Wheres the Ground for the power door locks?

[Starscream88]

My Door locks stopped working all of a sudden,
It happened after a lot of electrical problems my car has had that I have fixed every single one except this,

This was this weekends project

Now the Drivers side buttons dont do anything, The door locks dont work,

Theres power coming from the locks as I found that out from a test light,

the Passenger side door lock buttons DONT lock, But DO unlock,

And From what I remember they unlock BOTH doors,
So I dont think its the actuators themselfs,
To double check I Opened my door panel yesterday and tested the electrical connector going into the actuator on the DRIVERS side door
It has power when I puch the drivers side button!
But, the 2 connectors that go into the actuator BOTH light up the same,
Only "Lock" works and gives me a light on my test light,
The "unlock" dosent give me any lights at the connector, But DOES give me a light if I test power behind the switch,

God this ones a bloody mess if anyone even read all that,

Im thinking a bad ground?
Coz once or twice I was messing around under the dash and all of a sudden they worked again,
then I slammed the drivers door and there dead again?
So im thinking ground?

Where does it ground OR can I just make a new ground?

Thanks
Jamie

 

[Kiknads]

chances are one of the wires going to the door is broken, the ground is just a wire screwed to the metal part of the door

 

[HISSIN50]

yep. normally it is a black wire, about dead center on the middle of the inner door metal. a little (like 8mm or so headed bolt holds the wire on).
i believe stangs use 5 wire reverse polarity locks, so grounds are nice.

 

[Starscream88]

I checked the grounds on the doors

there fine

All I see is bloody pink wires everywhere!
Its soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo confusing because you think your following the right wire then you loose it, and theres so much PINK!

Does anyone have a wiring scematic for the door locks?
Or what color is what wire,
Im thinking of taking apart the whole dash and 100% checking all the wires,

Its gotta be something stupid,
But not knowing what wire is for what function it makes it difficult,

Anyone help me out a bit further?

 

[ratrapp]

my car did the same exact thing but to make matters worse the actuator in the driver door was locked up also.you have a wire broke in the driver door.start checking where the door harness goes into the door then trace your way to the door lock actuator till you find it.

 

[Starscream88]

I checked all the wires I could see,
everything seemed fine,

The ones I can't see are behind the dash,
Im guessing something isn't right,


But If I knew what wire did what It would help me

 

[Starscream88]

anyone got a list of wires or know what color is what?

Will help me out a lot before I tear my dash apart

 

[HISSIN50]

jamie, this is the best i got:
lock: pink/yellow
unlockink/light green

there should be large connectors at the top of the driver kick (there was on my 88 GT vert) - a good place to check continuity.....
other than that, i dont know. reverse polarity locks have a few wires that toggle between rest and power or rest and ground........makes it fun to troubleshoot.
good luck.

 

[trbkrb]

Jamie,

I tried to Pm you yesterday with this, but SN crashed on me

Here are the wiring diagrams from my Chiltons book. They are for a 89, but the wiring is the same. Pics are a bit big, but hopefully they will help.

Thomas

http://statefilingsoftware.com/pictures/doorlockscan.jpg

http://statefilingsoftware.com/pictures/doorlockscan2.jpg

ps. I'm surprised you don't have all the wiring on your car memorized by now!

 

[Starscream88]

Lol Thanks Tom,

I think I do actually know every wire by now,

After re-wiring the whole bloody car!

This is just the last thing thats been bothering me,
The weird thing is the problem I had never affected the door locks at all,
They quit working a few months back,

But I testes the actuators and there good
So I was guessing loose ground,

Im gonn have to take the dash out
Well whatever, Next weekends fun

 

[bmorrisj]

i have a similar prob.... my doors lock/unlock fine when the key is turned on/off or i hit the alarm.... but the drivers side can only lock while the pass. side can only unlock....

 

[trbkrb]

Well, the dash wiring runs along the top part of the dash. It is clipped to the firewall right below the windshield. I pulled (literally I ripped out) a couple of them from the salvage yard when I put the power doors in my car. So you may not have to remove the whole dash, just the top part to get to it if you deem that to be the problem. Or if you can find another wiring harness, just bypass it and run it under the dash, like I did. I know of a couple of cars missing their interiors, easy to pull from if you need the wiring.

Thomas

 

[Starscream88]

Tom once again you are saving my life

If you could get me the harness that would be great, Would save me a lot of messing around,


that last one you got fit perfect and took car of so many problems

email or pm me and lemme know what I owe ya

 

[Starscream88]

I probably should just take the top half of the dash off a bit too see if I can fix it,

Mabey a wire got cut or something,

Hmmmmmmm,,
Pull the dash apart again lol

 

[Starscream88]

Tom could I just unbolt the top screws off the dash? The ones hidden behind the defrost holes/plastic clip?

Or do I need to take a few more and the speedo etc etc off to actually see the wires???

 

[trbkrb]

You would need to remove the top ones under the defroster vent and the ones on the side for the speaker covers for sure. You might have to remove the cluster and the screws behind it to get the dash out far enough to get to them. The cars I pulled from I just did the screws like that and undid the dash harness from the door harness parts and worked it out between the dash and the door opening until it got to the top, and then I pulled it out across the top of the dash. It hooks to the power in the drivers kick panel area. I think it hung up around the speedo and I had to work with it, but that was a few years ago, and I've slept a few times since then. It is held to the firewall with little plastic clips like the door panels are.

If you do want me to pull it, I can swing by the yard this week at lunch and see what I can pull. Do you want me to get the door harnesses also? It shouldn't be more than $20 or so. Just LMK!

Thomas



Thomas

 

[Starscream88]

PROBLEM SOLVED

Took me all bloodt day but I managed to fix it,
Turns out it was a bad wire from the driverd door to the little connector in the drivers footwell,
I guess I was grounding out or something?

But after a lot of messing around everythings fixed and my power locks are back and my Alarm works again lol,

The alarm kept going off as it thought the door was unlocked so I disconnected it,
Now I finally have it all connected again and the locks are just a button away

Thanks everyone for the help, Even though it was no use Just kidding you guys are great

Tom thanks once again for the offer! I know I can always count on you for mustang parts


I'm Happy now

 

[trbkrb]

Good job! I figured it was just a small wire problem. They are the most annoying. Our connectors and wires are getting so old and brittle, on mine the wires keep popping out anytime you move them. I had to be sooo careful when I changed my dash a couple of weeks ago, just to kep the connectors and wires together.

Glad it's solved! And anytime you need something, check with me.

Thomas

 

[Starscream88]

Cheers Tom :nice