I have a 2003 Econoline 150 Conversion van (Sherrod Conversion). The other day the power locks quit working. Also at the same time the interior lights don't come on when the side door of the van opens. The side door also has a timer for the interior lights to turn off after a few minutes if the side doors are left open. That is the only door that does that the rear and driver/passenger doors do not. So when the side doors are open and no other doors then the power locks do not work. If all doors are closed then no power locks work. If the Driver/Passenger/Rear doors are open then the power locks work just fine. So it seems the only way the power locks work is if the interior lights are on. So there is a link between the side door lights not coming on and the power locks not working. Does anyone have any ideas. I have checked every fuse in the panel and everything is fine. Please help I'm out of ideas

 

Any guesses or thoughts?

 

Open the doors and wiggle the wires at the door jamb and see if that makes a difference. The only other thing I can think of is during the install of the conversion add on stuff, they possibly drove a screw near the wiring that has now rubbed through.

 

Is it possible that there is a relay that works for both the door and locks that might be messed up?

 

Does anyone know if there is a Relay somwhere on the power locks. The actuators work but I am having troubles with the locks working only when the side door is open. The side door too is connected to a relay. Maybe both are connected to the same one? Thanks for the help.

 

What year? Usually the only relay that feeds the power locks is the accessory delay relay, which is controlled by a timing module.

P.S. I merged your two threads together. It keeps people from asking dumb questions like I did(what year?).

 

The van is a 2003

 

I looked at the diagrams. There is no relay. Power comes from fuse F2.5 located in the underdash fuse box. It runs out on a black/white wire to the door lock switches on all doors.

 

How about the side door interior light switch. That switch is set to go off after about 10 minutes of the side doors being open, so I guess there must be some sort of timed relay on that device. That is what is crazy. Currently the side door when it is open will not activate the interior lights. So somewhere there is a problem with the relay or something because the switch seems to work fine because when you push the activator on the door (the thing that turns the interior lights on and off on the side of the door) you can hear the relay clicking on and off.

But with just the side door open you cannot make the locks work. When you open the passenger door or driver door then the interior lights come on and work fine, even with the side door opened or closed. But the locks will only work when you have the passenger door or driver door or rear door open plus the side door. As soon as you close the side door then no locks. It's crazy. Maybe if I can find the relay for that side door then somehow that is tied into the locks someway because obviously the locks only work with that side door open. Plus both the side door interior lights issue and power locks issue both occurred at the the same time so there must be a link there somewhere. Thanks again for all your help.

 

I can't find a relay, but there still may be one somewhere in this system. The reason I say this is I am starting to go around circles with the diagrams. I did find a common component that is associated with the courtesy lights, the door switches, and the door locks. It's called the RKE module.(Remote Keyless Entry). It's located in the left hand b pillar at the bottom.

In case you don't know, the lefthand would be the driver's side, and the a pillar is considered the windshield pillar, so the b pillar would be the next one behind the driver's door.

 

Funny that you mention that (RKE). That is the first thing I found that was in common to all three things, so I went and purchased a new one ($200) it was a dealer only item on this particular one and very hard to find. So I figured my problems would be solved and I plugged the new one in and nothing changed same old problem. I was at wits end after that. Luckily I was able to get my money back. (Had to send my girlfriend back into the dealership to talk the guy into getting her money back) You know what they would have told me if I tried to return an electronic part that has been opened. All things sure lead back to that RKE as a central problematic area but nothing happened when I put the new one in so I am guessing that is not the problem. Maybe there is something else somewhere that the conversion company installed. Is there any way to tell in your diagram if the Ford comes stock with this automatic timeout interior lights on the side doors? If it doesn't then I might be able to locate where they installed it during the conversion process. That's about all I can think about. Thanks so much for your efforts, I know it takes up a lot of your time.

 

I can't find any timeout unit on the interior light circuit. There are the door switches, the RKE module, and then the lights themselves.

 

Thanks for looking, I guess it is something Sherrod put on when they did the conversion. I'll try contacting them, maybe they might know. Thanks for all your help!

 

Any update or resolution to this issue? I’m having a similar issue with my 1998 E350. Door locks only work with the passenger and sliding door open. I can hear a relay actuating or trying to actuate with all of the doors closed though.

 

I have also the same issue so would be happy to know if anyone solved it.