Can't Hear Door Chime

Reply #15 – January 02, 2009, 08:36:08 PM

oops... I already posted that. Sorry.

Can't Hear Door Chime

Reply #16 – November 03, 2011, 04:32:54 PM

Quote from: EricCoolCats;246918

More than likely the chime module is dead. What year is your car?
According to the shop manual, first check fuses #6 and #18. If they're okay then read on.

What I like to do to verify beyond the fuses, is to turn the parking lights on and open a door. If you put your ear to the dash or under the dash, somewhere around the steering column, you may hear a slight buzzing or what would be a chime if it were louder. The module has a "speaker" on the underside. Even if you can't hear anything at all, if you watch the interior lights in the footwells, they may dim slightly as if there were a chime going. Either way, that pretty much confirms that it's the module. Honestly, I've found chime module to be one of the most reliable parts of these cars, so if you are having any issue with it then it's almost a guarantee that the module is toasted. I don't know of a practical way to fix one.

The chime module, depending on the model year, is either a bright light blue or black, and is located under the dash right above the fuse panel, to the left of the steering column. Difficult to get to, though. Don't confuse it with the wiper motor governor module (if you have delay wipers), as that's close to the chime module; the governor has one harness in, one harness out, and IIRC the chime module has just one harness.

Location Diagrams
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/jcassity_bucket/?action=view¤t=pg117.jpg
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/jcassity_bucket/?action=view¤t=pg118.jpg

Wiring Diagrams:
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/jcassity_bucket/?action=view¤t=pg151.jpg
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/jcassity_bucket/?action=view¤t=pg152.jpg
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/jcassity_bucket/?action=view¤t=pg153.jpg

Thanks for uploading these images. I'll upload a few a little later.

Of note, I removed five screws that I thought attached the fuse panel bracket to the dash board. Turned out only two of the screws attached the bracket. Two other screws attached the actual warning chime. One screw was of unknown use. But... it looked like all of them were for the bracket when I started.

Removed the bracket, and was still not successful in finding the warning chime. Turned out you have to reach up in there to dig it out.

This was on a 1987 Ford Thunderbird. The device is black on my 'bird.

I actually disassembled all this to try to find the '"equivalent unit" on a 1989 Mustang whose chime no longer works. I still haven't figured out where the 'stang chime is, but at least I have some idea of what it might look like. Another owner found a white one, but I'm not sure of the year of the car.

Thanks again...

~~ Mark

http://www.marksatterfield.com

Can't Hear Door Chime

Reply #17 – November 25, 2011, 11:01:36 PM

When I was redoing the wiring in my car I pulled my chime out because it was also very dim and hard to hear. I wanted to keep it cause I got tired of leaving my lights on in the morning and killing the battery, etc.

so, I took it apart. Now similar to what was mentioned above, it was all about the little tuning fork thingy that makes the chime that was the problem. I didn't dig far enough into the engineering of the thing to notice any tension holders or whatever, and I'm not saying you shouldn't look into that as a possible way to fix it, but I did notice that if I held onto the thing as it was chiming, and I pulled the fork out or up from the module, (I'm not really sure how to describe what I did), I could get it to chime louder. So what I ended up doing, and I think this was just my alternative to the tension trick mentioned above, was just to file down the leg. I don't exactly remember if it was the center leg or the two outer legs, but my memory wants to lean towards it being the center leg. You'll have to play around with it while it's plugged in to figure it our for yourself. But if you choose to do the file it down trick, just go a very little bit at a time. Because if you go to far, it will keep getting louder, but at some point it will stop chiming completely.

I would just suggest playing with it while its plugged in and you should be able to figure out what to do with it on your own.