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Greg Smith Power door locks writeup PRE-1991

If you are referring to my post, I did lightly lube the actuators but what I am referring to is the actual door latch mechanism. It is a bit of a pain to disconnect the actuator, the outside key lock rod and both of the rods that open the door but the mechanism is only held in place by 3 Torx screws (as I recall) and isn't too bad to remove.

In my case, I used carb cleaner but was careful to only spray the metal sections (carb cleaner can screw up any plastic pieces). After removing the heavy gunk (the old grease becomes almost solid which is why the actuators can't move the latch anymore), I re-greased the assembly with a can of lithium grease while working the mechanisms until the action was light and smooth again. Now when I press the "lock" button, it sounds like each door is being hit with a hammer.

HTH
 
Yes, the only thing you need to remove is the big latching mechanism. Do take note of where those 4 rods connect so that you can put it back together easily.
 
I hope that someone out there still follows this thread, especially you Greg. I removed the kick panel and exposed all the wiring and I see several different tan and green wires coming from place to place and there's two blue relays attached to the metal housing, so I'm not sure which one's or where I'm supposed to be taking these wires apart at.

I was really hoping someone still had a diagram, schematic or pictures of what I'm supposed to be doing since apparently I'm pretty dumb electrically wise.
 
I hope that someone out there still follows this thread, especially you Greg. I removed the kick panel and exposed all the wiring and I see several different tan and green wires coming from place to place and there's two blue relays attached to the metal housing, so I'm not sure which one's or where I'm supposed to be taking these wires apart at.

I was really hoping someone still had a diagram, schematic or pictures of what I'm supposed to be doing since apparently I'm pretty dumb electrically wise.

Drew, do you have Keyless Entry from the factory/
 
i recently just did this fix. its the green and tan wire that is going into the grommet in the door. i can try and take a picture of it if you need. mine has the harness for the keyless as im in the midst of swapping that in.
 
Yeah I'm pretty positive I have the keyless entry system but not the actual remote, because I have that circular dome in the top of the inside by my lamp lights. The pictures would be super helpful, thanks again. I've seen the tan and green wires in several places down under the kick panel connected to several different harnesses and two relays. I've disconnected several of those harnesses and the locks on all the doors would still work, so I was pretty sure that I didn't have the right ones then. Also, is this telling me I need to run a red power wire from the passenger side to the battery terminal somehow?
 
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so what happens is there is a red wire that feeds both switches. the drivers door switch sends its + and - voltage down the white and dark green into the passanger door switch which passes through into tan and light green. then from there it loops back to the drivers side and back to the doors.

now only one of the light green and tan wires goes up into the passangers door grommit. thats the section to splice.

you can still trigger the door lock with that connector unplugged but only the passangers door will actuate.
 
That's what I thought but several times trying it I noticed multiple doors still making the noise as they were trying to unlock and lock when I pushed the button but maybe I just wasn't undoing the right one's. The passenger side door grommet has a lot of wires coming out of it and I wasn't exactly sure which Green wire it was since I believe there was two. However, the tan wire was one that I was able to discern pretty easily. So are you saying that there is already a red wire there that I am supposed to use, correct? And the 2 blue 5 blade relays that are there are stock correct?
 
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you can try using the red wire that is there. i ran a new one directly to the battery. the 2 blue relays are the stock ones for the remote entry.
 
And I'm supposed to supply my own ground to these using my own wiring, by possibly attaching them to the metal of the body?

Also, it says to attach two different wires that are tan to 86 and 30 of the first relay, it says to attach the tan wire coming from the passenger door to 86 and the tan wire to the door locks to 30. Is it just implying that where the wire is cut I put the beginning of it to 86 and the other cut part to 30?

I guess I'm just an idiot when it comes to this write-up, it's hard for me to follow for someone reason, that's why I was hoping maybe someone had a picture of the finished product or what not or some kind of visual cues. I found a couple of pictures of the wires cut a few pages back on this thread but I wasn't able to discern where they started from or where exactly they were cut from unfortunately and theirs was different looking as far as the relays they have in there already and what not...
 
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so what happens when both relays are un energized they switch the circuit to ground. i just attached mine to the body in that kick panel.

the wires that go into the door will attach to 86 on the relay. the wires that run under the floor will connect to 30 on the relay.

battery + will connect to 87

and ground will connect to 87A
 
CALAaeB
I hope that someone out there still follows this thread, especially you Greg. I removed the kick panel and exposed all the wiring and I see several different tan and green wires coming from place to place and there's two blue relays attached to the metal housing, so I'm not sure which one's or where I'm supposed to be taking these wires apart at.

I was really hoping someone still had a diagram, schematic or pictures of what I'm supposed to be doing since apparently I'm pretty dumb electrically wise.

--- http://imgur.com/CALAaeB
CALAaeB
CALAaeB

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CALAaeB
 
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I have several questions about this process, going back to Greg's original post in this thread. I'll paste his post here, with my questions in-line with that paste in underlined italics:

The Fix/Repair:

First make sure you are getting around 12 volts of power to your passenger side door switch directly or when you trigger the lock or unlock switch from the driver’s side or by the remote. What and where is this remote referred to here?
You can test the voltage with a multi-meter at the wire harness connector in the passenger-side kick panel where the dark green, white and red wires go into the front door. To test the voltage, where at those dark green, white and red wires do I put the 2 prongs from the multi-meter?

Assuming you have a full voltage supply to the passenger side switch, the fix is to install two relays in the passenger-side kick panel on the lock and unlock wires coming from the passenger side switch. Which are these lock and unlock wires?
The relays will increase voltage back up to 12 volts to compensate for the loss caused by the passenger side switch. With the voltage increase provided by the relays, the voltage at the remaining power door locks is increased by approximately 2 volts, enough to power all the locks, even in cold weather. This of course assumes that no wiring problems exist from the splices to the door locks. If you still have a problem at a particular door lock measure the voltage and make sure it is over 9 volts. With my fix it should be closer to 10 and perhaps 9 at the rear hatch. Where do you put multi-meter prongs at each particular door lock and at rear hatch to measure the voltages?

The relays to use are 5 blade, 12 volt, 30 amp minimum rated relays with blades marked 85, 86, 87, 87a and 30. These relays are the same as those used for the keyless remote relays found in the passenger-side kick panel What/which relays are these keyless remote relays in the pass-side kick panel?
so you may find them cheap at the bone yard. You can also find them in automotive electric supply stores. Look in the section that has lighting upgrade supplies. For an easier install it is also best to buy wiring sockets that fit the relays. Here is a link to partsexpress.com an online supplier that has relays and sockets at reasonable prices. I used 2 bosch relays # 330-070 and 2 sockets # 330-075 (although 1 dual socket 330-078 could be used I believe). http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....oup_ID=31&SO=2

"Here is how I did the wiring: I used the two 12v relays. They have 5 blades: 86 is trigger pwr from the passenger dr switch; 85 is ground; 87 is the new pwr source; 30 is the path to the lock and 87a is to ground (in this application). Is the preceding sentence describing how Jeep already is, or what we're going for?
I cut the Lgreen What does "Lgreen" mean?
and tan wire about 5 inches forward (toward the front of the Jeep) of the wire harness connector that connects the wires to the wires coming out of the passenger frnt dr. In this example I attached the tan unlock wire coming from the passenger frnt door to 86 and 85 to ground Does that mean the tan wire goes to 86 AND 85 AND on to ground - OR tan goes to 86, while we put some other wire from 85 to ground? If the latter, what kind of wire (gauge, material), and to where should we ground it? How to connect the wires to the blades?;
30 is attached to the tan wire going to the door locks Didn't previous sentence instruct to connect tan wire to 86 (as opposed to this sentence saying tan goes to 30)?;
and 87a is to ground I thought I just read that 85 goes to ground, no?.
I used the new 10 gauge pwr line I had previously run to the battery/starter relay post with a 30 amp inline fuse. Whoa! What is this new pwr line previously run? I didn't see any mention of that. How/where is this done?
You can take off pwr from a splice on the red pwr going into the passenger door instead. What does "take off pwr from a splice" mean?
(The same approach is used for the lgreen wire using the other new relay for for the lock circuit.) The key to making this work was 87a to ground. When the lgreen or tan wire are not in pwr mode they provide ground path to ground through the driver’s side switch. With my new relays I substituted a new body ground instead What/where/how is this new body ground done?.
As a result I increased voltage and created new better grounds. The locks now all slam open and closed even in very cold weather. Hope this helps."

Back to Ted939 writing now:
I'm stoked that Greg's fix has helped so many people, but I obviously don't speak the language of the relay world - but I wish I did, as my 1988 XJ's locks have been slow/sticking for years. Some of them won't even budge most of the time.
Any chance someone could translate Greg's instruction to a step-by-step that a 4th grader could understand (then, I might get it!)?

As for cleaning and lubricating the actuator, linkages, latch, what are the best substances to use for those? I saw mention of a couple few different things. Is there a consensus on which are best?

Anyone in San Diego area that's done this, and I can come look at what you did? I'll bring food and drink!
 
i have edited in red.
Also i may be able to snap some photos if that will help you.

I have several questions about this process, going back to Greg's original post in this thread. I'll paste his post here, with my questions in-line with that paste in underlined italics:

The Fix/Repair:

First make sure you are getting around 12 volts of power to your passenger side door switch directly or when you trigger the lock or unlock switch from the driver’s side or by the remote. What and where is this remote referred to here? i believe this to be the keyless entry remote
You can test the voltage with a multi-meter at the wire harness connector in the passenger-side kick panel where the dark green, white and red wires go into the front door. To test the voltage, where at those dark green, white and red wires do I put the 2 prongs from the multi-meter? measure them at the passengers door. red is 12v constant white and dark green will normally be grounds unless the drives side door switch or keyless entry remote buttons are pressed. it will flip 12v on white or dark green depending on lock or unlock.

Assuming you have a full voltage supply to the passenger side switch, the fix is to install two relays in the passenger-side kick panel on the lock and unlock wires coming from the passenger side switch. Which are these lock and unlock wires?
it will be the tan and Light green wires that exit that exit the passengers door wiring loom The relays will increase voltage back up to 12 volts to compensate for the loss caused by the passenger side switch. With the voltage increase provided by the relays, the voltage at the remaining power door locks is increased by approximately 2 volts, enough to power all the locks, even in cold weather. This of course assumes that no wiring problems exist from the splices to the door locks. If you still have a problem at a particular door lock measure the voltage and make sure it is over 9 volts. With my fix it should be closer to 10 and perhaps 9 at the rear hatch. Where do you put multi-meter prongs at each particular door lock and at rear hatch to measure the voltages?honestly i skipped this step if your having issues i would do the relays first

The relays to use are 5 blade, 12 volt, 30 amp minimum rated relays with blades marked 85, 86, 87, 87a and 30. These relays are the same as those used for the keyless remote relays found in the passenger-side kick panel What/which relays are these keyless remote relays in the pass-side kick panel?
they are taped together should be the only relays over there. so you may find them cheap at the bone yard. You can also find them in automotive electric supply stores. Look in the section that has lighting upgrade supplies. For an easier install it is also best to buy wiring sockets that fit the relays. Here is a link to partsexpress.com an online supplier that has relays and sockets at reasonable prices. I used 2 bosch relays # 330-070 and 2 sockets # 330-075 (although 1 dual socket 330-078 could be used I believe). http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....oup_ID=31&SO=2

"Here is how I did the wiring: I used the two 12v relays. They have 5 blades: 86 is trigger pwr from the passenger dr switch; 85 is ground; 87 is the new pwr source; 30 is the path to the lock and 87a is to ground (in this application). Is the preceding sentence describing how Jeep already is, or what we're going for?what we are going for
I cut the Lgreen What does "Lgreen" mean?
Light Green and tan wire about 5 inches forward (toward the front of the Jeep) of the wire harness connector that connects the wires to the wires coming out of the passenger frnt dr. In this example I attached the tan unlock wire coming from the passenger frnt door to 86 and 85 to ground Does that mean the tan wire goes to 86 AND 85 AND on to ground - OR tan goes to 86, while we put some other wire from 85 to ground? If the latter, what kind of wire (gauge, material), and to where should we ground it? How to connect the wires to the blades?tan goes to 86 then a separate ground wire goes to 85;
30 is attached to the tan wire going to the door locks Didn't previous sentence instruct to connect tan wire to 86 (as opposed to this sentence saying tan goes to 30)?you cut the tan wire inhalf both halves need to be connected to the relay;
and 87a is to ground I thought I just read that 85 goes to ground, no?87A is the ground for the circuit 85 is the control ground for triggering the relay.
I used the new 10 gauge pwr line I had previously run to the battery/starter relay post with a 30 amp inline fuse. Whoa! What is this new pwr line previously run? I didn't see any mention of that. How/where is this done?i used 12gauge wire i went from battery + to a 30A inline fuse and drilled a hole under the HVAC box
You can take off pwr from a splice on the red pwr going into the passenger door instead. What does "take off pwr from a splice" mean?id ignore that part if you run a new wire from the battery
(The same approach is used for the lgreen wire using the other new relay for for the lock circuit.) The key to making this work was 87a to ground. When the lgreen or tan wire are not in pwr mode they provide ground path to ground through the driver’s side switch. With my new relays I substituted a new body ground instead What/where/how is this new body ground done?i just put a sheet metal screw into the body in the kick panel location..
As a result I increased voltage and created new better grounds. The locks now all slam open and closed even in very cold weather. Hope this helps."

Back to Ted939 writing now:
I'm stoked that Greg's fix has helped so many people, but I obviously don't speak the language of the relay world - but I wish I did, as my 1988 XJ's locks have been slow/sticking for years. Some of them won't even budge most of the time.
Any chance someone could translate Greg's instruction to a step-by-step that a 4th grader could understand (then, I might get it!)?

As for cleaning and lubricating the actuator, linkages, latch, what are the best substances to use for those? I saw mention of a couple few different things. Is there a consensus on which are best?

Anyone in San Diego area that's done this, and I can come look at what you did? I'll bring food and drink!
 
I did this door lock fix verbatim and it worked great. My Jeep sat for a few years as I was redoing some things and the actuators became stiff and even with the new wiring and relays it was back to not working well. I poked a hole in each of actuator boots and used the provided straw and sprayed some graphite oil in in each of them along with some 3 in 1 oil in each of them. I then lubed all the lock rockers and linkage. Now they work better than ever, they are very quiet now because they are so smooth. I lubed the window cables and the tube they go into at the bottom and now the windows are fast. This is an old post but thought people are still referring to it for help and wanted to add to it. Thanks to the guy who put this fix on here.
 
Just wanted to add to the list of "thank you's". I just bought an '88 XJ two days ago. The doors had been removed by the PO, who had owned it for several years. When I picked the Jeep up I threw the doors in the back of my pickup truck, thinking it would be no problem to put them back on. When the time came to attach the wires, I was totally befuddled by seeing all the female wire connectors and a couple of relays under the passenger side kick panel. Needless to say, s*** wasn't working right. After two days of Google searches, poring over wiring diagrams, and perusing various forums, I somehow found this thread. When I started reading about the two relays and cutting wires, it was as if the clouds parted and a ray of sunshine filled my soul with joy! Apparently, the PO had used this solution however many years ago, and neglected to tell me about it. God bless the internet, and God bless Greg Smith.
 
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