2003 Ford Explorer Factory Arm

I've got to install a RS in my sister's explorer and I want to still use the factory alarm.

I did a 97 explorer a while back and had a real bad time getting the alarm to arm. I finally used this wiring diagram:

https://www.fordf150.net/howto/images/keypad2.gif

I found the 7/8 and 9/0 wires in the driver's kick panel and using two relays activated by the "lock" output from the RS hooked up the 7/8 and 9/0 wires to the brown common wire momentarily which simulates pressing those buttons on the exterior keypad--which locks the doors and arms the factory alarm.

Anybody have an easier suggestion? I'm using the same Crimestopper RS900 as I did in the 97, and trying to pulse the door pin before locking just didn't work at all then--not a long enough delay between "arm" from the crimestopper unit and "lock" to let the Ford think a door was open.

And does anybody know if the exterior keypad is still the same? If it is, this may be the least time consuming way to do what I want.

I can't remember the color but do remember doing this. It was in the drivers door harness and read a negative pulse when the key in the door was turned. I do remember disarm being green /purple, same location.

You can do the 03 the same way....you do not need relays. Use diodes to isolate. They are NEG(-) trigger.....

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I know it's been awhile, but thanks, KarTuneMan for that post. I had no idea that the brown common wire that all the keypads connected to was just a common ground. It made lock and arm really easy when I finally got around to doing it.

One thing I found odd. I did the complete remote start (power, ign, bypass, all underhood and brake wires) in early December and then went on vacation. When I got back I hooked up the wires I had been having trouble finding, lock and unlock, arm and disarm and believe it or not, parking lights. I went through every single wire in the driver's kickpanel harness and could only find one very small (20-22 gauge?) wire, red with a black tracer, that showed positive voltage when the parking lights were on. It only showed 10.45 volts DC, but when I tested it by hooking up 12v + to it the parking lights lit.

Now, something I didn't notice earlier, is that a "4x4 high" warning light on the dash flashes a few times every 3 minutes or so if the vehicle is remote started. If I start the truck with a key, it doesn't happen. This never happened in the 3 weeks the r/s was installed BEFORE I hooked up the locks, factory alarm, and parking lights. Perhaps the parking light wire that I used is not the right one, but I really didn't want to pull that wire out of my harness and reroute it back up to the light switch where there should also be 12v+ parking light access. I've always found parking lights in the kick on explorers before, with most of the other wires I needed for brake, locks, alarms, etc. One time I did a 97 explorer I had a similar problem, but that was due to an IGN wire incorrectly hooked up as an ACC wire. But that is unlikely the case here because the r/s worked fine until the latest hookups. Also, my experience with the 97 taught me never to take wiring charts as a given--I double check every hook up so I know the IGN and ACC wires are right. If anybody else has some experience with this please advise.

The parking light wire is in the kickpanel, it's either brown or PURPLE / white.

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Mike M2
Tech Manager
CS Dealer Services

Thanks.

I literally probed every wire and triple checked any wire that could remotely be called brown, but I found none that showed 12v + when the parking lights were on.

I'll have another look--specifically for PURPLE / white--and see what the outcome is for both parking lights and the idiot light on the dash.

-Rob