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Greg Smith Power door locks writeup PRE-1991

Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

phred said:
Quoting from Greg:

"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)."


I used the dual socket but had to switch the red and yellow wires in the socket to get the wiring to work properly. Easy enough to get the connectors out by releasing the spring catch with a paper clip. It would be quicker to use the two separate sockets ... A few crimp connections later and my locks were slamming open and shut!

Thanks for the great fix to an annoying problem!!


Hey Greg,

Thx 4 the quick reply with regards to which end is which after you cut the tan and lite green wires. Will probably ck them this weekend. But here is another question... according to PHRED who also used the DUAL SOCKETS said he swapped the red and yellow wires to get it to work.

Could that be my prob if my earlier question is corrected or ok to begin with? I'm not in the garage now so I'm not even sure which blade went to which wire. If memory serves I think it was Yellow went to 87 and Red went to 85? Do you think if I just swap the connections (put 12V feed to Red and 87 to Ground instead of swapping out the wires on the socket) it will work or will it cause a 12V Short/Fire?

btw - My 10 Ga (30A Fused) Power wire is direct to positive battery terminal thru firewall and then split into 14 Ga to Yellow (87) on both Dual Sockets. The 14 ga is around 2 feet long on driver's side and 4 feet long on pass side. Do you think the 14 ga wire would present any probs in delivering enough current to the locks?

Hope I'm making sense.

Thx, Phil
 
Re: Greg Smith Writeups

89LimitedXJ said:
Could this window fix be ignition switched/relayed for the ignition? That way it is only live when the key is in and in the ON position?


Yes. Using a Bosch type relay you would wire it as follows;

#30 B+

#85 Ground

#86 Purple wire going to fuse panel
(cut purple wire)
#87 Purple wire going to master switch
(cut purple wire)
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

DIGITRUCK said:
Hey Greg,

Thx 4 the quick reply with regards to which end is which after you cut the tan and lite green wires. Will probably ck them this weekend. But here is another question... according to PHRED who also used the DUAL SOCKETS said he swapped the red and yellow wires to get it to work.

Could that be my prob if my earlier question is corrected or ok to begin with? I'm not in the garage now so I'm not even sure which blade went to which wire. If memory serves I think it was Yellow went to 87 and Red went to 85? Do you think if I just swap the connections (put 12V feed to Red and 87 to Ground instead of swapping out the wires on the socket) it will work or will it cause a 12V Short/Fire?

btw - My 10 Ga (30A Fused) Power wire is direct to positive battery terminal thru firewall and then split into 14 Ga to Yellow (87) on both Dual Sockets. The 14 ga is around 2 feet long on driver's side and 4 feet long on pass side. Do you think the 14 ga wire would present any probs in delivering enough current to the locks?

Hope I'm making sense.

Thx, Phil

12 gauge would be much better. The 14 gauge limits your amps which is part of the problem on the original wiring. The colors of the wires on these sockets varies so the important thing is to only go by which hole in the socket and its respective color wire hooks up to which numbered post on the relay when inserted into the socket. You are going to have to verify it all and not rely on wire colors on the sockets vs colors that worked for others on the sockets they used. Good Luck. Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Hey Greg Smith or Anyone,

Stupid Question, How many relays are used for this project (two or four)?

I wired BOTH SIDES using FOUR Relays; the DRIVER'S SIDE exactly like the passenger side in the Schematic Diagram and it doesn't work. Was I supposed to do the Driver's Side too or no?


ChipsXJ - on my '88, below the Driver's side hood hinge on the firewall is a large grommet. Pull that out and you'll have enough space for any size wire to pass thru.

Thx, Phil
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

ChipsXJ said:
for those who when to the battery lug....where did you go through the firewall with the wire?

thanks

I hooked it to the battery input lug on the starter relay which is the small metal can w. right next to the battery. As to the firewall issue I ran the wire from the engine compartment through a gap in the seam where the fender and inner fender bolt together at the back upper corner down into the inside of the fender outside the inner kickpanel area on passenger side and then pull the rubber plug through which the radio antenna goes from kickpanel into that fender. I used a piece wire hanger bent w. a hook and flashlight to fish out the wire I dropped down from above and pull it into the kick panel through the antenna rubber bung , reinstalled the bung and then hooked up the wire to the relays. Make sure you slip something around the wire where it goes into the fender from above to keep it from rubbing a hole in the wire and shorting out. Good Luck. Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

DIGITRUCK said:
Hey Greg Smith or Anyone,

Stupid Question, How many relays are used for this project (two or four)?

I wired BOTH SIDES using FOUR Relays; the DRIVER'S SIDE exactly like the passenger side in the Schematic Diagram and it doesn't work. Was I supposed to do the Driver's Side too or no?


ChipsXJ - on my '88, below the Driver's side hood hinge on the firewall is a large grommet. Pull that out and you'll have enough space for any size wire to pass thru.

Thx, Phil

You use two relays and they both go on the passengers side. See the instructions in the southeasternxj.com.
http://southeasternxj.com/tech/tech_locks.htm

Good Luck. Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Greg Smith said:
You use two relays and they both go on the passengers side. See the instructions in the southeasternxj.com.
http://southeasternxj.com/tech/tech_locks.htm

Good Luck. Greg

Hey Greg,

EUREKA, IT'S ALIVE!!! MUHHAAAAA!!! LOL

I removed the Relays from the Driver's Side and put it back the way it was. Then I carefully checked the Pass Side wiring was ok but discovered that I had 30 and 86 reversed. Once I changed it, all of the locks were slamming open/shut (including the Trunk)!

First time it's done this since I bought her TEN YEARS AGO!!! Now, I won't hurt my back anymore turning around to open the lever letting someone in.

Greg, U R DA MAN!

btw - While I was at it, I added a switch to the antenna motor so I can shut off the antenna at will. Really handy since I rarely listen to the radio; mostly MP3's and CD's.

Thx, Phil
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

DIGITRUCK said:
Hey Greg,

EUREKA, IT'S ALIVE!!! MUHHAAAAA!!! LOL

I removed the Relays from the Driver's Side and put it back the way it was. Then I carefully checked the Pass Side wiring was ok but discovered that I had 30 and 86 reversed. Once I changed it, all of the locks were slamming open/shut (including the Trunk)!

First time it's done this since I bought her TEN YEARS AGO!!! Now, I won't hurt my back anymore turning around to open the lever letting someone in.

Greg, U R DA MAN!

btw - While I was at it, I added a switch to the antenna motor so I can shut off the antenna at will. Really handy since I rarely listen to the radio; mostly MP3's and CD's.

Thx, Phil

EDIT: Forgot to mention, when I had all the door panels off, I lubed everything, modified the rear pass door window brackets (now they almost go all the way down), and changed the door lock actuators with new ones seems like the old ones were rusted and sticking.
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

The new door lock solenoids you installed will also help reduce the amp draw needed to run the system but doing so never fixed the inherent problem for me. Even after replacing solenoids I still had to come up with this relay fix. Very happy you got it working. It is amazing how great it is to have them working after so many yrs of being annoyed by the malfunction. :cheers: Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Greg Smith said:
There is a simple fix that often works for slow windows that was first done as far as I know by Jay3000 on Jeepsunlimited and later by myself. JeepinJoe has a writeup on his website also w. some pics. Basically when motors and wiring get older the amp draw is not enough through the small gauge wires to power the motors and switches. The simple solution is to run a 10 gauge wire from the purple (per my 89 FSM) power wire (for pre 91s IRRC) in the driver's side kick panel. That wire should be the power wire going from the fuse panel to the master switch cut the wire and connect the end going to the switch to the 10 gauge wire going to the battery lug on the starter relay next to the battery w. an inline 30 amp fuse. Of course you will now even be able to use the windows w. the key turn off. Hope this simple fix helps. Here is a link with the discussion and other links on Jeepsunlimited. http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=561143
:cheers: Greg

Hey Greg,

I was thinking about doing this but on that site it says to splice into the PURPLE Wire with a WHITE STRIPE you mentioned just plain PURPLE. Which is it? I'm confused.

btw - Someone at that thread said they got smoking wires when they ran the 10 ga wire to the purple or purple/white wire (don't recall which).

Thx, Phil
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

DIGITRUCK said:
Hey Greg,

I was thinking about doing this but on that site it says to splice into the PURPLE Wire with a WHITE STRIPE you mentioned just plain PURPLE. Which is it? I'm confused.

btw - Someone at that thread said they got smoking wires when they ran the 10 ga wire to the purple or purple/white wire (don't recall which).

Thx, Phil


According to my 89 FSM the power wire from the 30 ampt circuit breaker to the master pwr window switch in drivers door is purple (they call it vt-violet but it looks purple). It then goes through a connector in the left hand kick panel and then into the drivers door and to the switch. Beware FSM also says there is another purple wire going from that switch back to that connector but as it comes out of that connector it becomes a purple wire w. a white stripe. That wire is not the pwr going to the switch but rather the constant pwr out of the switch that goes to all the other pwr window switchs to allow the operation of those windows at those door locations. So you have to be careful about which purple wire you hook into by tracing the wire and make sure it is not the one that becomes the one w. the white stripe. Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Greg Smith said:
:
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). I cut the Lgreen 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; 30 is attached to the tan wire going to the door locks; and 87a is to ground. I used the new 10 gauge pwr line I had previously run to the battery/starter relay post with a 30 amp inline fuse. You can take off pwr from a splice on the red pwr going into the passenger door instead. (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. 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. At least 30 people I have heard from have done this mod with great success. Greg


This worked exactly as described. That is once I re-read it. I reversed 86 and 30 and it did not work. Then I re-read and corrected MY ERROR then it worked perfectly.

Thanks Greg!
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Glad it worked for you. Enjoy!!! :) Greg
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

I found that I could protect the power wire that runs out to the battery lug by using a vacuum connector that I found lying on the ground at the local u-pull-it. here are a couple of pics:

Before:
DSC00078.jpg


just cut off the piece I needed to fit the hole I was drilling.
DSC00080.jpg


I drilled a hole through just below the antenna boot behind the right kick panel.
DSC00085.jpg


and another hole near the hood prop.
DSC00084.jpg


This brings the power wire out very close the battery lug and keeps things tidy.

Just my .02 cents worth.
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

Hi there, Greg:
Took the jeep to a friends stero shop, to work on this issue over the weekend. follow the diagram, but I think I missed something in the process.
1) didn't had the multimer on hand so I didn't check the voltage.
2) hook the power to the relays from the current power source.

Would I need to find another power source and re-check the incoming voltage?

thanks.
but on the postive side, the process is very simple, and quick.
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

I wanted to post this earlier. Great write up Greg. I installed this upgrade on my 90 XJ Limited with a rear drivers door that was sticking in cold weather. The install was a snap but in all fairness I was in the final stages of my alarm/remote start install so I was no longer green as I was about 7 relays in by that point.

Wow what a difference. I just tapped into the red near the lock relays which provides enough power for my XJ. The locks slam shut now. When I showed my installer friend he was all worried I going to wear out the locks sooner now. :lol:

So thank you very much for your time and energy.

Another ill-fated door lock system has been revised thanks to your great write up.
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

any chance anyone haas a power window fix along similar lines?
 
Re: Greg Smith Power door locks writeup

burntkat said:
any chance anyone haas a power window fix along similar lines?

See my post on this subject on page 3 post number 45 in this thread. Good Luck. Greg
 
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