The power door locks on my 96 will cycle 3 times rapidly and chirp the alarm and flash the parking lights just like I was locking and unlocking it with the remote. It does this randomly while I'm driving.
Anyone else had this problem? How'd you fix it?

 

My BII did this once (without the alarm chirping and the remote flashing because it's not equipped with those). A connector under the hood that carried the power lock circuit had gotten wet causing the power locks to short to ground.

 

check the door lock switch inside in the back of the vehicle the one inside the rear window hatch, I read that sometimes these get moisture causing them to do funny things like you are experiencing, (locking unlocking etc

 

Does it happen at all locations, or just in one area?

Here in Las Vegas, we had problems with remotes causing the power locks/alarms to activate or deactivate. Also, the keyless remotes would not work sometimes. The Ford engineers who designed the keyless entry systems came to Las Vegas and did a survey of all the RF emissions in our valley and found a radio transmitter stuck broadcasting from one of the local mountain tops. Everyone in that area had the most problems. Evidently, the emergency search and rescue transponder uses the same frequency (or harmonic) that the Ford systems do, causing the problems.

So while your problem most likely is a short somewhere, if you notice it only happens in one area, it could be spurious RF emissions.

 

Thanks for the ideas! I'll check into them. Actually, it does seem to happen more in one area than others, but not all the time.

 

The door locks on my 97 Explorer do weird things too. They never do it on their own, but the rear driver side door lock will unlock three times when I use the remote keyless entry. More importantly... My driver side front door power lock control will lock all the doors, but when I push unlock it does nothing. To unlock all the doors I can push unlock on the passenger door, so it's not the unlock relay. I think my problem is the wire from the master door switch to the unlock relay. The unlock relay is in the auxiliary relay box #4. My question is... Where is auxiliary relay box #4? I found several relay boxes under dash and under hood, but I don't think any one of them is the right one. Help.

 

On my 96, I think it's in the back on the left inside the access door where the jack is.
I've heard of wires breaking where they go from the body into the door, or it could be the switch. Good luck, and welcome to FTE!

 

I have had the same problem. Given what I've read in this site in various forums this is a known problem that Ford should really fix.

It's the door lock actuator. I called my local Ford Parts place and its a whopping $75

I think Ford should replace this for free given its history and recurrence.

 

My 96 Eddie Bauer does a similar thing. The door locks will try to lock, although they are already locked, and the door ajar light will come one and I will get the beeping sound. It only does it every now and then. I have no idea what causes it.

 

Could be a door ajar switch in the door latch acting up.

As for my problem, I think I fixed it by removing the security system. It was a dealer add-on, not factory. Pretty sure that fixed it, but more driving is needed to be sure.

 

I had an aftermarket alarm bite the dust one night when it was -10 last winter. Now the locks open and lock, but no alarm. Maybe for the best, everytime I turned off the alarm, the horn beeps, and my crazy neighbor runs out and beeps his horn at my empty car out in my driveway. Better to get ripped off than end up with a .45 in my scalp. Am I the only one with neighbors like this?

 

I have 96 explrer xlt and my door locks go nuts sometimes too locking and unlocking very rapidly until some one pushes the unlock on the passenger side. I also have the problem with the door ajar light and alarm going off for no reason while driving down the road....finally pulled the relay. So no more door ajar sensor alarm or the inside lights coming on while driving down the road. LOL

 

Well, so far no more lock slamming for me. Could be your security system or the door ajar switch. I'm thinking the switch on yours because mine never showed a door ajar light when it was going crazy. BTW, which relay did you pull?

 

I am glad to hear that my 2000 Mountaineer is not the only haunted one. I cannot find a patern to when mine mysteriously cycles to unlock all the doors and rear gate and window. It may cycle several times then pause for a while then do the same thing again and again, then stop. The lighted entry lights come on just like I was using a remote. It has happened in several locations. I can't trust that it will remain locked anywhere I leave it parked. How do we get Ford to do something about this?

 

I found the problem with my "haunted door locks". One of my fobs was the culprit. It had a crack around the "unlock" button in the rubber covering over the computer chip. The crack in the rubber allowed dust and moisture to get to the chip and caused it to go crazy. I found it by process of elimination. It was my wife's FOB and once I isolated the problem to that FOB I took the FOB apart and found the crack in the rubber. I cleaned the dirty area on the chip, put it back together, and it is working fine for now. I will either have to replace the FOB or ,hopefully, I can find a replacement rubber cover. Maybe at a wrecking yard on a FOB from a wrecked Ford product. Hope this helps someone else.