[siragan]

I´ve got a 95LX wagon, and when I open the door, the automatic shoulder belt doesn´t always slide foward so I can get in behind it. It works sometimes (like if I open and close the door a few times it will work eventually) but it´s super duper annoying.

What´s the problem and how do I fix it? What is the switch that tells the belt to open? I know that the little black peg on the b pillar is opening because the courtesy light comes on, so I think it´s a bad connection in the belt trolley motor, but I´m not sure where this motor is and how it´s wired up.

 

[chadgore]

good luck, it only gets worse, can cost around $300 to get fixed, mine havent worked for about 3 or 4 years.

 

[2EGTS]

Don´t get discouraged yet. If it still works sometimes it may still be fixable before it breaks entirely. If you fix it now it will cost alot less than waiting till later. First off you should probably lubricate it (that goes for the pass. side door too). Check the owners manual, and it´ll tell you what to use. This won´t fix your problem exactly, but it will prevent the cable from snapping, which is a bad thing. Anyway, the motor should be located in the b-piller at the bottom if it is the same as the 2 door version. I think there alike accept for the size and shape of the track. Check the connection at the motor itself and at the peg switch. If the motor is going you can get a replacement one at a junkyard pretty cheap. I only paid $15 for the motor and the track combined. Its also really easy to install the new one yourself. Hope that helps some.

 

[2redscorts]

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31-01-2003 at 00:32, 2EGTS wrote:
First off you should probably lubricate it (that goes for the pass. side door too). Check the owners manual, and it´ll tell you what to use.

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I asked a Ford mechanic about lubricating the seatbelt track, and he said "don´t do it." The track is plastic, and over time it wears down, causing binding. This is often what causes the automatic seatbelts to fail. Most lubricants would attack the plastic and hasten its demise. If you must lubricate, choose accordingly.

 

[birddog]

Open your door, look down and find the little black plastic door switch. Take out the one screw that holds it in and clean the thing up. Better yet, get a new one - they are cheap. This was the problem on the passenger side of my 94 gt. the driver side, well thats another story...

 

[2EGTS]

I think I may have discovered something today. I realized that the little black peg thing on the door jam does not control the automatic seatbelts. If you push it in with the door open it just shuts off the dome light. If I remember right, when I had my door tore apart there are some wires that run to where the door latches. I think that is the point that tells the belts to move. You may want to check that out.

 

[2EGTS]

redscorts may be right on the track lubrication. I´m not sure. I forgot the 2nd gens are plastic. Its the first gens that need the lube; they are metal.

 

[siragan]

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02-02-2003 at 18:08, 2EGTS wrote:
I think I may have discovered something today. I realized that the little black peg thing on the door jam does not control the automatic seatbelts. If you push it in with the door open it just shuts off the dome light. If I remember right, when I had my door tore apart there are some wires that run to where the door latches. I think that is the point that tells the belts to move. You may want to check that out.

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bingo, this is exactly what I wanted to hear.

Latch = ground... I think I´ve got the smarts to figure out the rest from there. Many thanks bro.

 

[siragan]

correction:
On the door itself, there is a rotating disc thing that rotates around the bar and locks and latches the door. This latch is connected somehow to a switch which in turn tells the relay of the seatbelt track to turn on. This latch was gunked up with crap and was getting stuck. I will probably take the door apart this weekend and take that thing out and clean it and re-lubricate. Many thanks.

Now just for that son of a bitch tachometer in my GT. Sigh.

 

[James92Scort]

Sometimes when I open my door to get in, the seatbelt doesn´t move forward, only does it late at night when I don´t want to slam my door numerous times or when I´m in a hurry to get to work. I think the relay is just starting to go bad...or could it be the little "mickey mouse" motor (as I´ve heard it been called) starting to fail? I like my auto seatbelts but I´m sick of it doing that. Is the best place to get a set in a junkyard would it be wise to go buy a new little motor and some relays?

 

[2EGTS]

First off I´m really glad that I could help you out. Hey, it may even help others out as well. I know I appreciate all the help from everyone else that I have recieved. James, you may have the same prob as siragan, but if it is your motor then yes a junkyard is a good place to get one, there usually pretty cheap. The cable that moves the belt snapped in my car, but the motor still worked. You cannot replace the cable itself, because of the way it is installed in the track. So I was forced to buy the entire track. I wanted to only buy the track and avoid the cost of the motor, but when I tried to separate the track from the motor I found that it is next to impossible to do even though is LOOKS like it should come right apart. So if you do get one out of a junkyark, pull out the motor and track together (make sure the cable isn´t snapped first). Luckily they only charged one price for the entire unit instead of charging me separately for the track and motor. Hopefully the same would happen for you. Good luck.

 

[siragan]

If your seatbelt ALWAYS moves backwards when you CLOSE the door, and the motor doesn´t hesitate or stall on the way back, but the belt only SOMETIMES goes FOWARDS when you OPEN the door, then you have my problem.

If there is sometimes a slight delay between when you open the door and when the belt goes foward, that´s just the little rotor in the latching mechanism in the door "fighting" its way through the built up sludge over time, so that´s why it will sometimes take 5 seconds for it to open, but it always shuts, because you are physically pulling the door, forcing the rotor to turn. However, when the door is open, the only thing that causes the rotor to open is a spring housed inside the latching mechanism, which isn´t always strong enough to open it (I.E: cold weather will make metal expand and bind up, ice has frozen the rotor up, oil sludge has built up, etc).

Sounds like james has the same problem as I do.

 

[Beaverboy]

Thanks so much guys! I was going to ask about this today (I closed my door no less than 5 times and messed with the light switch even more yesterday).

Makes perfect sense siragan.. this IS my problem.

w00t!!

 

[BlackMx-3]

possibly check if they are on recall, I know they are for mx-3´s. and if you haven´t noticed they are VERY simliar cars.

 

[Beaverboy]

Really? I just thought you were hanging around here because you didn´t know what you had

 

[birddog]

Well, I must have one that someone cobbed up to make work because the only wires that go into the door on mine are for the power mirror. and the seatbelts work off the little black switch. Then again, it has be wrecked twice...

 

[BlackMx-3]

lol you do realize that the suspension, the bp engine(made by mazda by the way), and the wiring in our cars are exactly the same correct?

 

[Beaverboy]

Uhh, yuh. Hence the " ".

Having driven an mx-3 though, I still find it a little suprising.. but it´s probably just the lack of interior sound deadening and that heavy rear hatch that make it feel so goofy. :-] ;-) :-D

 

[PTMD]

Ok my first gen has plastic tracks too.And I resent the mickey mouse comment.

 

[BlackMx-3]

yeah and how it is so much more stylishly designed and not some boxy lookin thing, lol. I think the mx-3 weighs less than the escort but I may be wrong. Who needs sound deadening anyways. Its either gotta be gutted for a performance side effect, or got the pumpin system for the show.