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Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution!

Bmadda

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Does your Bronco sasquatch's dash suddenly go ape after you have removed it's doors? Does your bucking Bronco go bing bong bing relentlessly anytime you try to take it on a bareback ride? This happened to me the 1st time I removed my doors, and I believe I have both found the problem, and found a low cost solution:


How the system works:

Really pretty simple. I will give the engineers some credit here. There are 2 door modules on the vehicle (regardless of 2 or 4 door). Those modules are not mounted in the doors (as they commonly are in other vehicles) but in the driver and passenger kick panel/cowl/a pillar area. Why? So they can report over CAN that the doors have been removed by the customer, as this vehicle was designed to be able to do. So how does each door module "know" that the doors have been removed purposefully and there isn't just a complete electrical failure in the door?
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! 20220719_185456

Each door connector contains a "shorting bar" like the one you can see above. It shorts pin 7 to pin 8 in that connector when it is disconnected. One pin is purely a sensing circuit from the door module, the other is the door's ground. Don't remeber which, and not important at this point. What is important is that the door module MUST see ground on this circuit to flag the door as "removed by customer". Otherwise it will assume electrical faults exist. When it barks those faults over CAN every other module in the vehicle takes a bite and starts whining, and nannying. So no big deal right? 20 years from now when this thing is rusty and used it will be that guys problem...well my Bronco is brand new, and it spent 123 days in a "climate controlled storage facility". My passenger side doesn't work. Corrosion? Bent pin? Doesn't matter to me. I live in Wisconsin, and if the shorting bar doesn't work after 123 days of climate controlled storage, it won't work after a Wisconsin winter...so I figured out a workaround! Mine isn't the only way...you guys out there feel free to experiment!


My solution:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! broncoddmexpl


In this diagram you can see i have pointed out the shorting bar for the drivers door. It connects the VT/GY wire coming from the DDM to ground (VT=violet, thats purple in "non metric" colors. GY=grey, thats the same, standard or metric). Note that wire occupies pin 5 of c258B. This is the grey connector on the DDM. Also note that the "door off" sensing wire for the drivers REAR door is pin 4. Mine is a 2dr so I don't have to worry about that one, but "moar door" folks will.

Passenger side:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! broncopdmexpl


Passenger side ia a mirror image of the drivers. Front door sense wire is again pin 5 of the grey connector, only this time the wire is blue. Rear door (if I had one, which I do not) would again be pin 4 of the same connector. Heres connector views for the DDM/PDM

DDM:
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! ddmconnectorexpl


PDM:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! pdmconnectorexpl


So here's what I did:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! broncoddmmod


I thought about wiring some kind of toggle/rocker/dip switch in there...far to elaborate for my purpose, and if within reach I might accidentally flip it while the doors are off, or whatever...thats just overthinking it. I think Ford had a good concept w/the shorting bar idea, just unreliable execution 'cause they had to make it something that didn't require an extra step from the customer when removing the door. So I figured I could use a readily available fuse holder. I used a wire tap like alarm guys use, hooked a ordinary in line fuse holder to that, then grounded the other end to the main dash ground, that is conveniently located right under the left, and right kick panel:
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! 20220719_190749


Passenger side shown, because it's easier to take a picture of, but drivers side basically the same. Then I left enough wire that I could pull my fuse holder out of the kick panel, but still tuck it back:
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! 20220719_191020
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! 20220719_191106


So then I simply insert the fuses when removing the doors, and remove them when reinstalling. The fuses fit nice and tight and its secure enough that its not going to come loose if I take my Bronco over any "sweet jumps"

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


I now get no errors/warnings at all w/doors off. When starting the vehicle i get a single notice that doors are disconnected (duh). And if I remove my seatbelt w/the engine running, it warns me that the engine is running, just like it would if I opened the door w/the engine running, so it must use the seat belt switch in lieu of a door ajar switch...I would consider that "normal operation". As I said above, mine is a 2dr. Maybe a 4dr owner will try this and leme know the results?​
EDIT:​
Normal operation:
So as I stated above the dash tells me that the doors are electrically disconnected, and warns me that the engine is running if I unbuckle the driver's seatbelt while running...makes sense. One weird thing I noticed, and might be totally unrelated, was that after i did this setup I had to take it out for a drive to make sure all was good right? Well I had a few errands to run. They were "offroad only" errands for those of you I can already hear. One errand was get gas for the lawn mower, so I put my gas can in the back of the Bronco, but, curiously, I had to unlock the gate to open it. Then when I reached the "offroad only" gas station I had to unlock the gate again. Upon returning home the gate was again locked...no big deal of course, but w/out any doors I dont have a lock button other than on the fob, which I certainly didn't push by accident three consecutive times in a row. So I think that it locks the tailgate automatically when the doors are off? Anybody else have this?​
SECOND EDIT:​
Dummy plugs:
Alot of posters in this thread showed some interest in creating "dummy plugs" that would plug in in place of the door connector and serve the same purpose. I made some, and while slightly more elegant than my 1st solution, they are somewhat pricey, and a little time consuming to make...but very doable. Post #57 of this thread:​
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kodiakisland

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How widespread is this problem? I've gone months now without doors and all I've ever gotten is a random message at startup saying the door electrical is not hooked up. Hit OK and it disappears. Doesn't even happen every time I start.
 

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Really interesting read up to the “My solution” part.. from that point on almost everything is completely over my head.

Big respect for your knowledge; I wish I could better understand and speak your language!
 
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Bmadda

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How widespread is this problem? I've gone months now without doors and all I've ever gotten is a random message at startup saying the door electrical is not hooked up. Hit OK and it disappears. Doesn't even happen every time I start.
Couldn't tell ya how "widespread" the problem is...all I know is I took delivery on Friday 7/15, took my doors off for the 1st time on Sunday, and my dash went totally ape. Put doors back on and all errors went away. Then I started digging
 

kodiakisland

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Couldn't tell ya how "widespread" the problem is...all I know is I took delivery on Friday 7/15, took my doors off for the 1st time on Sunday, and my dash went totally ape. Put doors back on and all errors went away. Then I started digging

Just wondering if this will be one of those rare things, or one of those things we all eventually experience. So far so good.
 

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Bmadda

Bmadda

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Just wondering if this will be one of those rare things, or one of those things we all eventually experience. So far so good.
YMMV I guess, but for me it didn't work from day one. Of course I searched here on Bronco6g.com 1st...as this forum has been a great source of knowledge. I found several similar complaints, but no solutions. I called my dealer's service dept on Monday morning to see if they had similar complaints from other customers and they were clueless. So when I got some time I dove into it. I hope this helps others...not saying you NEED to do what I did, but now that you understand the issue, you can handle it however you would like! Or if you have no problem? don't worry about it!
 

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Sorry if I’m missing something here, but if the issue was with the shorting bar not contacting correctly between the 2 pins, couldn’t you just use a short wire connected to the 2 pins in your first picture with spade connectors?
That would complete the circuit the same way the shorting bar would
 
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Bmadda

Bmadda

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Sorry if I’m missing something here, but if the issue was with the shorting bar not contacting correctly between the 2 pins, couldn’t you just use a short wire connected to the 2 pins in your first picture with spade connectors?
That would complete the circuit the same way the shorting bar would
They are bullet pins...but sure. However then you lose the protection of that cool little weatherproof door they put on there. Wouldn't wana come back from a wheeling trip w/that cavity packed w/mud. Actually a really elegant solution that either Ford or an aftermarket manufacturer might consider is a "dummy plug" that fills the cavity just as the door connector does, has a weatherproof seal, and contains the necessary jumper. This was far outside what I was capable of making in 24hrs...yes I know I am lazy...deal w/it!
 

iamcris

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This is an exceptional post but I'm going to ask a favor. Would you be so kind as to show via picture the exact location and actual "wire tap" image. Both end of the wire would be super awesome. It's a tremendous write up with humor and a solution for a very real world problem. Judging by the Streamlight headlight, I'd say you're a professional. Credit is issued where it's due. Thank you for bolstering the community. Btw, I'm in the moar door model.
 

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Bmadda

Bmadda

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This is an exceptional post but I'm going to ask a favor. Would you be so kind as to show via picture the exact location and actual "wire tap" image. Both end of the wire would be super awesome. It's a tremendous write up with humor and a solution for a very real world problem. Judging by the Streamlight headlight, I'd say you're a professional. Credit is issued where it's due. Thank you for bolstering the community. Btw, I'm in the moar door model.
It's visible in the 1st under dash pic I took. that's the passenger side. I'll try and take a better pic tomorow. But, worth noting this...those wires are TINY gauge. You can see from the connector views I posted they say they are 22ga. Seems more like microscopic gauge! one thing I had to do to make the scotchlock/wiretap things work was squeeze them a little bit w/a pliers so they would bite those tiny wires. Take a little time w/that part...which for 4dr you gotta do twice per side. also IDK if you can run both "door off" signals through a single fuse holder per side, but I suspect you could. It is worth noting that with my jumper fuse installed, but my door still connected, my window, etc still worked. So if you had rear doors on and fronts off maybe rear door functions would still work even w/the jumper installed? Will be interested to see how this works on 4dr!
 

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@Bmadda This is awesome. Could you do me a solid? With doors off, or just unplugged if you've already put them back on; use your fob and lock it. Then open the hood. See if alarm goes off. If the back gate locks like you said you may not even have to use fob to lock it. The reason is, I had a motion alarm installed that was connected to the hood trigger. It was great when doors were on because my Ford app would alert me that hood trigger had gone off and horn alarm would go off. Take doors off and no alarm. You could actually even open the hood. If this solves the trigger issue, I'll put the motion sensor back on.
 

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Upon returning home the gate was again locked...no big deal of course, but w/out any doors I dont have a lock button other than on the fob, which I certainly didn't push by accident three consecutive times in a row. So I think that it locks the tailgate automatically when the doors are off? Anybody else have this?
I haven't experienced any of your problems, but I do have to unlock the gate for each use after having driven. I suspected it was an automatic safety lock that occurred when the car was in motion above a certain speed, and since there are no doors to unlock when the vehicle stops, I have to manually unlock the gate with the key. Not so much a gremlin though, IMO.

Otherwise, no issues with doors on or off, everything works as it should. If it did stop working, I would submit a warranty claim to reslve it.
 

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Have yet to understand why the didn't build a function into the screen where you could select the doors off individually or all together. It's all software at that point and doesn't need to rely on exposed terminal shorting bars. Have an icon in the cluster that shows doors off or message that self clears upon start up.

Either way, good workaround.
 

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Does your Bronco sasquatch's dash suddenly go ape after you have removed it's doors? Does your bucking Bronco go bing bong bing relentlessly anytime you try to take it on a bareback ride? This happened to me the 1st time I removed my doors, and I believe I have both found the problem, and found a low cost solution:


How the system works:

Really pretty simple. I will give the engineers some credit here. There are 2 door modules on the vehicle (regardless of 2 or 4 door). Those modules are not mounted in the doors (as they commonly are in other vehicles) but in the driver and passenger kick panel/cowl/a pillar area. Why? So they can report over CAN that the doors have been removed by the customer, as this vehicle was designed to be able to do. So how does each door module "know" that the doors have been removed purposefully and there isn't just a complete electrical failure in the door?
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon

Each door connector contains a "shorting bar" like the one you can see above. It shorts pin 7 to pin 8 in that connector when it is disconnected. One pin is purely a sensing circuit from the door module, the other is the door's ground. Don't remeber which, and not important at this point. What is important is that the door module MUST see ground on this circuit to flag the door as "removed by customer". Otherwise it will assume electrical faults exist. When it barks those faults over CAN every other module in the vehicle takes a bite and starts whining, and nannying. So no big deal right? 20 years from now when this thing is rusty and used it will be that guys problem...well my Bronco is brand new, and it spent 123 days in a "climate controlled storage facility". My passenger side doesn't work. Corrosion? Bent pin? Doesn't matter to me. I live in Wisconsin, and if the shorting bar doesn't work after 123 days of climate controlled storage, it won't work after a Wisconsin winter...so I figured out a workaround! Mine isn't the only way...you guys out there feel free to experiment!


My solution:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


In this diagram you can see i have pointed out the shorting bar for the drivers door. It connects the VT/GY wire coming from the DDM to ground (VT=violet, thats purple in "non metric" colors. GY=grey, thats the same, standard or metric). Note that wire occupies pin 5 of c258B. This is the grey connector on the DDM. Also note that the "door off" sensing wire for the drivers REAR door is pin 4. Mine is a 2dr so I don't have to worry about that one, but "moar door" folks will.

Passenger side:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


Passenger side ia a mirror image of the drivers. Front door sense wire is again pin 5 of the grey connector, only this time the wire is blue. Rear door (if I had one, which I do not) would again be pin 4 of the same connector. Heres connector views for the DDM/PDM

DDM:
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


PDM:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


So here's what I did:

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


I thought about wiring some kind of toggle/rocker/dip switch in there...far to elaborate for my purpose, and if within reach I might accidentally flip it while the doors are off, or whatever...thats just overthinking it. I think Ford had a good concept w/the shorting bar idea, just unreliable execution 'cause they had to make it something that didn't require an extra step from the customer when removing the door. So I figured I could use a readily available fuse holder. I used a wire tap like alarm guys use, hooked a ordinary in line fuse holder to that, then grounded the other end to the main dash ground, that is conveniently located right under the left, and right kick panel:
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


Passenger side shown, because it's easier to take a picture of, but drivers side basically the same. Then I left enough wire that I could pull my fuse holder out of the kick panel, but still tuck it back:
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon
Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


So then I simply insert the fuses when removing the doors, and remove them when reinstalling. The fuses fit nice and tight and its secure enough that its not going to come loose if I take my Bronco over any "sweet jumps"

Ford Bronco Doors off gremlins explained, and an inexpensive DIY solution! sweet-napoleon


I now get no errors/warnings at all w/doors off. When starting the vehicle i get a single notice that doors are disconnected (duh). And if I remove my seatbelt w/the engine running, it warns me that the engine is running, just like it would if I opened the door w/the engine running, so it must use the seat belt switch in lieu of a door ajar switch...I would consider that "normal operation". As I said above, mine is a 2dr. Maybe a 4dr owner will try this and leme know the results?​
EDIT:​
Normal operation:
So as I stated above the dash tells me that the doors are electrically disconnected, and warns me that the engine is running if I unbuckle the driver's seatbelt while running...makes sense. One weird thing I noticed, and might be totally unrelated, was that after i did this setup I had to take it out for a drive to make sure all was good right? Well I had a few errands to run) they were "offroad only" errands for those of you I can already hear. One errand was get gas for the lawn mower, so I put my gas can in the back of the Bronco, but, curiously, I had to unlock the gate to open it. Then when I reached the "offroad only" gas station I had to unlock the gate again. Upon returning home the gate was again locked...no big deal of course, but w/out any doors I dont have a lock button other than on the fob, which I certainly didn't push by accident three consecutive times in a row. So I think that it locks the tailgate automatically when the doors are off? Anybody else have this?​
Next level!! Thanks for sharing. Yes my tailgate does the same thing… not sure why they added this “feature”.
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