door latches: lock actuators & door ajar switches

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jrand

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this is for a 2005 v6...
my doors have been having issues locking themselves over and over without my pressing any lock buttons. occasionally the door ajar light comes on as well, even though the doors are closed. the trunk and hood switches work flawlessly (per lincoln and self-verified). the 4 doors operate perfectly fine. they never get stuck and they always stay physically locked (in the sense that you cant open them from the outside even when the car wrongfully thinks they are unlocked and/or open). i have about an 8-10 hr battery drain (brand new battery last wk)

i didnt feel like messing with it so i took it into lincoln:
they said the lock actuator on all 4 doors has an issue (they didnt give a great description, but i said 'essentially getting hung up?' and they said yeah), the door ajar switch has an issue on all 4 doors, and the keypad on the drivers door has a stuck button.

so i want to do this as cheaply as possible as long as 1.) my doors physically lock, stay locked, and unlock (even if i have to do it manually) and 2.) i need to get rid of the battery drain.

so for the keypad im thinking i can just unplug it and forget it. i dont use it anyways

i have read about lubing the latches/locks: i will try that, as i assume that will alleviate the 'hanging up' or whatever is going on with the actuator.

my main concern is the door ajar switches. These are apparently some part of the 'door latch', which they say is an assembly that includes the actuator as well. will lubing help these door ajar switches in any way? is there anything else i can do to fix/maintain the door ajar switches? lincoln recommended replacing all four latches to solve the problem for $326, $245, $292, and $292 (passenger front, driver front, rear, rear).

service manual has no breakdown of what is inside of the latches, so i have no clue if servicing the door ajar switches within the latches is possible. i know some of yall have had these apart, any idea if servicing the door ajar switches is possible?
 
bump; anybody torn into a door latch to figure out how the door ajar switch works?
TIA
 
so far ive taken the lazy route: hit the latches with a hair dryer to get rid of any moisture that might be in there, sprayed some break free powder blast, WD40, white lithium grease... jury is still out if it worked but so far so good.
 
Sorry, I havent broken one down. I had to replace 3/4 on my last LS. Found some good deals on ebay for 2 of them, bought the 3rd from MAXX (no longer around).
 
Door Latches

I found some pic's of a passenger front door latch that I cleaned up to keep as a spare, it's a rather simple mechanism(no parts come flying out when you open it). I can't seem to get pic's to load here, so if you still want them, PM me w/ an email address. There's no way all 4 of your door latches failed at the same time, I would bet you'll find that the micro switch(for the door ajar circuit) on one of the door latches is just barely making contact and the slightest bump causes the switch to lose contact w/ the latch for a second, which then either the FEM or REM would think a door was opened & closed and then relock the doors. It could also be other things(piched door ajar wire,FEM, REM, or any harness connector), so start simple and work up to the harder ones. Since the latch striker is plastic, I would first check them before taking the car apart. Open all 4 doors and use a phillips screw driver or something round(same diameter as the door jamb bolt) to close the latch striker. Start the car, then insert the screw driver into each closed door latch and wiggle back & forth to see if you get the door ajar warning. (REMEMBER TO OPEN THE LATCHES WHEN YOU'RE DONE). If no results w/ this & you want other procedures to try, just PM me. As for the keypad, a stuck button will be ignored by the DDM, it will still only light the keypad for 5 sec and activate the illuminated entry for one 25 sec cycle no matter how long the button is held. Check the keypad yourself to see if you really do have a stuck button. (easier done when it's dark out) each working button should light the keypad for 5 seconds, make sure to wait for the keypad light to go out before pressing the next button. If any button did not light the keypad, then it's damaged. MG
 
thanks for the pics.
i closed the latch strikers, they seemed to work fine. and sticking a screw driver into the latch and moving it around did not cause any ajar signals.

however i did notice on the front passenger door,when i unlock the doors electronically i can see the inside handle move with the inside manual lock button (the manual lock button above the inside handle that is). this caused the door to open itself the slightest bit. the lock button itself barely moves, and it looks like some of the force is transferring to the handle

also it doesnt sound like the front passenger door is throwing the latch completely when it locks. pretty sure im gonna tear into the doors this weekend now that i have some pictures and confidence i can likely put it back together without significant issue
 
im trying some different lube on them now bc i am still having issues. i think my million yr old white lithium grease spray can is junk...

the issue is that the door ajar switch is not getting thrown far enough to fully shut itself. combine the insufficient contact/failure to fully shut with the wind that makes my garage sway (hard enough to shake the car) and the fact it is an old 6 story garage that sways even when a car drives up the garage too fast and my switch that is barely making contact is moving around and causing even more contact issues for the ajar switch.

if i could get the bar in the jamb that engages the latch in the door to protrude out a little farther it would throw the latch & ajar switch that much further, but the latch is dry even after doing grease the other day so i need to get something in there that is going to hold up better, reduce the friction and hopefully throw the switch all the way.

i have yet to pull the latch out of the door, im just hitting it with grease from the outside. so if i cant find a better grease i think i am goign to shut her down this weekend and tear the latches out to get them cleaned up and lubed up even more before i get new latches
 
door ajar switches

First off, no amount of grease will make a difference to the ajar switch. The micro switch is at the top of the latch unit in a small pocket. It is sealed in epoxy with a rubber boot on the plunger that is only moved about 1/8" by the plastic latch striker. The latch has 3 positions(fully latched, ajar but latched, and open). The micro switch contacts open between fully latched & the ajar but latched positions. Trying to move the jamb striker bolt out will only move the door away from the door jamb rubber seal. You can easily check the door ajar switches w/ an ohm meter without removing the latches. Each door has a mid-way connector in the harness that you can disconnect to test the switches. Also note that the ground connection for the ajar switches are not on the doors, they are inside the vehicle and should be checked to make sure they are clean & tight.

I noticed that you wrecked your LS back in January, how bad was the damage & did this problem exist before the accident?
 
yeah this problem has been around for a while, it was never as bad as it has been recently though. the wreck back in june just smudged the clearcoat on 2 doors. The RH headlight and the RH rear quarter panel ate 85% of the damage.

when i close my doors (fronts especially), the latches seem to be getting hung up somewhere btwn 'fully latched' and 'ajar but latched'. if i slam it real hard with a ton of force on the outside of the door (around the vicinity of the latch) it does seem to have less problems. i forgot that i used to slam it like that to 'fix' the issue in the past. im thinking that if i put a shim in behind where that bar mounts in the jamb so that it forces the bar to protrude just a little more out of the jamb (im talking millimeters) that the bar will throw the latch just a little bit farther than it currently does so that the ajar switch has at least some more room to wander before it shows as open (if it doesnt fully latch). if it 'fully latches' theres no way for the switch to become ajar without actually opening the door, right? bc it seems to 'click' and i cant move it with my fingers anymore, the only way to get it to come undone is to pull the handle...

im pretty sure the switch is fully functioning electronically. i can stick my finger in there to throw the latch fully and it shows that door is closed, so i am pretty sure the wiring is a-ok. i have tested each latch over the course of a couple hours and they have stayed 'closed'.

so far slamming the doors hard, silicone spray, and some electrical tape around the bar have held up decent. but i am going to try a little cardboard or plexiglass shim behind where the bars mount up in the jamb unless you talk me out of it... i think it will still seal, becase with the door panels off the latch isnt quite touching the back of the jamb in that spot, looks like it could spare a millimeter or two.
 
You said that you tested all the latches and they worked as designed (clicked twice & locked in both positions & did'nt release until you pulled the handle) & no door ajar warning when you manually closed them & wiggled the latch striker w/ a screwdriver, so why are you putting electrical tape on the striker bolt which will make it harder to close the latch. Making the striker bolt thicker will cause it to drag through the latch movement giving that hung up feeling & making it harder to close. You can't as you put it "throw the latch a little
bit further" it only has the 2 latched positions. When the door ajar warning comes on do you get a chance to see which door it is?
 
You know how you fix this problem? Calibrate your transmission and make sure you go through the appropriate drive cycles.
 
jjuncool"00", are you keeping track of your # of helpful posts or funny posts after your handle? or both? god knows youll never crack double digits in either category..
 
mtggtmmtg said:
You said that you tested all the latches and they worked as designed (clicked twice & locked in both positions & did'nt release until you pulled the handle) & no door ajar warning when you manually closed them & wiggled the latch striker w/ a screwdriver, so why are you putting electrical tape on the striker bolt which will make it harder to close the latch. Making the striker bolt thicker will cause it to drag through the latch movement giving that hung up feeling & making it harder to close. You can't as you put it "throw the latch a little
bit further" it only has the 2 latched positions. When the door ajar warning comes on do you get a chance to see which door it is?
Click to expand...

well the problem is solved now. i am not sure which 'fix' did the trick. i didnt drive the car for awhile and forgot that i had been slamming the doors as a solution before i wrecked it.
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right, i checked and verified that all of the latches & ajar switches were functioning with the doors open. they were not fully latching when i closed the door (unless slammed). all 4 were having the issue, confirmed by both lincoln and myself. I dont have the message center to ID which door was going off each time.

i hardly have any e-tape on there; it was just one of the things i tried and it has held up. i didnt wrap it all the way around the bar/bolt, bc like you said it would cause hang up. i put a few cuts of e-tape on the front side of the bolt where it hits the latch to fatten it up in the front only. those cuts of tape are secured by two passes all the way around the bolt.

on mine, with the door closed (not slammed) the latch was not getting thrown far enough to 'fully latch', it was getting hung up somewhere between 'fully latched' and 'latched but ajar'. i will call it 'not fully latched but not ajar'. if you stick your finger in the latch to click it over to 'latched but ajar', I can slowly/carefully move the latch enough to throw the ajar switch before it clicks again into 'fully latched'. this is possible in mine at least. i would imagine they are all in different states of disrepair. but this is where mine was getting hung up & resting when the door was closed. the difference between where it was resting and 'fully latched' was litterally a difference of mm's in there. so the e-tape on the front of the bolt pushed the latch mm's further towards 'fully latched' bc it stuck out mm's further. combined with the silicone spray and slamming the doors harder, its enough to get them fully latched.

anyways, thanks for your help with the pictures and insight. hopefully the explanations will save someone some coin when having alarm/latch/battery drain issues.
 
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