96 honda civic pdl, remote start issue

Hi, I have a 1996 honda civic 4dr with power locks and I have installed an Ultra Starter remote starter (1270TL) and it works perfectly. But, I am having one small issue with the power door lock part of it. I can remotely unlock the doors, but I cannot remotely lock the doors. The car does not have any factory remotes or alarms installed and it is an automatic trans.

This Honda has a three-door lock feature that I think is causing the problem. In order to lock the doors (by hand, not by remote), a person has to do one of two things: a) press the power door lock (driver's door won't lock, but the three other doors lock), then press the driver's door lock handle down manually and close the driver's door while holding the door handle in the open (or up) position, or b) use the key in the outside driver's door lock and it will lock all four doors at once. I am assuming this feature is to prevent lockouts.  Anyway, I installed the remote starter per instructions and for the most part, it works perfectly with great range. But, when I press the door lock button, the horn beeps and lights flash once, so I know the remote starter is getting the signal to lock, but the doors do not lock. Then, when I press unlock, the doors unlock like they are supposed to.  I am 99.9% sure I have the correct lock wire-green: with white wire at the blue 16-pin plug to the left of the fuse block. I have tried remotely locking the doors with the keys out of the ignition and doors closed among several other ways.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what is happening here or how to remotely lock the doors? As it is now, I manually lock the doors and then press lock on the remote and the remote starter does its thing as far as how it flashes its LEDs, etc.

Also, I'd like to use the remote's "trunk open" feature to turn on the rear window defrost since I don't have a power trunk on this car. Do I connect to the signal side of the rear window defroster's circuit and/or relay and if so, where can I find that wire (color, location, etc)? I was told that I could use the trunk open wire from the remote starter to do this with no problems; a tech told me that since the rear window defroster is turned on by a button press on the dash that controls a relay, I wouldn't need an additional relay. Any help with this is very greatly appreciated.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but, I thought I'd be as descriptive as possible-thanks in advance for any and all help!

-brad

1) Does anyone have any ideas as to what is happening here or how to remotely lock the doors? As it is now, I manually lock the doors and then press lock on the remote and the remote starter does its thing as far as how it flashes its LEDs, etc.

try this, roll down your driver window, close the door and then press lock and see if they lock. when you try to lock with driver door open, only 3 doors lock as a preventative measure to leaving stuff in the car. this issue has been talked about in another thread. i dont remember which one, but it explains alot cuz i posted in detail.

2)Also, I'd like to use the remote's "trunk open" feature to turn on the rear window defrost since I don't have a power trunk on this car. Do I connect to the signal side of the rear window defroster's circuit and/or relay and if so, where can I find that wire (color, location, etc)? I was told that I could use the trunk open wire from the remote starter to do this with no problems; a tech told me that since the rear window defroster is turned on by a button press on the dash that controls a relay, I wouldn't need an additional relay. Any help with this is very greatly appreciated.

trunk outputs are pulsed, you will need to test if the system is a latched, pulsed or timed circuit. most honda are latched. Testing for neg or pos is a must. the wire you will use is right from the defroster switch. if your tech said it was pulsed, he might be right. I would suggest you wire it up to a relay just incase.

The rear defrost is in a blue plug on top of the fuse box. It's a (POS)+ latched trigger, on a blue / YELLOW. Your unit does not havea latched output.

I'm not sure if I followed you on this? You said you can't get all 4 doors to lock even when all 4 doors are closed?

All but the drivers door......

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll try the first suggestion with opening the window and trying the lock through it. I guess neither myself or my wife have ever tried locking the doors when we were inside...

tedmond: do you recall the thread? I did a search and couldn't find anything on this subject (which led me to post). And, I think you're right as far as the three-door lock thing so as to prevent locking oneself out of the vehicle. And, I'll try your last suggestion as well. Like I said before, when I press lock on the remote, the lights flash and the horn beeps and the LEDs come on like they are supposed to, but, no locked doors (any of them). Not so much as a click. I am starting to question the wire that I have located, but, according to diagrams, location and coloring combo, it should be the correct one. I get a pulse on my DMM, but I can't tell you a value as it is so fast and the DMM display doesn't lock the value in. It reads zero, then when the door lock is pressed manually, it gives a value briefly and then back to zero. Any other advice as far as location, color combo, etc., please let me know.

Kartuneman: like I just mentioned, I cannot recall if we have ever tried locking the doors with the doors closed, probably because we live in a rural area. But rest assured, I will try it this evening when my wife comes home with the car.  But, to clarify, (hopefully) all four doors lock, but only when the key is used in the driver's door locked AFTER the door is closed; we haven't tried it as just mentioned but will as soon as the car hits the driveway.

Question: if the trunk output is pulsed, how can I use it to trigger the rear defrost if that circuit is latched? I thought that when the dash button is pressed, it starts a timer relay-does that mean that there is power through the button while the defrost is on? I have a relay (mechanical) that I can wire up to try this, but should I be using a solid state relay instead or will the mechanical one work okay?  A simple solution may be just to press the button when we get into the car...;)

Thanks again!

-brad

Well, I tried locking the doors through an open driver's side window and they DO lock, all four doors. I then held the driver's door handle up and pressed the remote lock and it did not lock.  I am banging my head against the wall on this one. Does anyone know what the exact wire location is on the plug (pin #)? Any advice on the relay set-up?  This is really frustrating. Like I mentioned before, the car's lights and horn work when the remote lock is pressed, but the doors do not lock.

Thanks all.

-brad

Tedmond:

I am trying to get the remote starter to unlock the doors remotely (it unlocks them fine, just doesn't lock them). The power door locks work fine with both driver and passenger side factory switches.  Door lock fuses are good; I checked just to make sure, but since they unlock and lock with factory switches and unlock with remote, I am assuming that the factory wiring is okay. I don't understand how the RS can flash the lights and beep the horn and not lock the doors... I am now hoping that I may have the wrong wire, but since I have checked for voltage and it shows it when I press the factory switch, I am assuming that I have the correct wire (it's the correct color and location). Which is why I am wondering if anyone knows what the actual pin number is on the blue connector to the left of the fuse block.

Thanks!

-brad

tedmond wrote:

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if you can get doors to lock when they are closed, what else are you trying to do? check and see if you had blew a fuse to the door lock wires. do the factory button inside work?

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tedmond, this is the same thing I'm wondering   

The lock/unlock wires are NOT in a blue plug. The are in a white plug down low almost next to the foot rest pedal. The are on the inside (towards the wall of the car not the cabin side) top 2 wires.

GREEN/ orange, GREEN / WHITE.

Thank you for the advice, I'll try the location mentioned. To clarify, I want to use the RS remotes to LOCK and UNLOCK the doors. I can only unlock them remotely, but I cannot lock them remotely.

I'll be pulling the car in the shop after supper and give it another go. By the way, the diagram I have said that the UNLOCK wire is found low and the LOCK wire was to be found high at the blue connector. Either way, I'll be trying the suggestions above.

-brad

KarTuneMan wrote:

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The lock/unlock wires are NOT in a blue plug. The are in a white plug down low almost next to the foot rest pedal. The are on the inside (towards the wall of the car not the cabin side) top 2 wires.

GREEN/ orange, GREEN / WHITE.

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fyi: I found the grn/org wire at the blue plug to the left of the fuse block and connected the UNLOCK wire from the RS it has worked since the day I installed the bugger. I also found a grn/wht wire adjacent to the grn/org at the same plug and I connected the LOCK wire from the RS and nothing. 

I have searched the entire underdash area for a white connector with a grn/wht and haven't found it; but, there is a cream/tan colored plug above the foot rest pedal and on the sidewall with a grn/wht that I had previously tried and nothing. I tested that grn/wht wire when I pressed the factory door switch and it shows no voltage either way-lock/unlock, + or -.   That plug is under a silver-colored box attached to the sidewall; I think at this point I have tried every grn/wht wire in this area and found nothing.  Just as a check, I made sure there was voltage at the wire from the RS, and when I hit the lock button on the remote, the voltage drops to zero; at rest it holds about 16-24mV with the car engine off.

I'm going bald pulling my hair out on this one.

-brad

HAHAHAAHAAAA Eureka! Joke's on me fellas.

There I was diligently tested a thousand wires and not coming up with anything. I decided to pull the driver's door panel off; I put the DMM in continuity mode and clipped onto the grn/wht and the grn/org (separately, of course) on the door lock inside the door panel.  I started to poke around on the blue plug next to the fuse box where I have the RS LOCK and UNLOCK connected to. GREEN / WHITE=nothing---GREEN/ orange=circuit; 5 volts on the UNLOCK circuit, 0 on the LOCK circuit.  For some reason, I gently pulled on the grn/wht that leads to the sidewall which eventually goes into the door.  While gently pulling on grn/wht wire from the door, I notice that it slowly continues to come out until I have a bare wire in hand! Nice.

All in all, this was a broken wire since I started this. Now, the oddity to this is that the power door locks at the factory switch continue to work regardless of that grn/wht wire. WTH? I am guessing that it is a wire that feeds the factory alarm harness or a brain box? Anyway, for giggles I ran the RS door LOCK wire directly to the grn/wht that is inside the door panel and BINGO! I get door lock and unlock from the RS remotes!

Now, I just have to figure out how to run a new wire from inside the door panel to under the dash. Is there a connector inside the door at the hinge jamb where the grn/wht came out from or is the grn/wht a direct route from under the dash to the door panel controls? It looks like the broken end of the grn/wht wire had pulled out of a connector pin due to the light corrosion on the end. I am not sure how I am going to get a wire through to the interior.

Anyway, THANK YOU to all that have posted here, it has been a real treat to tap minds that know things.

-brad

The wire wasn't burned at all, it appears as if it simply corroded and broke free from its connector. I pulled the moldex away from the door side, and I found out some things I probably didn't want to know. Inside that moldex, I found at least another 3-4 wires that had exposed wire because the insulation was broken away from the wire just before it enters a plug. I am assuming it is from the opening and closing of the door many thousands of times. I attempted to run a new wire through the tubing and into the sidewall of the car, but, I cannot push the wire through neither due to my large hands and joints that don't bend the way I need them to. I may end up removing the door entirely and having to rewire several runs as they are broken. I am guessing it is a matter of time until we lose a window control or two or other control. Hmm, what to do, what to do.

Thanks again for all the advice, it was a pleasure.

-brad