So my friend has been having issues with her Taurus. First off, her electrical door locks on either door don’t work. Cant hear any whining or anything just no response. Second, her power Windows dont work either. Interestingly, her power mirror on the driver side does work though. (passenger doesnt have one) Seeing that both doors are inoperable I’m thinking its not any mechanical/electrical malfunction within the separate doors themselves, rather a control relay or something. Really just would like some insight on likely culprits? She SAID that its not a fuse issue, and that a number of mechanics have tried and failed to find the issue but I’m not sure of this as I havent taken a look myself yet.
Also, a (possibly) unrelated problem is that her A/C only works intermittently. I dont have much detail on when it does and doesnt work, but she did say that it “randomly” will start to blow cool/warm air. I’m suspecting it has to do with overheating of some sort.
Appreciate the help!
If she’s had mechanics check it out then it is going to be pretty hard for anyone remotely to offer up much in the way of useful advice.
It is quite possible that she has yet to see a mechanic who is really interested in figuring it out - or perhaps that they start to talk about the labor time costs involved and she declines - hard to say.
Anyway, figuring this stuff out will most likely require some disassembly of various interior parts (such as door panels and switches) and electrical testing with a multimeter. For $20 at an auto parts store you can get a repair manual that will provide basic steps for doing things like removing switches & door panels and testing their circuits. The info there will be quite basic and is best used with some experience.
Either that or she needs to find a different kind of mechanic - one who will actually work on it, or maybe she’ll just need to agree to pay the labor involved in the hunting expedition.
Have any of the mechanics she’s seen mentioned a body control module (BCM)?
If you decide to work on these things yourself you really should purchase a service manual for the car. It would be a wise investment and it will pay for itself with just these repairs.
The door lock problem appears to be due to some sort of power problem to the lock circuit so having a test light probe at least along with the manual should help pin the trouble down pretty quickly. I’m not sure why the shop couldn’t find the trouble as this is a basic repair problem and shouldn’t be any trouble in finding the cause.
The AC problem may be due to a connection problem to the compressor clutch or something else. There are a few things that could cause that trouble. If you can’t find a simple cause of the trouble like a bad power connection somewhere then you may have to have the experts look at it. But not the ones who couldn’t find the trouble with the locks.