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Greg Smith Power door locks writeup PRE-1991

Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

GLAD THIS HAS COME UP AGAIN!!!
So, I am going to do my 90 with electric door locks with keyless entry.

Should I leave the relays that are already there for the keyless entry?
Can I just tap into the red wire or do I need to run a new power source?
Can I just run a new power source to the relays that are already there?

Going to check out the write up on the windows!!!

Thanks,
Bob
Reply With Quote


Bob The answers are: Yes leave relays for keyless; You can tap into the red wire but running a 10 gauge wire w. inline 30 amp fuse to the battery is much better; no running the new power source to the keyless relays will do nothing to help. Good Luck. Greg
 
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Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

twisted_ed said:
I wish to do this mod and was wondering if there is an updated and working link to the writeup, both links ion the thread lead no where and I was looking for a wiring diagram to suppliment the initial writeup.

Also Greg, any idea is this will affect my Car alarm that also functions as remote lock unlock?

I have an after market remote car alarm w. remote lock and unlock and it does not affect mine so it probably will not affect yours. Good Luck Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

kevin s said:
This has to be the best, most useful post ever. In looking through the posts, I myself posted almost 3 years ago thanking Greg for the super helpful mod. Now, here I am with a "new" 1990 in need of the same upgrade. Long live Greg Smith:clap: :clap:

:eyes: :cheers: :cheers: Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Same here, alarm pwr locks not affected.
 
LIKE NEW..CHEAP TOO!

JUST A FEW WORDS TO SAY I FOLLOWED THE DEAL HERE AND MY LOCKS WORK GREAT. FORGET ALL THE CRAP ABOUT WHERE TO GET THE RELAYS. I SCORED EM ON EBAY FOR ABOUT 4 BUCKS EACH.....AND JUST GET SOME FEMALE SPADE SOLDERLESS CONNECTORS TO HOOK EM UP...NO NEED FOR THE RELAY SOCKETS (WILL JUST BE MORE CRAP UR GONNA HAVE TO STUFF BEHIND THE KICK PANEL)

THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED ON THIS ISSUE

BIG RON
 
Re: LIKE NEW..CHEAP TOO!

BigRonLM55 said:
JUST A FEW WORDS TO SAY I FOLLOWED THE DEAL HERE AND MY LOCKS WORK GREAT. FORGET ALL THE CRAP ABOUT WHERE TO GET THE RELAYS. I SCORED EM ON EBAY FOR ABOUT 4 BUCKS EACH.....AND JUST GET SOME FEMALE SPADE SOLDERLESS CONNECTORS TO HOOK EM UP...NO NEED FOR THE RELAY SOCKETS (WILL JUST BE MORE CRAP UR GONNA HAVE TO STUFF BEHIND THE KICK PANEL)

THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED ON THIS ISSUE

BIG RON


BIG RON,

Glad to see you cut the "crap" and got to the point!:) Who needs those time savings things anyway. :banghead: :cheers: Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

I don't know if I'm special :looser: or just got lucky, but I set out to do this the other day and one of the relays I bought was uh....*messed up from the factory* after I pressed on it too hard, and it didn't work. On a whim, I reconnected the tan wires before rushing off to the store to get a new relay. Lo and behold, it worked as described. Thought I'd throw that out there, that maybe just doing one relay is sufficient to provide a shorter path to ground. Maybe it won't last as long... either way, I called it good. Thanks, Greg! :cheers:
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Greg Smith -my hero!
I just got done installing his mod to my 89 XJ with 223k and for the first time since I have owned this thing the locks all work better than new! I would have paid lots of money for this info, but you gave it for free and so many have benefitted from it. You have my vote for the single most helpful mod that has helped the most people on this forum - thanks again!
Adam
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

bassthumb said:
I don't know if I'm special :looser: or just got lucky, but I set out to do this the other day and one of the relays I bought was uh....*messed up from the factory* after I pressed on it too hard, and it didn't work. On a whim, I reconnected the tan wires before rushing off to the store to get a new relay. Lo and behold, it worked as described. Thought I'd throw that out there, that maybe just doing one relay is sufficient to provide a shorter path to ground. Maybe it won't last as long... either way, I called it good. Thanks, Greg! :cheers:

Only one of your circuits was very bad. Likely your other circuit will need help in the future. Glad all is well. :yelclap: Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

albush1 said:
Greg Smith -my hero!
I just got done installing his mod to my 89 XJ with 223k and for the first time since I have owned this thing the locks all work better than new! I would have paid lots of money for this info, but you gave it for free and so many have benefitted from it. You have my vote for the single most helpful mod that has helped the most people on this forum - thanks again!
Adam


Happy it worked for your. :cheers: Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Great writeup Greg. After reading, I decided to do this mod on my 91 XJ laredo (usual story--lazy locks-- in my case rear passenger door lock). But when I pulled the passenger kick panel off, BEHOLD the modification had already been done. Looked like factory work to me, but I'm no expert. Just wondered if the factory made this change or maybe a dealership due to some TSB. At least I know I need a new actuator...
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Nope, you may be looking at the remote system. Do you have the mini overhead console?

Other posters have attempted to rework them - I wish it could be done - but the new grounds on the fix-it seem to be the best answer.
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

TiRod said:
Nope, you may be looking at the remote system. Do you have the mini overhead console?

Other posters have attempted to rework them - I wish it could be done - but the new grounds on the fix-it seem to be the best answer.

My 90 XJ had the remote lock/unlock once upon a time, but the key fobs disappeared before I bought the old gal. I'm going to have to take a closer look at this thing. Tinkering with an XJ is good for the soul. :sunshine:
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

:eek: I did a little checking and I think the factory remote control relays in the kick panel esentially replace the action of pushing up or down on the lock/unlock switch. Since this is a parallel circuit I did a different sort of mod.

This requires running a pair of red/black wires from the passenger kick panel to the battery up front. You'll also need an inline fuse for the plus side. This mod provides an additional current path for the electric lock system.

For the POSITIVE feed all I did was carefully slice about 1/4" of the insulation away from each of the red wires on the two relays in the kick panel. THIS IS RELAY PIN NUMBER 87 WHICH IS NORMALLY OPEN. I THEN SOLDERED A SHORT JUMPER WIRE BETWEEN EACH RELAY AT THESE BARE SPOTS CONNECTING BOTH RELAY PIN NUMBERS 87. I THEN SOLDERED MY RED LEAD GOING TO THE POSITIVE BATTERY TERMINAL TO THE JUMPER. I insulated everything with electrical tape.

For the NEGATIVE feed I similarly sliced about 1/4" of the insulation away from each of the TWO CENTER wires on each relays. THIS IS RELAY Pin NUMBER 87a WHICH IS NORMALLY CLOSED.
I THEN SOLDERED A SHORT JUMPER BETWEEN EACH RELAY AT THESE BARE SPOTS CONNECTING BOTH RELAY PIN NUMBERS 87a I THEN SOLDERED MY BLACK WIRE GOING TO THE NEGATIVE BATTERY CONNECTOR TO THE JUMPER. I insulated everything with electrical tape.


As far as running the wire, I already had a hole near the radio antenna grommet (also in the passenger kick panel) for my CB radio so I ran the wire out through this hole and up the passenger fender and into the engine compartment.

I AM NO EXPERT BUT I THINK (NOTICE I SAID THINK) THIS SHOULD DUPLICATE RESULTS OF THE ORIGINAL MODIFICATION BY GREG SMITH. IF YOU HAVE THESE REMOTE RELAYS ALREADY INSTALLED BY THE FACTORY GIVE IT A TRY.
OR NOT.:variety:
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

I did this to my 88 xj wagoneer and it works great,

the wording in the instructions was kind of scary and not to specific sounding but i went at it slow and eventually i got to the point where it all kinda fell into place and now i have working door locks WOO-HOO.

thanks greg, now i wont have to tell my friends to lock their doors every time they get out, or almost wrench my back having to unlock them all from the drivers seat
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Much thanks! Worked as advertised on my 1990 XJ. Couple of photos:

10Ga Power Cable from engine compartment through the passenger side panel
IMG_0893.jpg


10Ga Power Cable attached to start battery cable
IMG_0896-1.jpg


Find the tan and green wires from correct connector
IMG_0903.jpg


Wires cut and ready for splice into relay(s) wires
IMG_0905-1.jpg


Install complete (note 30amp inline fuse and 10Ga wire pass through)
IMG_0906-1.jpg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Glad it worked for you. Thanks for posting your great pics. I am sure others with find them very helpful. Cheers. Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Hey Greg, any chance you have any advice for a 97+ XJ with a nonworking Driver's door lock? I can't even push the lock manually.
 
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