2005 escape anti-theft door ajar alarm

On my wifes 2005 escape (the right rear door) I removed the mechanism out of the door & took it apart,
(it has some of that thin flat wiring material like you would see on computer boards or on the back of some speedometer cluster panels) well the wiring from the large plug to the anti-theft micro switch has burnt in half for some apparent reason (leaving the anti-theft switch open).
There is no way to re-solder or say replace these wire contacts that are burnt.

I ended using a jumper in the harness right at this box in the door (a guy on youtube jumped his at where the harness feeds from the door to the body.

(Oh & just a FYI: theres only 2 electronic parts in the door box mechanism, 1) is theanti-theft micro switch & 2) the small electric motor for the door lock (like you would see in a razor or a small motorized toy) LoL.

I took pictures that I can post if anyones interested.

 

fordjunky,

I would be interested to see any pictures, and if you can, a link, or a good search phrase to find that youtube video.

I never had anymore work done on my Escape since my last visit to the dealership and their recommendations. The Escape went from November through May and no alarms. But in the first week of June, the alarm went off. There has been about two four so far this month, that I have heard. We had a cold winter here in PA and it really didn't warm up until June. Maybe the warmer hot weather also affects it?

Thanks for responding, I am sure your info will help others.

 

Yeah, I'd be interested in the pictures, too, thanks.

 

NOTE:
My sister has a 2005 escape also & I was telling her last week that I had to jump the switch out on my wifes 2005 escape right rear door as the anti-theft alarm would go off when ever it wanted to, well she said she has had it happen on occasions.
Looks like Ill be doing another one in the near future after she lets me know which door it shows on the display on the dash. LoL






These 2 pictures shows you how to just jump that aggravation anti-theft switch out.
I used 2ea T-Taps & 2ea male flat spades (I found at Autozone).














These 6pictures is just to let you see whats inside the box & the shorted/bad wire.






















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Thanks fordjunky,used your method to by pass ajar switch on drivers rear door. Also saved me a few buck at the dealership. Did not take apart the latch assemble apart as you did. Once I figured out the culprit door, I bypassed it at the plug. Thanks again

 

Glad it worked for you dsmith2.





JUST NOTING
I found out after looking at my sisters Escape that some models dont have the digital screen to notify which door switch is open. I would likely jump out all 4 doors if this was the case.


If I get chance I may see if there's a central point to by-pass this system but doing so isnt at the top of my to do list yet LoL.



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Searched some last night & become aggravated so I temporally unhooked both horns until I get time to search some more or to just go ahead & jump out every door to be done with it.
Removing the horn fuses doesnt stop the alarm.

If anyone was curious (Do at your own risk).
2 options to reach the horns:
remove the wheel wells or
unbolt just the front of the wheel wells & put your whole arm up inside to unhook them.
NOTE: It will require patience to get to the horns.





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Found this helpful tidbit on this site on how to isolate the culprit door. When the ajar light is lit on the dash, simply roll down all windows, remove keys from ignition and set the alarm using the remote. After a 30 second wait reach inside through the open window, open each door using the inside handle and the horn should go off. Reset the alarm by touching the red horn button on the remote to silence the horn. Next, move to the next door. If the alarm does not sound when opening a door, that is the culprit door!! Now this test is only for the four doors , not the hatch, hatch glass or the hood. But I'm thinking one can simply raise the hood, tape the switch down and remove tape from switch when testing. Not so sure about the hatch area. Hope this helps, good luck.

 

Well I disassembled the driver door lock mechanizing as it didnt want to fully lock & unlock.
Well after removing the unit twice for testing, I found the small electric motor is to weak to fully move the mechanizing both directions!!
Dang I hate these units are $200ish a piece!!


While I was in there I jumped this driver door out.

The pattern is to jump the top 2 left wires of each door
as Ive jumped the driver door & passenger rear door & dsmith2 jumped the same 2wires on the driver rear door.


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Small world, my drivers door showing same symptom also. Fordjunky, since you've got yours apart, can the moving parts be cleaned and or lubricated? Not looking forward coughing up $200 for new lock! After looking back at your pictures, I saw the "motor" insides. Was it difficult to take that thing apart. How about putting it back together with all those gears and springs?

 

I sprayed the unit down good both times with WD40 (washed like) when I had the unit out & didnt see any improvement after so.
I could manually switch the units lever but the motor just couldnt manage it.
To lock this door we had to do it manually.

Note:The driver door unit was very troubling to remove compared to the rear door lock.

 

Sure sounds like that motor is gone. So your options are the dealership, fleabay, or the junkyard and maybe parts shop like Autuzone or Oreilly's. I stopped short of removing the front lock after I saw the difficulty. I removed everything except the two rods and had second thoughts about going further, LOL.
So, did you find the faulty switch on your sister's escape? Was it the drivers door?

 

My sister hasn't been bothered so much with hers yet & it will likely be a good while before I put my hands on it.

Until I or someone finds a central location to disable this alarm completely then I will suggest jumping all of the 4 doors no matter if its bad or not.

These units are a very poor design in my opinion & its not a matter of "IF" it will fail but "when".



As for my wifes driver door, Ive put it on her to find a replacement part. She had already told me we weren't buying a new one due to the cost.

 

I did the open the window, lock the car, then open the door by reaching in test; and even though I don't have a door ajar light, the alarm doesn't activate for the driver side passenger door so I believe it's that door. Question: is it possible to remove and clean the micro switch? I have tried the external spray and lube with CRC cleaner and Lithium sprays. Shopping online I see that NAPA and O'Reilly sell the same replacement switch with a lifetime warranty. The Ford part has a 2 year warranty. Prices: Ford, $338; NAPA 294; O'Reilly $254. Also, I thought I might try the jumper trick to see if that eliminates the false alarms. Are the connector photos you posted inside or outside the door panel?

 

Inside.
The door panels are fairly simple to remove so dont worry much over damaging them.