spring loaded contacts

[DRW1000]

Does anyone know what the 4 spring loaded contacts are in the sliding doors? My Haynes gives a very vague drawing. The way I see it the door itself does not offer a good ground via the slding contacts so one would tend to believe that one of the 4 is a ground. Here is what I think would be on them:

Common Ground - Qty 1
Speaker input - Qty 2 contact
Door lock - Qty 1 contact
Door ajar sensor - Qty 1 (although this could be the thing nearer the bottom of the door.

I seem to have 1 less contact than I need So I am leaning towards the door ajar being separate even though everyone seems to be able to eliminate their door ajar by cleaning theses contacts or spraying wd40 to ensure they spring.

Can anyone verify this and/or tell me which pin is which.

[wayne10]

you got me on this one. i thought that they were al related to the door ajar sensor, but maybe not. when we bought our van 2 weeks ago, the door ajar dash light would not go off. the dealer showed us this and cleaned all 4 of them. the light now functions properly. sorry i could not be of any more help.

[DRW1000]

I always beleived that too. In fact I cleaned mine once whene I had a door ajar problem and it seemed to solve the problem for a while in any event. I think it was a coincidence.

The reason I have changed my opinion is due of course to what I wrote at the beginning of the thread and because the spring contacts for the door ajar do not really make sense since they are at least an inch long and contact way before the door is completely closed. The door ajar light illuminates even for a very small opening.

I think the door ajar switch is actually the device lower on the door panel. It looks like a part on the door enters into an opening on the frame that I feel is a magnetic switch.

I am an Electrical/electronic guy so I will eventually sort this out I just though someone might know this already.

[wayne10]

hey there, sorry, dont mean to go on and on, but i wonder if the sensors work on pressure, thus explaining the springs, which in turn would be a safety feature for the driver, showing that if by chance a child attempted to open the door, or the door was not completly closed and latched, the tension on the springs would be loosened , thus triggering the ajar sensor???

[DRW1000]

Hey Wayne10. I wasn't thinking you were going on in any stretch. Sometimes apparent insignificant thoughts trigger the answer. I welcome the conversation.

Anyway I did a bit of investigating: (I need a life):

The spring loaded contacts do not have anything to do with the door ajar light. I covered all 4 on one side up and closed the door and the door ajar light went out without electrical contact. Tried it a number of times. I even sat inside the van and watched the contacts as I slowley closed the door. They make contact well before the door closes and definately before the light goes out. I also noticed there are two of the magnetic looking type switches (for now I will call them this). One below the spring loaded contacts and one near the top of the door. I would also tend to believe that there would be two door ajar switches for safety just as the hatch has two.

I also determined that the two middle spring loaded contacts are the automatic door locks. I think that perhaps current in one direction locks the door and in the other direction unlocks the door. This is also consistent with solenoids and DC current.

I think the upper and lower spring contacts are for the speaker but Since I disconnected my stereo from these speakers I could not test further. I will this weekend if I have time.

So for all of you who believe that cleaning these contacts fixes the door ajar light think agian. I know there seems to be about a million coincidences my research shows that it is not related.

[CoachKarl]

WOW! Sliding "Door ajar" isn't triggered by those contacts?!?

(Don't have a life either)

I've pulled up all the carpet & plastic things around my passenger side slider, (because 2 gallon of gatorade spilt there recently, and so, hey! Got the heads off, what else needs fixing?) and when I put it all back I'll be looking for your contacts with a flashlight. Hang tight. I'll look.

Karl

[12Ounce]

for right & left side (inside door):

TN/LG & BN/PK = speakers
YE/RD & WHT = sliding door detent switch
YE/RD & GY/RD = sliding door latch release actuator
LG & OG = sliding door lock actuator

[DRW1000]

If my theory is correct the wires for the "door ajar" will not be in the door but rather in the door frame at the front. I suspect that the door carries a magnet or something to activate the switch(es) inside the frame.

I am not sure if 12Ounce's data supports my theory but I am sure that collectively we will have it all figured out soon enough.

One thing I did was cover all 4 contacts will electrical tape and it had absolutly no effect on the door ajar light operation.

[DRW1000]

I should also add that I am only looking at a 99 Windstar so other years may or may not be different.

I was looking more closely at 12ounce's wire colours:

TN/LG & BN/PK = speakers
YE/RD & WHT = sliding door detent switch
YE/RD & GY/RD = sliding door latch release actuator
LG & OG = sliding door lock actuator

Speakers are obvious and I think they are the top and bottom pins. The Lock actuators I think are the middle two. What is a "sliding door detent switch"? I though the door was held mechanically only and not electrically. What is "sliding door latch release actuator"? Again I thought the door release was mechanical in nature. Perhaps these are options I do not have but I thought there were only 4 pins on any model and option package. I don't really see anything that points to any wires within the door that are related to the door ajar sensor . Unless the wording has confused me.

This has now become a "mission" for me. A quest for knowledge if you will. I will sort this out even if it means a divorce for spending too much time outside this weekend.

I actually determined my "door ajar" light was caused by the rear hatch but I still need to know the workings of the mysterious pins.

[12Ounce]

Those words are right off the wiring diagram. I haven't a clue about what they mean. I don't see a wiring circuit for non-powered sliding doors.

But you are correct about the door ajar switches being in the door jamb somewhere. I remember another poster saying there was spherical/magnetic device that could get gunked-up.???

left = WH/VT & BK
right = DB/LG & BK

[DRW1000]

I think the item that can get gunked up is the door ajar sensors in the rear hatch. They have exposed moving parts. I think the sliding sensor is similar in operation but I don't think anything is exposed (although inside the door jab who knows?).

This really does make sense to me though. If I was Ford I would put as little wiring inside the sliding door as possible as there is not convenient way to get the power to the inside of the door unlike the front doors or rear hatch that hinge on a pivot and can have a wiring harness to them. Speakers and door locks of course have to have the wires routed hence the spring loaded contacts but the door ajar can easily be in the door jamb with all wiring inside the door jamb.

Thanks for the input it is slowly clearing everything up.

[12Ounce]

... but you wouldn't think of putting the speakers in a sliding door. You're a lot smarter than that, I know!

[DRW1000]

Originally Posted by 12Ounce

... but you wouldn't think of putting the speakers in a sliding door. You're a lot smarter than that, I know!

Believe it or not I was going to state that it was a questionable location to begin with.

In fact I put an after market stereo with aftermarket speakers and I certainly did not use the locations in the door for various reasons. I cannot understand why Ford did that. Seems like a more expensive way when there are locations in the rear that are not in the sliding door. Perhaps the cost of extra speaker wire was higher than the cost of sliding contacts.

[wayne10]

hope it all works out for you, we just went into ford to get a second key made for our 2001 windstar, they made an appt for us for fri am, and it will run us $45 for the key and one hr labour for programming it, the service woman came out to the van and tried to put it into programming mode for the keyless remote. she said it is on and off 8 times with the key, but it did not go into programming mode. she said they will look into it on fri to see and make sure the vehicle is equipped with it, she assumes it does have it, i guess it may have to be reset?????, guessing here, anyways, again, hope u figure out your task at hand, wayne

[DRW1000]

Thanks Wayne...............I hope you become a regular here. Of course having a Windstar may require it.

We do have a lot of resident experts (in my opinion) and they are always happy to offer some help.