power door locks

[motil73]

First off I want to say this forum is the best source of information I've ever seen.....others don't come close.

After getting the transfer case issue sorted out I thought I might get around to fixing the problem with the power door lock system in our '97 XLT. The driver's door switch would not unlock anything.....reaching across to the passenger door switch to unlock the doors was getting to be a little old. It would lock everything just fine and all other locations (the key fob, the keyless entry pad outside the door, the passenger door switch and the switch in the cargo area) worked with no problems. I was ready to replace the switch in the driver's door (they don't last forever) but wanted to see if anyone else was having this problem.

Well, yes.....not only that but I found more than one entry that said to check for a broken PNK/LG wire in the rubber boot between the door and body. Guess what I found.....a broken PNK/LG wire. I stripped the ends and held them together while seeing if the doors would now unlock.....they did. On a side note, I realize companys are trying to cut costs but the size of the wires is ridiculous.....it's a wonder there aren't more electrical fires. Maybe the reason there aren't is because the wires are so frigging small they burn out before any appreciable amount of current can pass through them.

Oh well, once I splice and heat shrink the wires I'll move on to the door handle on the outside of the driver's door.....it flops around and probably needs to be replaced. Are there entrys for this?.....yep, one even has step-by-step pictures of how to do it.

 

[nolimitssjca]

Isn't this a great place?

 

[llervero]

What color is pnk/lg. I'm thinking pink but the other I have no clue. I have the same problem and I would like to fix it. Thanks

 

[motil73]

Sorry.....the pnk/lg wire is pink with a light green (almost yellow) stripe down its length. If you open the door you'll see the rubber boot that has the wire harness inside. The harness plugs into the bottom of a cylindrical-shaped box that's mounted on the door.

You need to unplug the harness from that box (especially when it comes to replacing the tie strap that holds the boot onto the plug). To do that, on the very top of the cylinder is a plastic cap about 1" in diameter. Pop that off and you'll see a bolt down inside (the bolt either pulls the plug up into the box or pushes it out, depending on which way its turned). Use a 10m socket on the bolt.....keep turning until the harness can be removed (it will take a few minutes).

Remove the tie strap that holds the boot onto the plug and slide the boot back as far as you can. That should expose the broken wire (mine broke about 2" from the plug). Find the other end of the wire down inside the harness. If you want to make sure this is the problem you can strip both ends of the pnk/lg wire and hold them together while testing the door switch. As far as fixing it, don't just solder the two ends back together. I think the reason this problem is so common is the wire was too short to begin with.....simply splicing them back together will make it even shorter. Use an additional short piece of wire between the two broken ends of the pink/lg wire in order to take all the tension off. And use heat shrink over the slices.

Use a new tie wrap to re-attach the boot to the plug. Do this before the harness is plugged back into the box on the door. Guide the plug back up into the box and start turning the bolt, making sure the two are lined up (the plug won't go into the box unless the bolt is turned).

 

[llervero]

Thanks Hopefully this is my problem I'll keep updating

 

[DaveWC]

Hey, Motil73, thanks so much for the info on the broken wire for the pwr lock sw. Just got it done this evening, took about 10-15 minutes. It's nice to have things working again. God bless you and thanks again, DaveWC.

 

[oharris]

My driver's door unlock switch hasn't worked in years! I tried replacing the switch, but it didn't help. I was about to pull the wiring out of the door of my parts explorer when I found this thread. My wire was broken EXACTLY as described above. It took all of about 15 minutes to fix and I didn't have to pull the door wiring (which wouldn't have worked anyway.)

Thank you so much! This forum is awesome!

 

[Flash]

You should see the stupid size wires for the headlights on my Mondeo (Contour).
Headlights were 2xH7 for high and low; I replaced the lows with 35 watt HIDs so that's ok, lower current and used the standard wires to drive relays with 6mm power wires for the 100watt halogen high beams.

What I've done with previous cars and will end up doing with the X is run thick wire around the engine bay and use it as a bus bar.
That way you can use the standard wiring as an exciter for a relay that derives power from the bus wire.

 

[aimtimes100]

Would this buy any chance, make the driver's side door unable to unlock from the keypad? This issue popped up recently. All the other doors will unlock except the drivers side door. I thought it was an electrical problem at first but i also noticed that if I try to unlock the door using the key hole I have to fight the lock. A good 5 or 6 tries before the door actually unlocks and I can actually get in, meanwhile I hear all the other doors unlocking like crazy in the process.