Missing power lock actuators?!

[DiabloDan]

Hey!
When I first bought my 92 Foxbody Convertable the power locks didnt work.
The place i bought it from told me that when the first got the car the power locks worked, but stopped working a few days ago. That it was probably just a fuse or a broken wire, or shorted out wire. Since both quit working at the same time they said it was very unlikely that the actuators were bad...
So being all to trustfull of the car sales man. I bought the car.

So now I have been the proud owner of this car for about a year and a half now!
And I love it, despite..the timing belt snaping, transmission taking a crap on me, alternator going out.
I still love it.

But...I finally decided to tackle this power lock issue because im going to have a viper keyless entry system installed with remote start next week.
I hate winter and would love to be able to have it warm up with out having to venture out into the cold.

So i busted out my volt meter and started testing stuff trying to see where i wasnt and wasnt getting power..
Im not sure if i was testing it right..cuz i wasnt getting the results i thought i should of.
Im no electical wizz...so i finally got frustrated and just toor the side of the door off and took a peak inside...
To my surprise....there is no actuators in there!
Its like someone took them out!
What the hell!

This car place lied about so many things on the car.
Told me it just needed a new head unit...turned out they took all the speakers out, thats why it didnt work.
ANd now...i guess they..or someone else jacked the actuators.

Unless I'm completely retarted and looking straight at it and totally missing it.

Here are two pictures of the locking area.
I beleive that hole in the side of the door...is where the actuator use to be rivited/screwed into the door.
Am i correct?

Guess that solves my problem...
GOSH!

crapola

 

[DiabloDan]

Two more pictures.

 

[HISSIN50]

If you happen to have a non-V8 stang, I'd make a sig and a note of it. We tend to default to V8's on the brain in here and advice will differ (on your future threads) if we know you have a 4 banger.

IF your old actuators froze up, someone probably removed them (when they freeze, you cannot use the key to lock or unlock the doors). I would recommend doing the JRichker aftermarket lock actuator retrofit. The actuators are like 5 bucks each and the retrofit takes maybe an hour and a half for two doors.

Do be sure (before you start) that when you put a test light across the terminals in the actuator plug, that you have the light illuminate while the lock and unlock buttons are depressed.

Anyhoo, it's not a big deal to get it fixed up.

Good luck.

 

[DiabloDan]

Yeah I figured you guys would, that's why I usually post my stuff in the 2.3L section, but I figured....power locks shouldn't have anything to do with me engine, and rather than wait a week for a responce down in the lonely 2.3L section I'd just post it here!


Anyways, I never thought about them locking up and being removed, its just...the place I bought the car form did so many shady things I figured they must have stripped them from the car!
Guess my speakers must have "locked up" causing the radio to be stuck on. Thats all 6 were removed when I bought the car. Makes sence now!

So is that hole in the picture I posted indeed where the actuator is normally rivited to the door?
So what, just stick my volt meter positive and negative in the two holes on the end of the connector and look for voltage when I press lock or unlock?
Or do I need to ground one end, and test the 2 holes individually?
Electricity has never been my strong point....mean to polish up on that sometime soon!

Sorry for the scatterbrained post earlier! I was in a hurry to get it posted before church!

 

[HISSIN50]

The comment about the engine was just because of comments about timing belts and the like. I did a double take - it was not meant as a ding or intended to be rude.

Someone might have had nice speakers and took kept 'em.

You got it with the locks wiring. They're reverse polarity so the power and ground toggle back and forth (your meter would read positive voltage one way and negative another) but a test light illuminates either way.

You might be able to do something else with the rivet - I think Jrichker or someone else used a bolt or something (I'd have to re-read his article - it's on his website, which is linked-to in his sig). I never removed my rivet so I didnt have to bother with that aspect.......

That's a good lookin vert BTW.

 

[trbkrb]

Ditto on the good looking vert!

Since your rivets and the plastic mounting brackets are missing, it would be easier to just mount the lock actuators to the door skin itself. I installed my aftermarket ones that way when I put in new actuators a few years ago, after going with a couple of sets of "good" used Ford ones. I used one of the existing holes (the silver screw on the left) and drilled a new one (the silver screw on the right) to mount the actuator parallel to the lock rod. Plus I used spade connectors on the ends to plug into the Ford harness plug.

pics:

Actuators:

Parts Express:High Power Door Lock Actuator 2 Wire

I'm sure the alarm shop can install some for you, as a lot of them use the same generic brand from Parts Express, but I'm sure it will be more than $5 each!

Good luck!

 

[glowstang93]

I did the retrofit on my passenger side door. It wasn't hard at all. Occassionaly the door lock won't work, but with a good slam of the door it starts working again. Mine could just be a poor connection of the scotch blocks in the wiring.

Here is the link to the post that I made when I did my retrofit. I think it will help you. Any questions just ask.http://forums.stangnet.com/753946-door-lock-actuator-retrofit-bomb.html