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door lock ground

Black1990jeep

NAXJA Forum User
Location
california
I read that the ground point for the door locks is under the dash near fuse box. I dont see it, I have a 1990 XJ. Would someone please picture it or describe its location in detail. I want to see if it is cause of my door lock problems.

thanks!
 
The ground wire for the XJ interior is attached to the screw shown in RED in the picture below. The screw holds the lower dash from swinging out. The wire attaches through an "O" connector to a light gauge black wire. It is easy to miss because a) it doesn't look like much, b) it is easy to forget to re-attach it if you remove the lower dash for any reason.


Note, this screw (and the one in the same place on the passenger side) face directly downward. If you can't see the ground wire, remove the lower dash completely and you will likely find it folded up in the area.



https://i.postimg.cc/PJPF2kt4/Lower-Dash.jpg







It looks like a plain small gauge wire. When you see it you won't believe that it supplies the ground for most of the interior but it does. Once you find it follow Cruiser54's recommendations to beef it up.
 
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Note that while the "switch" ground is located on the drivers side, if I recall correctly, there is also a grounding point near the two relays that provide power to the door lock solenoid. These two relays reside behind the kickplate on the passengers side on my '90 XJ.
 
When the door locks appear weak the issue is typically not electrical. In some cases throwing extra power at at the relay's will overcome this (as per some of the threads on this forum) but not always. What I have found on all of the XJ's I have owned is that the grease that AMC/Chrysler packs into the latch assembly dries up and becomes very stiff. The solution is to completely remove each latch from the door (a bit of a PITA) clean them out completely and re-grease them. I used brake cleaner to clean mine out but note that you have to be very careful because there are plastic parts in the assembly that can be destroyed by the brake cleaner. As such, I try to apply it strategically while working the latch until it frees up. I then try to flush as much of the old grease out as I can with Isopropyl alcohol before applying new grease

Note that when I say "Latch", I mean the device that actually mates to the post on the "B Pillar". You have to disconnect all of the latch rods and then remove the three large torx screws on the back edge of the door. This is why it is a PITA

HTH
Todd
 
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