I have a 1986 convertible that I am having issues with the power door locks. They both were working fine until I started my recon of the interior. I have some power to the white plastic piece that the switch plugs into on both sides. I am not ecactly sure which wires I should detect power on but it is there for a few. The windows go up and down, the power mirrors both work, the deck lid switches work, the radio comes on, courtesy lights work. It has an after market security (viper?) on it I believe. Has a clicker which used to unlock the alarm and disable the alarm. I disconnected the actual horn/siren on the alarm. You have to click one of the buttons on the clicker twice and push a button near the hood release handle. I am not sure how much of that is stock. I am fairly certain though the power locks worked after I cut the the siren wires. The clicker does not activate the locks now either. Door panels are off. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thank you.

 

Can't really make any suggestions without knowing how the alarm is wired into the locks. Here's a wiring diagram of the '84 locks, yours' should be similar:


Maybe it'll help you figure out what's wrong.

 

How many pins/wires on the door lock/unlock sw?

That '84 schematic shows 2 wires; my '88 shows 4 wires.

 

There are 3 wires on the lock switch attached to A,B,&C terminals as shown on the '84 wiring diagram. I'm fairly certain the '86 is the same. The A & C terminals control the lock and unlock function via the two lock/unlock relays in the circuit.

 

From my 86 service manual

http://members.shaw.ca/agent86/Power%20Door%20Locks.pdf

 

I looked at my wires and there are 5 wires going into the back of the hard white plastic assembly that the five pins on the back of the switch plug into.

right side is:
Orange w/blk stripe
Blue
Black
black
black

left side is:
Orange w/blk stripe
Tan
blue
gray
black

I am fairly certain the orange wire is bringing the power because when I test I only get a light when I am on the orange wire. It does not light up with each of the wires. It also appears that the brown and gray wires go to the lock acuator. I will have to drill the rivets out of the door panel to access the plug on the actuator to see if I am get power down there. I was trying to avoid this but will if I have to. I just can't imaginge that both actuators went bad at the same time. Thank you.

 

I looked at my wires and there are 5 wires going into the back of the hard white plastic assembly that the five pins on the back of the switch plug into.

right side is:
Orange w/blk stripe
Blue
Black
black
black

left side is:
Orange w/blk stripe
Tan
blue
gray
black

I am fairly certain the orange wire is bringing the power because when I test I only get a light when I am on the orange wire. It does not light up with each of the wires. It also appears that the brown and gray wires go to the lock acuator. I will have to drill the rivets out of the door panel to access the plug on the actuator to see if I am get power down there. I was trying to avoid this but will if I have to. I just can't imaginge that both actuators went bad at the same time. Thank you.

 

Looks like your wire colors match those in Agent86's diagram.

Indeed the Orn/Blk brings wire into the sw, Tan & Gry carry power or ground to the door lock motor.

It should not be necessary to probe the wires at the lock motor.
To test a motor jumper Orn/Blk to the Tan, ground the Gry wire and the door should lock, reverse to unlock.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/memb...rm2-171101.jpg

 

Ok. I made a little progress. Both door lock motors work. If on the drivers side, I ground the black or blue wires "manually" to metal every thing works ok. If I rely on them to be grounded by the harness, back to wherever, they do not work. I am not getting a test light to work from orange/blk to either the blue or black at the switch receptacle. I do not know where to go from here I guess. Thanks.

 

From AGENT 86's drawing, the ground is supplied in the passenger door, have you checked the ground there? If no ground in the door you can either try to track the black wire from s601 back to G201 or run a new wire to a good ground..

 

I noticed the '86 circuit is quite a bit different than the '84 (who knew?). They eliminated the relays and use the switches and resetting CBs in the solenoids to provide the open/close logic functions. I'm not sure, but adding a separate ground from the drivers' side switch might mess up the logic in the theft deterrent control arm/disarm system. If you do run another ground it needs to be from the RH switch terminals B & E (as ccrazor has suggested). If the locks work with the LH switch terminal E (lt.blu. wire) grounded separately, the problem is either a break in the cross-over wire to terminal C on the RH switch, the RH unlock switch itself, or the RH switch terminal E to ground wiring connection. Checking the continuity of these three should pinpoint the problem. Aren't these electrical issues fun?

 

I certainly appreciate the suggestions and will work them tomorrow. I am not very adept at wiring so this is a real challenge for me.

A couple of points that I am not sure makes any difference or not. I have the lock cylinder out of the drivers door. There is a wire on the back of the cylinder that that I assume goes to the theft deterent system. So that is not connected right now. I spent an hour trying to get the wire, washer, and clip on the back of the cylinder up through the door tonight to see if this made a difference and finally gave up. I need smaller hands I guess. I think they should make the engineers try to replace everything they design .

The other thing is I have the front seats out too, but I am fairly certain I remembering them working since I took the seats out.

I tested power on the passenger side today the same way, orange/blk to all of the other wires on the receptical (Blue and the 3 blacks). They all lit up my tester which I thought was odd. But like I said I am still learning this.

I am not sure where to locate s601 and G201.

I hope to get the locks back in tomorrow. The previous owner lost the keys to the doors. Fun fun.

 

S601 is a splice. It's buried in a wiring harness somewhere. According to my FSM it's in the "RH door harness, near center of door". All the splices in my car are covered by tape that looks like duct tape but it's black.

G201 is located on the driver's door hinge pillar. Near your left foot.

 

Thank you to all. I was able to trace it to a loose ground wire and am good to go now. Very much appreciated.