]

It appears I was wrong at that it is most likely a broken wire. I'll be checking for it tomorrow when I have light. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it

where would the most likely places for it to break be? I've heard in the black rubber thing between the door.

 

[budwich]

nope... as i indicated, the likely place is in the left rear passenger cable raceway. Anyways, your measurement is "suspicious" as you are not looking for a ground... you are looking for continuity. Anyways, the locking system works by having the switch place a ground on the appropriate wire (lock / unlock) to cause the appropriate relay to operate... so you can monitor for that ground happening (at the relay) when the switch is operated. IF in doubt, do your "observation test" against the known working switch to see what is happening.

 

[kgzak]

the likely place is in the left rear passenger cable raceway.

Thank you so much. That is were the problem was.

Here is how I fixed it. I also have pictures of the processes.

I opened up the cable raceway and found the pink/yellow wire (3 of them to be exact. There is one pink/yellow wire inside a black piece of heat shrink or something like that that then splits to 3 other pink/yellow wires.) It was actually green because of corrosion and that's why it broke. so I grabbed the wire with pliers and it just fell apart:

I then cleaned the ends of all the corrosion and crimped wire ferrules to attach to a spring locking terminal block:

and then of course the wire was to short so I added an extra one with a short piece of wire to make it long enough:

Then to seal it so it doesn't corrode as fast againI sprayed it with Battery Terminal Sealant:

The mechanical problem with the door was the rod that went to the key was stuck under the key. I just shoved it back in and all is well. I still have not put the spring back on the door handle because I don't need it for the time being and have more important stuff to work on:

Again, thanks for all the help and I hope this can help anyone else with the same problem