Project towncar power trunk pull

[85crownHPP]

Yeah I remember you said yours was plastic... I swear I found one made of cardboard and was like maybe I made it up tho.
My side paneling in the 85's trunk was originally plain cardboard, before I replaced it with carpeted stuff.

[CheeseSteakJim]

Hey 85crownHPP, I'm trying to do this with my '88 Town Car which for some reason did not come with a power pulldown motor.

Do you know what that white wire on the switch harness is supposed to be hooked up to? I think it's the reason why my switch is not activating my motor. Also, what is that plug in my hand for, if you have any idea?

Here's a picture so you know what I'm asking... sorry for the size:

[85crownHPP]

hey Jim - it looks like the white wire should be the same as the brown wire on mine, which is supposed the be going to an "anti-theft module" (according the the wire diagram I used). Grounding this wire got it working right for me, and the red wire should be coming from the wiring on the motor itself.

The connector with the black and brown w/white dots wires looks like it should be the connector for this "anti-theft" module. I would cut the brown wire loose from that connector and ground it. If that doesnt work, cut your white wire nd ground it. The wiring harness I used didnt have that particular connector, but it came from a Mark series car I think.

The diagram I used is attached to the first post in this thread, Im not sure if its for the 80's towncar or the Mark (courtesy of Gadget) but they are essentially the same.

The purple wire is for the trunk release.

[CheeseSteakJim]

I am VERY ignorant with electrical, so I've pretty much had Dereck (in a thread on Lincolnsonline.com) holding my hand through nearly this entire endeavor. I'll try your suggestions tomorrow. Thanks!

[Dereck]

Hi CheeseSteakJim

Looks like 85CrownHPP* has pretty much confirmed what I said

Regards

Dereck

[CheeseSteakJim]

I tried both suggestions and neither worked. I also tried joining the two terminals to the switch to close the circuit, and grounding the white wire... the motor still didn't do anything. I've also unbolted the little white plastic switch and tested it with my continuity tester and it didn't do anything with the switch open OR closed.

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, but it also looks like my pulldown motor is no longer getting any power. I may be using my multimeter wrong (I'm still learning), but I put it on 20V and put the red probe in the terminal for the red wire going to the pulldown (I have three wires) and putting the black probe in the terminal for the all-black wire. It came up with between .03 and .02. I've checked continuity through the number 12 circuit breaker and that is working fine.

Both the motor and the switch worked last time I played with them on the car they were previously on, back in December. When I plugged the motor into the existing plug on this current car, it also came all the way up, so that should be working correctly, which makes me wonder if I'm doing this right.

I don't really think this should be so difficult... am I overcomplicating things or is there really some weird issues here? Is there a fuse I might've blown, in addition to my switch being dead, or something like that?


EDIT: The switch works! I just realized it grounds through the body, and has a closed circuit on one terminal when the switch is open. When the switch is closed, it has a closed circuit on the other terminal.

I have a feeling this white wire goes to something more important than just a ground... but this is really confusing me now.

[85crownHPP]

if need be, strip all the wiring out for it and hard wire it.
If you check out the video in the 1st post you should see what the thing needs electrically to function. In the vid I mimmick the grounding action of the trunklid switch by hand.
Are you sure you have an 80's motor and not a 90's one (which is wired different)?

[87vicFIVEO]

Hey.....

Where's your blue oval

[85crownHPP]

You talking about on the 85? Its wearing a 79-81 style grille with ornaments

[CheeseSteakJim]

if need be, strip all the wiring out for it and hard wire it.
If you check out the video in the 1st post you should see what the thing needs electrically to function. In the vid I mimmick the grounding action of the trunklid switch by hand.
Are you sure you have an 80's motor and not a 90's one (which is wired different)?

I took this motor out of my 1985 Town Car Signature series parts car. Last time I tested it in December (before it was stripped of its entire nose for parts for my car) it pulled the trunk closed fine.

I'd gladly hardwire it, but I don't know how... like I said I don't really fully know what I'm doing right now... I'm not even sure how this damn thing functions. I still haven't figured out what that white/blue wire is, if it's not a ground (I would think the switch doesn't need a second ground if it already grounds through the body, plus grounding it didn't fix my issue.).

[CheeseSteakJim]

ttt

[85crownHPP]

Id just do a temporary hot wire rig to test the motor with... if it still doesnt work, the motor is bad. If it does, the then upper switch is bad.
The wires coming out of the motor unit are power, a ground, and a switched ground.
Did you determine if it is getting power or not?
if your unsure about knowing what you are doing, you can get basic electronics books and even find stuff online to learn how to do this stuff. Its really not hard i swear

[CheeseSteakJim]

What can I use as a power source if I bench-test it? Also, in order to test if it's getting power from the car, I put one probe on the black wire (or any ground), and one probe on the black/white wire that goes into the pulldown motor with the multimeter on the "20V" option, right?

Thanks!

[gadget73]

Need a 12 volt power supply. if you don't have one handy, lengths of wire with clips on the end to clamp on your car's battery will do the job, but make sure you fuse the leads in case something shorts. Wire gets really nasty when its dead shorted.

[85crownHPP]

Yeah probe the connector at the black w/ white stripe wire, thats the power supply. Then, use the meter and that hot wire to make sure the motor has ground (black wire) now the remaining wire (red for me) runs to the switch, which closes a ground circuit through the theft module supposedly.
Did you check the video of my bench test?