door locks go crazy when i turn the key

[Captain Morgan]

He's right, when a VR fails it often causes battery drain. A low battery can make gremlins like you mention here.

"only a distinct "CLICK" when i turn the key" = solenoid if fine, "the starter wont turn" = battery too low to turn over, bad starter or bad connection.

Make sure that the batteries are fresh in the Key fobs if you have them.

Make sure that the vehicle battery is 100% charged and reading more than 12v at rest.

Make sure that the connections at the battery posts are tight and clean.

If you have a volt meter check the posts on the OTHER side of the main fuses (behind the black shroud on the firewall) and see that you have good voltage there at rest also.

Use only a bare key removed from the key chain, lock the doors with the lock on the door panel and turn the key to Accessory . . . and . . wait .. and . . On . . . wait . . .

Try this a couple if time with the doors locked and unlocked. Does this reproduce what you refer to?

Do you have anything flashing on the instrument cluster?

Let us know what are the results please.

If you have a fully charged battery we can tell you how to bypass the starter solenoid directly to the starter motor and see if it is bad.


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[wakeboarderNH]

I would check that starting solenoid on the firewall, get your battery tested at Advanced (or anywhere that does that really), and I would look at all the connections going to the starter. It probably wouldn't hurt getting your alternator tested either, (Like he said ^) I believe on expys the voltage regulator is on the back of the alternator, and most of the time you need a whole new alternator.
I'm going to a tech. school right now and my electrical teacher taught me to start there. It doesn't sound like the starter is bad, it just sounds to me that it doesn't have enough amperage to make it spin, either from resistance, or a bad battery.

As for the door locks, I'm going to see if I can dig up a wiring diagram and see how they work. Could be a bad relay or something.

I'll be back.

Update: Looks like theres some relays for the door lock system. If one of those is bad that could be your problem. If you look at it, tell me what you found out and I'll get a hold of my electrical teacher and talk to him about it, he might know whats wrong.

Best of luck!

 

[Captain Morgan]

Garrrr can we get his thread merged?

Please only start ONE THREAD when you need help folks . . .

An electrical issue should probably not be in the general discussion sub forum.


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[JUST4FUN]

PLEASE only one thread on this topic... i have three here now, one will be deleted and two will be merged. also moved to proper forum

 

[Captain Morgan]

You da man!

I lost a post in the merge but that's OK, worth it.


wakeboarderNH has good points. Thanks for that and any diagrams or schematics you can offer are worth their weight in gold!

Just because a solenoid CLICKS doesn't mean that the contacts inside it are good.

Using a jumper cable from another vehicle to the battery posts should rule out the low\dead battery possibility.


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[bigwick70]

when this happened the cd player slowed like it was gonna quit then all the dash lights went out and came back on, them this...oh sorry bout the multi posting...im new here...this issue has got my nerves demolished cause my truck is my life lol...

 

[bigwick70]

ok tryed the manually placing the key in the door and locking it , then put key in ignition and, acc...wait...off...wait...on...acc...ETC... It did reproduce the effect as if i tryed to start the truck but nothing changed...gonna find a voltage/ohms meter today and test the solenoid...also gonna get under there and check all the connections...i put a new altenator on it and new battery about a year ago..."scratches head"...

 

[bigwick70]

ok i unhooked the battery to charge it and when i reconnected it there was a bad arc like something is grounded...that explains the battery drain but not the cause...somethings pulling amps as soon as i put the terminal on...

 

[Thermo]

bigwick, I would start with disconnecting the battery again (prevent draining it) and then pulling the big wire off of the back of the alternator and taping it up. Also, pull the wire running from the starter solenoid to the starter too. Now, reconnect the battery, do you still get a large spark (may get a small arc as things charge up, but it will be barely noticeable)? If yes, then your problem lies in the truck itself, let me know and we will get you taken care of.

Now, since the terminals are not sparking when you connect up the battery, we know the problem lies in 1 of 2 areas. What you will want to do first is to get yourself a pair of gloves and then touch the starter wire to the starter solenoid (where it should be mounted). Did you see a large arc there? If yes, then your starter solenoid is toast and you need to fix that (failed internally, hence the click, but the draining of the battery). If no, then odds are your problem is in the alternator, you need to replace your alternator.

I would also do a once over of the wiring between the starter solenoid and the alternator if you suspect the alternator just to make sure that you are not replace a good part. Please keep in mind that this is all assuming you don't have something aftermarket in the truck like an amplifier and whatnot. Past experience has shown that most of the time, it is the aftermarket stuff that causes problems like this. If you do have something aftermarket, pull the fuses/disconnect it as close to the battery as possible to eliminate them too. Reconnect them after reconnecting the starter and use the same philosophy of "touch the wire to the post, check for sparks" and do one thing at a time. Still leave the alternator for last.

 

[bigwick70]

gottcha... i see where ur going here...by eliminating each item till the arc is gone and reconnecting each, one at a time, i find the culprit. when the altenator went last time it was like normal, lights began dimming, battery slowly drained till dead, ETC...now idk...thanks for the input all, ill do this tomorrow and let you know
also i cannot find the fuses to the door locks either in my oners manual or on google...was gonna try to unplug them and see about the arc too but ...