No entry

[The Breeze]

I'm in a jam.  Battery may be dead.  Keypad at the door does nothing at all.  No lights, no unlock.  Use that feature frequently and usually works fine.  Truck does not respond at all to any button presses on either fob.  One has a recent new battery.  Physical key in driver's door turns tumbler, nothing.  No weird noises, no resistance.  Don't know if I've ever used the physical key before, neither work.

 

Anyone have any ideas to gain entry to cabin OR engine bay where I can check / jump battery?

[ben senise]

i find it strange that the key does nothing to open the door. did you expose the lock cylinder like this? : 

 

 

 

 

[deleted wrong info that i posted because i'm an idiot.]

 

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by ben senise

[omar302]

A friend with a 2013 Explorer faced the same issue. The key lock failed after not being used for 8 years. The spare (emergency) key would rotate freely in the key hole. He got a mechanic who was able to pop open the heed from underneath the engine bay.

 

@ben senise

The hood release is a normal lever, you posted the parking brake manual procedure.

[The Breeze]

Yeah, that's what I feared.  The lock must have failed due to lack of use.  Had the exact same issue on an '07 Honda.  Hondas are known for that issue, just my luck I get another make with the same problem.  Hindsight is last year.  I suppose it's wise to use the manual lock every so often to keep working it and if it is useless, at least you'd find out before you're in a jam.

 

As an aside, I had a less than satisfactory experience using "Just Answer" I thought I'd pass along.  I found them before I came here and out of desperation and a need for a quick solution, I gave 'em my $5 intro fee and cell#.  After not getting an answer for an hour, I cancelled and found my way here.  If I'm PAYING for something, I expect BETTER service than I can get from a free forum.  Your answers actually came quicker than what I got from JustAnswer.  That being said, I got an answer that may save having some AAA hack damage my weather stripping as he/she fights to get the door unlocked...  The suggestion is to jack up the front end and put a jump on the frame and positive cable found on the starter.  Kind of a "Duh!" moment for me.  My only question is how easy it will be to reach the starter, both considering how far up it is in the engine bay and if there's any sound deadening covering it (it's a Limited).  It's going to be a nice day, so I'll give it a shot and update here after.

 

Anyone here know any reason this would be a bad idea?

[ben senise]

8 hours ago, omar302 said:

 

@ben senise

The hood release is a normal lever, you posted the parking brake manual procedure.

 

oops,  "looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue" 

 

sorry 'bout that. i need to pay more attention.

[The Breeze]

OK, the solution I found sounded easy enough, but can't find the damn starter!  Can it be seen / reached easily from under the front end?  Where would I look?  I pulled one large connector, but the pins were way too small for a starter.  Is it in the front or rear of the engine?

 

[The Breeze]

16 hours ago, ben senise said:

i find it strange that the key does nothing to open the door. did you expose the lock cylinder like this? : 

 

 

then there's a manual cable to release the hood:

 

this is from the 2020 manual. if your vehicle is a different year, you may have to refer to the manual.

 

 

 

 

Expose the lock cylinder?  The 2013 does not have a cover if that's what you mean.  The opening to the cylinder is visable w/out removing anything.  If you're suggesting that I should remove the trim around it, will that give me access to something that would help?

[The Breeze]

Oh, and yes, go back to the glue.  That stuff smells awesome and it's a lot cheaper than other vices!  If you HAVE to give up something, try quitting the smokes instead.

[ben senise]

6 hours ago, The Breeze said:

Expose the lock cylinder?  The 2013 does not have a cover if that's what you mean.  The opening to the cylinder is visable w/out removing anything.  If you're suggesting that I should remove the trim around it, will that give me access to something that would help?

 

i didn't know you had a 2013. not mentioned in the OP.

no, not suggesting you remove anything.

[The Breeze]

So as alluded to earlier, I couldn't get to the starter from the bottom of the truck on the 3.5L eng.  The next suggestion was to connect with the lug on the alternator.  Because the alt. is about halfway up in the eng. bay, I wasn't going to be able to get a jumper clamp on it.  The suggestion was to simply touch a wire to it and have someone else hit the unlock on the key fob.  I was concerned with feeding a live HOT wire up through the eng. compartment with many chances to touch gound on the way up.  I did the following which ended up working OK...

 

I found a scrap of 12ga, solid core house wiring and pulled one of the wires out of the sleeve.  Strip some off of each end so the majority of the wire was still insulated, cutting down on the chance of shorting it out.  Instead of a li-ion jump starter or jumper cables from another car batt.  I used my old school battery charger which turned out to be much safer.  I connected to ground of the charger to metal under the car and the pos. cable of the charger to my strand of house wiring.  Before turning on (plugging in) the charger, I reached the wire up to the pos. connection on the alt. to see how easy it was going to be to reach it and tweak the bends in my home made wire if need be.  I got lucky and not only coud I get the wire easily upto where it needed to be, but because it was not a stranded wire, being solid core, it seemed to stay put.  I plugged the charger in at 2 amps and the needle didn't move.  I went to 10 and then 50 amps and tthe needle fluctuated, but my connection was too unstable and I couldn't get the doors to unlock.  Put the charger back to 2 amps and repositioned the wire reaching up to the alt and was able to catch a spark which of course confirmed I had a good ground.  Put the charger back up to 50 amps and this time it had a good enough connection to activate the door locks.

 

I originally inquired about using a 9V battery figuring it would be safer to work with, but was told the amp draw of the door lock solenoids far exceeded what the 9V could provide.  

 

So now, at least the doors are unlocked and the hood is popped.  Now to research why my less than 2 yr old battery suddenly dropped to 2.0 Volts over a couple days of not being used.  Previous to that, there were absolutely no signs of any impending doom.  Wasn't hard to start.  No dim headlights.  I've recently installed a small used Kenwood Class D amp and have already checked the positive feed for shorting to ground and it looks fine.  My next two guesses will be checking the battery to see if it's defective or if the alt. if bad causing it to pull voltage from the battery when not running.  The thing that gets me is that it was so sudden.  As in, no warning signs that something was draining the fairly new batt.

[ben senise]

i had a battery fail when one of the cells cracked.

 

glad you got in the car. now you have to replace the lock cylinder too.

[The Breeze]

...and I just had the door panel off to put in a speaker. ?  Not like I don't have a million other things to do, but your right,.  If I don't fix it, I only have myself to blame if it happens again and I have to lay in the snow to feed the alternator 12 volts!

[The Breeze]

Looking for some insight on the manual door lock...  Opened it up yesterday and as expected, the linkage for the manual lock was not attached up at the cylinder.  Anyone have eperience with this part and know how it attaches?  The part of the cylinder that the linkage connects to is keyed.  It's pretty clea what direction the plastic piece needs to go to fit over it, but what keeps it in place?  It was an indent around the plastic which hints at some kind of a retaining clip which is MIA and explains why it probably fell off.  The problem is, I've combed the net looking for an image, part number or something to help identify whats missing and what I need to order.  I have found nothing except a million other door lock cylinder linkage clip retainers that "Doesn't fit your 2013 Ford Edge".  Is it possible it does NOT use any kind of retainer and it's just a friction fit?  Any thoughts (or pics!) will be very helpful as right now the door is in pieces and can't be easily driven.  I'd prefer not to button it all up without finishing the job, just to rip it all apart again in a few days.

[enigma-2]

First if all, the clip fell off in a closed cavity and is probably still lying at the bottom of the door. If it's what ive seen before, it has a "u" section that snaps over the shaft and a double circle section that hooks to the latch bar. Anyway its probably laying in the bottom of the door.

 

Now, if you can't find it you'll need buy a new part. Save yourself alot of time and headaches. Head down to your local Ford dealers parts department and let him look up the part. (Your probably going to have to anyway, not a common failure).

 

 

[The Breeze]

Thank you enigma-2.  You're probably right.  So many of us are pre-programmed to avoid the stealership at all costs, we forget there are time it's necessary and in this case, a lot easier.  I hadn't even thought of it.  I ran a magnet down inside the bottom of the door.  All I couldl find was a flyer from a strip club in N.Y. that must have been slid in the window at some point.  At least now I know I need a clip.  

[EddieHudson]

Go to NAPA with the door panel still off. Tell them what you need and they'll match it up.

Edited April 29, 2021 by EddieHudson

[The Breeze]

So I'm out running errands and the stealership is the last stop.  It's getting late and I'm concerned if I'll even make b4 closing.  I check the website, parts counter open 'till 6PM.  Great!  I arrive at 5:10.  Sorry, Parts counter closes at 5:00.   WHAT THE F4&K?!?!?!?!?!  I've had this door in pieces and the window taped in the up position for days.  Driving around in the rain trying to keep it from falling.  It was a long day and no door lock clip to show for it.  

 

I was going to make a special trip out again tomorrow to get this damn thing from Ford.  Not any more, NAPA it is.  They're closer anyway.  I guess I didn't realize they were that good at NAPA.  They set me on this one, I'll be a regular from here on out.

[enigma-2]

Keep us updated on what you find.

 

BTW, not all NAPA parts are good quality. They work, but they do cut corners.

 

I usually specify Motorcraft parts (even at the Ford garage. They have a habit of using NAPA to keep costs down). NAPA of today is not the NAPA if yesteryear. 

[The Breeze]

Update:  No luck at NAPA or Allied for that matter.  Ended up back at the dealership.  Turns out there is no clip to secure the cylinder linkage.  I would be required to buy the whole "Exterior Door Handle Base" (or "Reinforcement" if your talking aftermarket like Dorman).  Instead of Ford marking up a $1 clip to $5 as I was expecting, they want me to buy a $50 part and wait until next Tue. to receive it.

 

I passed and took the printout of the part he provided and looked around online to see if I could do better.  In doing so, I at least found some nice clear pictures of the "base" or "reinforcement" and learned something quite helpful.  I was looking at the part backwards.  What looked like a groove around the part that goes over the cylinder actually faces in to the base and it must snap in place.

 

I'd like to just reach up inside the door to snap it back on, but I've come this far I probably should disassemble the exterior door handle so I can hold the base in my hand and get a closer look.  There has to be a reason it's not attached, maybe the base is cracked.  I'd hate to snap it on, button it all up, only to have it come off again downn the road again and only find out the next time I have a dead battery.

 

If someone is reading this thread looking for answers like I was, I'm sure my description of the parts leaves a lot to be desired.  Unless you've handled (ha! pun) these parts before, you probably can't visualize what I'm explaining.  I'm hoping to work more on it today.  If I get the handle base off, I'll grab some pics.

[The Breeze]

Oh, duh.  Guess the Ford P/N would be helpful for some...  CB5Z-7826685-A is the left front w/lock cylinder.  CB5Z-7826684-A for the front right w/out cylinder.

[The Breeze]

Got the manual lock working today.  No clips missing, no damage to the handle base.  You can see in the first pic, when it's facing the wrong direction, it appears as if it should accept an oh-sh!t clip.  But I guess a better mind than mine would have known better.  The lock cylinder doesn't have any grooves or anything else to work with a clip.  Turned the other way, those four "tabs" just press into the handle base.  I inspected both pieces first to confirm there were no cracks so I could have some confidence it would stay on.  I had to remove the cylinder from the base and the linkage from the black piece and then it snapped right into place and felt quite secure.  Slid the tumbler back in, attached the rod at both ends and buttoned it all up.  Works great.

 

I'm still left with the "why" it came off.  I have a hard time believing it could have been a door slam.  I bought the Edge used and I wonder if the door was a replacement from an accident.  If so, in an effort to keep the same key for the door and ignition, they probably swapped the lock cylinder and maybe were just too lazy to finish the job knowing the buyer would probably not test something like that before buying.  Lesson learned...

 

Actually, lesson was taught many years back when this stupid student bought a used Civic.  A few years into ownership the battery died and had the same problem, but this time the lock was frozen from lack of use.  I guess a common problem with that generation of Hondas.  I had to have AAA come out and slim jim the door.  You would think most people would test the door lock before buying used after a headache like that.  Not this student.  Maybe next time buying used I'll know better?  

 

Doubt it...

[enigma-2]

Good writeup. Judging by looking at the pictures, it's a wonder that more lock lineages don't come off. Thanks for posting.

 

As for why, my guess is someone replaced the handle. Last year I was at Walmart. When I got to my car, the entire outer handle came off in my hand when I pulled on it. Replacing it is easy enough, remove the screw in the end of the door and the handle pops off. May have popped off during a handle change and the mechanic (home or incompetent) either didn't notice or care. Just a guess.

Edited May 4, 2021 by enigma-2