Creating A System To Allow Auto-Unlocking In Vehicle

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
If you can track down where the signal originates and if in fact it is a simple shorted transistor in a control module I would like to know about it. It might be a rather profitable sideline business to get into fixing them! ;)
I have confirmed that the power feed to the dome light is coming from the Instrument Cluster, YE/LB also called, Interior Lighting Relay. I haven't taken the instrument cluster apart to see if the relay is welded or the MPU is commanding it "on". Not nice to get into the instrument cluster circuit board. The only way is to nibble away the white plastic cover on the back. It can't be disassembled because you would have to tear all the needles off the gauges to split the case.

Here nibbler nibbler nibbler...come to papa.
 

shortbus

Joined Sep 30, 2009
10,049
I must have looked right past your first post. The following diagram is the only one that has anything to do with the door locks, so maybe it will be helpful.
Don't know how hard it is to get to what they are calling the 'body security module'. but it looks like if you cut the wire colored "pink/orange and then jumpered that wire over to the one colored 'red/orange" that would do the unlock all doors at once when transmission is put in park. All of the locks are connected by the pink/black wire that is the one that should lock them all at once. And I'm assuming you know that the wire colors are listed as the first one being the main color and the one after the slash is a colored stripe on the wire.

The red/org is the driver door lock, it is by itself from the factory. The pink/org goes to all of the other locks. So by tying the two wires together when the drivers door unlocks they should all unlock. If you try this, just make sure you leave enough wire at the module connector so you can splice it back together if it doesn't work. But if I had this problem myself and wanted to change it I'd be willing to bet it will work. And make sure you put tape or heat shrink on the pink/org stub at the connector to keep it from shorting out.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
if in fact it is a simple shorted transistor in a control module I would like to know about it.
It looks to me like the Interior Lighting Relay is a 12 legged, gull wing, surface mount chip, that could not be touched without destroying all the gauge needles if you were a left handed surgeon with 3 wrists on each arm and had a squad of tiny soldering ants. Ima guess this one is going to be an external fix...if I can think of a way to do it. Plenty of places to access wires, but printed circuit boards are very well guarded. Our Father Who Art In Detroit really, really, wants me to pay $1000 to get the dome lights to work.:(:mad:
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Lifelong Ford owner so I know your pains well.

too often I scratch my head at the why factor behind too much of their electrical system designs. If you hang out in the Ford forums you know exactly how that is.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Lifelong Ford owner so I know your pains well.
It isn't much of a pain, yet. I haven't had a, "tow it to the Dealership and pay a ransom" event...yet.
I am steadily removing/defeating microprocessors and/or their end devices. There is a substantial list.
Right now, I am defeating several Instrument Cluster functions.
It is more like victory than pain. On my chosen Explorer website, I call what I am doing, "blasphemy".
According to a recent Thread in Off Topic, it is beginning to sound more like, "law suit".
 

shortbus

Joined Sep 30, 2009
10,049
external fix...if I can think of a way to do it
Why not put a toggle switch in the feed wire to the lamp? Taking the windshield trim off of the A pillar on the drivers side and drilling a hole for the switch would make it easy to access when getting in or out. One company I worked for years ago made those trim panels for Ford, they had a couple of screw holes for mounting. Don't know if yours does though.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
They cant hold me ransom! I wont take my stuff to the dealer ever. ;)

If something gives me enough trouble it will either get a total redesign to eliminate it or go the scrap yard.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Why not put a toggle switch in the feed wire to the lamp?
Why don't I buy one of those battery operated LED lamps intended to be installed in a closet?
Stick it to the ceiling and pull the chain when I open the car at night?

Because I have not finished figuring out how this car lighting is supposed to work. I'm still figuring out the Battery Saver Relay, the Accessory Delay Relay, the Interior Lamp Relay, the Figure Out If It's Night circuit, the interaction of the Night Detector and the Headlight Switch with the dome light, which is also overridden by the Instrument Cluster Dimmer rheostat. It could be as simple as removing the connection of YE/LB from pin 9 of Instrument Cluster connector C220a or I might make a circuit for:
If doorswitchA
or doorswitch B
then domelight
If Start, enable Stopdomelight
if Run, stop domelight
If off, wait for doorswitch

or I could ask the price of a used Instrument Cluster at the local Automotive Dismantling and Recycling Emporium.:)
Then install it and find that one of the computers doesn't like it's internal serial number...and the car won't start.:(

Bottom line: There are simple ways and hard ways. I already took out the dome light, light bulb, and I always carry a nifty Joule Thief flashlight in my pocket. If the answer is to add an external switch to a lamp, I have already fixed the problem. I just hold the flashlight in my mouth while I find the ignition key hole at night. If that was my highest goal, I would have stopped investigating a year ago.

The goal here is not to get a lamp on at night. The goal is to defeat the evil geniuses at FoMoCo by deleting the hardware and/or software involved in their dastardly extortion scheme.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
I would buy an extra key fob and place it in front of the gear selector. If perfectly positioned, your knuckle will hit the unlock button every time you shift into PARK.
 
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