ford door locks and alarm

Ok, guys and gals. I just noticed something else. When the door lock switches are not working and I try the locks by using the interior door switches the interior lights come on as if the door lock motors were working. When the on time has passed the go out ( the delay function of Ford interior lights) I think the relays in the keyless entry module is getting some kind of back current when the alarm is connected and not coming back to the (at rest) position. Is that possible? and how would it be happening? At this point I'm throwing everything out there! I again disconnected the alarm and battery, connected the battery and turn the key on and off and BANG, the locks work again.

Those pos lock wires you mentioned, do they both sit on ground? Then 1 goes to 12volts on lock whilst the other says at ground and vice versa for unlock? I think you might have the motor wires! In which case you should wire your unit as a "5 wire set-up".

Howie       The wires from the interior door switches (pink / YELLOW for lock---and pink/light green) are the OEM wires I'm tied into for the lock system. These wires are a direct run back to the keyless entry module. These wires are only positive when it gets the voltage from the lock switch, one way or the other. All the info that I have and have gotten say that, if the vehicle has a keyless entry it's a negative (-) door locking system. It also says that if the vehicle DOSN'T have a keyless module it's then a 5 wire reverse polarity system. I had the Alarm hooked up as if it were a (-) seaking signal, the locks didn't work. I then probed the wires with a DVM and found they were getting a (+) 12V signal when the door switches were used. When one wire (the pink / YELLOW was getting it's (+) 12v, I didn't probe the other wire to see if it went negative. I also removed the door switches and probe them with the DVM. Center wire had 12Volts constant and nothing on the other two wires (pink / YELLOW and pink light green)they had no voltage until you pushed the button one way or the other. I don't know if these wires rested at ground through the keyless entry. I didn't check for that. When I hooked up the alarm the locks worked at first. The interior switches worked, the OEM key FOB worked and the new alarm remote worked, the doors locked when you armed the vehicle and unlocked when you disarmed the vehicle. It;s only after some time the interior switches do not work, The OEM key FOB still works. But the alarm remote arms and disarms but doesn't Lock/Unlock the doors. When you try the interior door switches, the interior lights come on but the locks don't work. This is when I disconnect the alarm system, the battery, reconnect the battery after say one minute, turn the key on/off a few times and only then do the interior door locks start to work again. This is the weirdest thing I've come across. there's a frigin gremlin in there some place.

Sorry, it was the only thing I could think of but out of interest have you though of going to the actual motor wires? That way you aren't running through the vehicle's processor.

I think I'm going to hook up the Second unlock mode for the alarm and see if that might make a difference. I've found the wire in the kick panel that unlocks only the drivers door. The directions are not clear on how this small gauge blue wire is hooked up. It's a (-)200mA output from the alarm so needs a relay to trip and supply 12 volts to the wire that operates the door lock. This is where the directions fall short. It doesn't say if this wire is the first pulse to unlock the drivers door or the second pulse to unlock all the other doors. It does, but it says one thing and then the opposite. Any one with any ideas on this? Again it's a CX2300 Carvox, Camco RS-750 alarm going in a 1997 E-150 Ford Mark III Conversion Van. Thanks to all who are trying to help me out. Didn't do much today, the weather hasn't been good here in RI. Woke up to the first snow this morning. Thanks again for your help with this.

Howie, I like the idea of not cutting out the keyless entry module and having it as a back up to open the doors. Also Mark III light control module is tied into this keyless entry module. It would be a nightmare to rewire all the lights in this van. If this alarm is a piece of junk, it's life may not be long, so at lease I would have a plan "B" I suppose I could go to the actual motor wires but that would mean designing a circuit with relays to reverse the polarity to the motors and Diodes to isolate the circuit. Space is at a premium in this vehicle both under the dash and in the kick panel. You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get back in at the Keyless Module, but this time I'm making that access panel I should have made in the beginning. There's a supplier out there that makes a PCB with relays and isolating diodes that all I would be required to do is cut, solder, tape and shrink-wrap the required wires. Do you know who makes them. I feel this is something simple like needing a diode or a relay here and there, but figuring that out is the hard part. My father told me one time, Sometime the long way is the short way around a problem. Thanks again Howie

One thing I was going to ask and I don't know if I already asked it. This Alarm (CX2300 series) has both a (-) and (+) door trigger wire. I've been told I should only hook up the positive one and not both. Any comments on this?

It's 10:30pm here I'm watching TV and I'll have some thoughts on your locking, N.B. diodes not needed and if the locking system on your alarm has 6 wires, it means it's already internally relay driven and you won't need relays or diodes. Except a second relay for the priority (second) unlock. I've done this trick on Focus and Mondeos over here when the GEM box goes doolallie!

Howie,   You are correct there are onboard relays for the locking system (hence the 6 wires coming out of the alarm control box) On this website they show a starter interrupt with a diode going across the coil. The relay the alarm manufacture supplied for this purpose does not. Should I assume the diode is on the PCB of the Alarm module or should I add a diode as seen here on this web site? I don't know if that will have any effect on my original problem. BTW, I Have not found anything that I can say "there's the problem". Yesterday I disconnected everything, re-ran the wires, relabeled them and connected everything back up to the ignition switch wires. Since the Alarm has been disconnected I have not had the problem of not having the interior door lock switches not working. About 30 hrs have passed and every time I check them, they work. I read some place that when installing a aftermarket alarm on a ford with keyless, use the OEM keyless to unlock the doors, install the aftermarket alarm and never use the OEM key FOB again. If you do, the unlock/lock functions stop working. The article did not say "WHY",. If it warms up a little, I'm going to reconnect everything, One at a time, Check and then connect another thing and check. Maybe I can isolate what is causing the problem. Dave

You won't need diodes if the the alarm has six output wires, it means they are relay driven already. The problem with using the OEM remote after using alarm remotes (and not just Ford) is that it puts them out of "synch". Unlock with the factory fob, the doors will open and you're still alarmed! The alarm fobs don't seem to work! You have to use the factory fob AGAIN to restore the alarm's sequence. I always tell my customers not to use the factory remotes.