My 2001 Windstar power door locks do not work. They sound like they are working and the locks move a little but sometimessome of themwork and sometimes they don't. Time of the year (temperature ?) seems to make a difference also. It also seems to have gotten worse over the years.

Any suggestions ?

 

Ford, in its infinite wsdom(?), tries to save pennies by keeping wire use to a minimum. (Real: VERY little slack). Consequently, the harness places a varying (with temps - expansion/contraction) amount of stress on the PLASTIC receptacle the switches plug into. As those receptacles are stressed, 2 bad things can happed: (1) the receptacle's plastic body can crack & warp, which (2) puts additional stress on the actual metal switch pin receptacles and can cause them to deform - making for intermittent connections between switch pins and receptacle sockets.

Picture your hand, curved to hold an imaginary can of soda. Now slightly pry your fingers and thumb apart and your grip on that imaginary can would slip/fail. I use a dental probe as a strong & skinny little prybar to squeeze (slightly) together the two curved lengths of metal that are intended to securely grip the switch pins. did it as recently as today on my '92 Aerostar with an intermittent driver side window switch. Now good as new.