Door-lock Actuators >> Needs Oomph!

[Crist Clapper]

Anyone remember reading or remember, or know-how... To give the door-lock actuators some extra current?

[joe]

Nope but highly suspect similar to slow PW problems. Motors are likely fine just the switches need a good cleaning.

[Dave Jeeper]

Grand Wagoneer Door Locks

I have an 89 Grand Wagoneer with 96k miles that sat for 15 years. I worked on my door locks and they are working nicely now. There are 2 areas to work on: 1) the electrical circuits and 2) the mechanical parts.


Start with the battery terminals, clean them well. Clean the ground connection to the body, the frame and the engine. The ground is half of the pathway of the electricity. I use high temperature red grease from walmart or dielectric grease on all connections to keep them from corroding. If the body where the ground strap connects is painted, then sand off the paint in that little spot, coat with grease and rebolt the strap. The switches can be cleaned internally, I can't remember if I cleaned mine or not. Check that the electrical connectors on the back of the switches are not corroded and are fully inserted. The 2 relays for the locks are located under the passenger side of the dash. I had to remove my air conditioner vent unit to get to them. I was already doing this to fix my heater core and to clean leaves out of the heat and AC system. My Wag has 96k miles and I put in new relays. The relays did not make a difference in this case, but I have had relays make a difference in other vehicles. Considering how hard it is to get to these relays, I would leave the relays for last and not bother with them if these other tips get things working. If you ever have to drop the AC duct, then replace the relays even if everything works fine. Relays are cheap and will eventually wear out, so replace them if you are in there already. The wires that pass from the door frame to the door were broken on some of my doors. These will affect the windows and the door locks. Make sure that you add some wire to lengthen any broken wires that you are repairing and use finely stranded wire as it is more flexible. Sometimes these wires will have half of the strands broken but the vinyl cover is intact, this can reduce current needed to operate the locks and is difficult to find. It is also a good idea to pull the fuses and the circuit breakers to clean the corrosion off the connections for better current flow and then reinsert them. If you are not sure which are the right ones, then do them all. I always pull all the fuses when I get a new to me used car to check them all, even when there are 50 or 75 of them.



The mechanical aspect: Remove the door panel to access the electric lock solenoid and the door lock mechanisms. Put a piece of cardboard on the floor to catch drips. Spray penetrating oil on the door latch (the part the catches the door frame to hold the door closed). Part of the latch inside the door has a mechanism that the solenoid moves. Another part is moved by the manual door lock knob at the top of the door. Really wet these down with the penetrating oil so that it flows out the bottom of the door. Make sure that your window is up when you do this so it doesn't get on the glass. Silicone spray is the correct lube for the glass runs and wipes, not the penetrating oil that you are using for the locks. I believe that the rear doors have a lever inside the door at the top of the door near the manual knob that was really stiff on my Wag. I also had to poke a hole in one or two of the rubber boots on the solenoids and spray lube down inside the boot with a straw on the spray nozzle inserted into the hole in the rubber boot. It is better to use silicone spray inside the solenoid. Really work the locks manually back and forth many times to loosen them up. Also work the manual knobs until they move freely. You can simulate latching the door by flipping the latch on the edge of the door while the door is open, then using the lever to release the latch while you flip the latch by hand. Normally when the door is closed, the latch is closed around the latch pin on the door frame. When you pull the release handle and push the door open, it rotates the latch to the open position. If you are doing this with the door open to free up the dirt/corrosion then you need to rotate the latch by hand while pulling the handle. This mechanical lubrication and freeing up the mechanisms took hours. In the end I had all of my windows and doors working great. Even the remote fob works great. You will probably need to hook up a battery charger while exercising the locks after lubing them since the battery charge will get low while doing this, or run the engine to keep the battery charged. In the end I found one lock was not working due to broken wires in the door hinge area (driver rear door). Before putting the door panels back on, make sure that the door locks and windows are working correctly and wipe up any excess oil from the bottom of the inside of the door.


If you do all of this (1/2 day to a full day of work) then hopefully your locks will work great!


David

[SJTD]

How about editing that into a few more paragraphs?

You obviously spent some time on it and I appreciate that but as much as I'd like to I just can't bring myself to read it.

[Cherokeeowner]

Crist, there are quite a few how to add relays to supply 12 volts for actuators.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+wire+relays+for+power+door+locks&oq=how+to+wire+relays+in+a+door+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2.23224j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_LlhAXvTzLIjStQaQgYOgDA54

[babywag]

1990 would already have relays...
99% it is the switches or the wiring causing the issue(s).
The inside of the switches gets absolutely nasty after ~30yrs.
Like any old vehicle, the wiring/switches/connectors need attention.

Sometimes just a good cleaning, other times repairing/replacing things.

[Crist Clapper]

Thanks guys!

[rang-a-stang]

How about editing that into a few more paragraphs?

You obviously spent some time on it and I appreciate that but as much as I'd like to I just can't bring myself to read it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[jpcoutts]

I'm all for cleaning and lubing. The grease and oil used on them in the last 30 years is getting dry and hard. You'll be pleased with the effort. Lots of old posts and even stuff in the archives about this issue.