Teyvareb

After tearing my 91 apart for the last two hours trying to get the security system to function again, I've noted the trouble spots on it in case anyone else wants to do it too.



Needs:

Phillips head screwdriver

Emery board (cheap nail file)

Pencil with a good, rough eraser



Spot #1: Door switches. These are simple on/off pushbutton switches. The contacts on them are very small and can corrode very easily. The plastic rod they ride on can roughen up over time causing them to stick. If your door lights don't work, they're the reason. Simply unscrew the switch and tap it to get it out. The contact is at the base of the switch, made of copper, and should have a greenish funk on it. It looks like this: \_/ . Pull back on the steel plate, file the two sides a bit, and rough up the plate. If your switch sticks, hit it with some WD-40 or something. Clean up the threads of the screw, and run the tip of the screwdriver into the hole it goes into. Reassemble and test.



Spot #2: Hatch switches. If your hatch closes normally, don't screw with the latches. If you want to screw with the latches, or have to, mark where they were with a sharpie so you can line them back up. If you don't care about having your hatch light automatically come on, you can just ground out the two wires behind the spare tire cover, and you're done here. If you want to have everything function normally, you'll need to take the latches off, unscrew the switch (follow the wire for it), and open it up to clean the contacts. There's a spring loaded copper slider on the inside that may pop out, the contacts you need to clean are opposite of that. Once cleaned with the eraser, you can reassemble everything and line the latches back up with the sharpie marks you should have made at the start.



Spot #3: Hood switch. This one is behind the hood latch and is pretty well protected. It's fully sealed, and shouldn't need to be cleaned. Plus, it's a pain to get out.



More than likely, if someone is going to break into your car, they'll go through the doors, so I'd strongly suggest grounding out the circuit on the hatch switches.



All of this is assuming your security system will function to begin with. If the light goes on when you pop the hood, open the doors, or open the hatch, you can rule out those switches. To test if things are working well, lock the doors. If the security light goes on, then begins flashing rapidly, everything's good. If it's still off, check your stuff again. The doors you can just open, and if the door lights go on, then they're set. If your light never comes on, you've got more problems than switches.



Hope this helps someone else.

Teyvareb

After more testing, leaving the hatch switch wires unplugged rather than grounded actually cancels them out. My bad.