power lock failing on back door?

[DFrank]

The window still works, but no P locks and that door doesn't activate the dome lights or the door ajar light either, I believe.



Passenger rear door only. all others fine.

 

[p-Bar]

Probably the wire harness between the door and pillar they all start breaking after a while . Chrysler got a good deal on the wire.....

 

[seafish]

X2 on the broken wire harness-- the repeated opening and closing of the doors eventually fatigue and break the cheap, coarse wire taht CHrysler used in the door harnesses.

The black rubber wire loom on all the doors disconnects from the plug at the jamb side, then you can peel back the loom towards the door to inspect the wires. You may or may not find one or more broken t wires. It is also VERY important to "palpate" the wires along the length and FEEL for hard or brittle area about 3/4" long... this is where the wire likely has failed INSIDE the insulation. You will have to replace these areas, even if they do not look broken. It is best to use high quality, many stranded wire of the same gauge as the broken ones, then cut, properly twist and solder and shrink wrap the repalcement wire into the harness. Or you can just buy a new oem harness (IIRC $140) to replace the old one, then fix the old one properly at your leisure as a replacement for the new one which will ALSO eventually break.

 

[p-Bar]

This is an item we are seeing that is coming up a lot along with injectors.

 

[Bonecollector34]

I have the same issue, It is really common.

 

[WalterJ]

Same fault here about 4 years ago left pass. side door lock. It's happening again, but out of town, so will repair in the snow back in Wis. !

 

[Kach]

I'm going to look into this - I was getting ready to buy a door lock actuator for my pass. side rear door. I don't think that door is turning on the dome light either now that I think about it.

 

[seafish]

I'm going to look into this - I was getting ready to buy a door lock actuator for my pass. side rear door. I don't think that door is turning on the dome light either now that I think about it.

When you are inspecting the wires inside the black rubber wire loom, you may or may NOT see any broken wires... sometimes the wire is broken INSIDE the insulation and still causes a problem. If you don't SEE any broken wires, be sure to FEEL along the length of each wire for a HARD area, maybe less then 1" long... that is where the wire is broken inside the insulation!!!

 

[p-Bar]

If you are replacing wire go to a hobby store that specializes in rc cars and buy the wire they use for the battery to motor connection it's silicone With microfine wire

 

[MyDiesel]

I did a quick fix on one of mine (the other door years ago) last month. Just soldered and heat shrinked. If replacing the wire yourself, do a web search for test lead wire. That's the wire used for electronic test meters, ect. It will have over 100 strands inside the insulation. I found it is available online at about 30 feet for 20-30$.

 

[Hootguy]

WOW,,my 2007 megacab started to do the same thing a month ago,,,rear passenger door lock doesnt work,,,has to be cycled manualy,,,also about the same time,,whenever i look the doors,,i can hear some pretty loud cracking in the speakers,,,could this be related,,,where exactly do i look for the broken wire,,does the harness unplug from the door??/

 

[seafish]

WOW,,my 2007 megacab started to do the same thing a month ago,,,rear passenger door lock doesnt work,,,has to be cycled manualy,,,also about the same time,,whenever i look the doors,,i can hear some pretty loud cracking in the speakers,,,could this be related,,,where exactly do i look for the broken wire,,does the harness unplug from the door??/

The harness unplugs from the jamb side... peel back the black boot and then find the locking tab on the white plug at the jamb.

 

[DNDracing]

Had to do this to my truck last spring, rear driver side door. I thought I had some more pictures, but only found the one, not sure if it will help, but you see the broken wires, the wire starting to break, and there was a 6th one that was broken as well. Basically nothing on that door worked, no locks, speaker, dome light, window. I scabbed it together, which I'm paying for now as my dome light is not activated again, my butt connector splice lasted 6 months. Lesson I had to learn... again... to do things the right way the first time.



You can see both ends of the white connector in question. The black boot I'm holding in my had is pulled out of the door jam on the truck. Anyway, hope this helps,

 

[Kach]

Turns out that this was my problem! Glad I found it here before I ordered a new lock actuator assembly. I had 2 wires completely broken off - I did a quick solder job on the 2 and put it back together for now. Everything is working again! Hope it lasts for a bit - I'll start working on a plan to do a more permanent fix someday (when it happens again).

 

[DNDracing]

Well, just after a year of my original "fix", nothing in my door is working again. Decided to order a harness to replace the defective one. Going to take the advice of a few on here and splice in some wires with more strands, instead of buying a replacement harness.

 

[DFrank]

Well, just after a year of my original "fix", nothing in my door is working again. Decided to order a harness to replace the defective one. Going to take the advice of a few on here and splice in some wires with more strands, instead of buying a replacement harness.

I am still manually unlocking the rear door. At least the window works.

Do you have a link or a part number for said harness? I could see getting around to this some day if it were sitting here, or if the window gives up, and its down and snowing...

 

[DNDracing]

Sorry DFrank, meant to say "decided to NOT order a harness to replace the defective one" Figured if I replace the broken part with the same part, I'm only asking to do it again.

What's the definition of insanity?

I'm going to take the advice of some other posters on the forums and buy some wire with more strands and splice in my own harness. If I ever get to it, I will try to post some steps and pictures.

 

[DFrank]

Sorry DFrank, meant to say "decided to NOT order a harness to replace the defective one" Figured if I replace the broken part with the same part, I'm only asking to do it again.

What's the definition of insanity?

I'm going to take the advice of some other posters on the forums and buy some wire with more strands and splice in my own harness. If I ever get to it, I will try to post some steps and pictures.

Cool. I thought you meant you could get a new plug end to rewire.

 

[DNDracing]

I know you can get the harness, I'm just going in a different direction.

 

[AKorn]

If/when you replace your harness, would you mind snapping some photos? I will probably need to replace my harness soon, and I'd like to see how complicated the process is.