Remote Electric Fuel Door Install for 300B (Part 1 of 2)
Parts List:
3W7Z9B242-AA Button (black like factory button)
F2AZ9B242-A (Chrome Button if you prefer)
E8EZ14489-DA Electrical connectors (2 required) Same as connectors for under hood light
4 Metal connector pins to fit the above clips (should be dealer stock items)
18 feet of wire (if using wrecking yard parts, try for White with Pink stripe)
Two 2 foot sections of black wire (one for each connector end)
1W7Z5427936-AA Inner housing assembly (goes on inside of rear fender over filler neck)
F3AZ5428610-B (Door latch assembly)
2 screws and 2 J-clips to attach latch to housing (These are usually dealer stock items)
1W7Z54405A26-BA Fuel Door-Remote 2001 & up(must be painted body color)
1W7Z5428608-AA Fuel door Retainer 2001 & up(small plastic part attaching to fuel door)
Retainer screw (discontinued) It’s just a small short metric screw though
(Optional)
Tire Pressure Decal (Special ordered by VIN number, currently obsolete)
Fuel Specification Decal (Special ordered by VIN number, currently obsolete)
If you are able to get to a wrecking yard, you can get the wire assembly from any year CV (Crown Vic) or GM from 92-up. Get it from the latch to all the way to the door switch. The early cars have a connector at the left kick panel, but I just cut the ends and soldered the wire together. Use liquid insulation and then a piece of heat shrink tubing (slide it on the wire before soldering). If you find a 1990 to 1999 Town car, you can just use the rear half from the kick panel connector on two cars and put it together to make one wire. With the wrecking yard parts, you don’t need the connectors. If using dealer connectors, the dealer should have the metal pins to fit in the end of the connectors. These have to be crimped on the ends of whatever wire you use for the 18-foot section.
Remove the driver’s door panel as per the shop manual instructions. In you don’t have a manual, here it is in summary. Remove the small cover in the center of the inside door release handle and then the Torx screw. The inside door release will pull straight out with some gentle prying. Use something to protect the door panel and latch from marks. Then the window control panel lifts straight up and toward the front of the car. It is held in with snaps that are fragile, so be careful. Once off, unplug the wires from the switch. There are three screws around the perimeter of the door on the lower edge and rear. These come out. There is a screw inside the window control opening. The triangular shaped trim panel on the front upper portion of the door above the door panel snaps out toward the interior of the car on top and then lifts straight up to unclip from the door panel. If everything is off, the door panel lifts up and off. Unplug the wires and set the door panel aside. Remove the door speaker, unplug it, and set it aside.
Remove the left front sill plate by gently prying it up. The clips are tough, but are located on the flat portion that is to the outside. It has to be unsnapped from the kick panel and B pillar molding by moving the sill inboard and up before prying it off the sill.
Remove the driver’s door weather strip by pulling it straight off the pinch weld. Do this up to a point above the kick panel. Remove the left kick panel by prying rearward on the two white pins visible in between the kick panel and the pinch weld. Remove the hood latch handle by taking out the 10 mm bolt and nut. Then the black plastic pin that holds the rubber water shield over the door jamb harness that is located down low and to the rear. When you lift this water shield, you should see a bunch of wires going into the door.
Remove the left rear sill plate in the same manner as the front one. Remove the driver’s door rear weatherstrip, left rear door front and rear weather strips in the same manner as the front door. The left lower B pillar cover comes off by gently pulling it toward the inside of the car. You can see the shiny metal clips if you look through the gap the door weather strip covered. Remove the lower rear seat cushion by pushing it rear about 2 inches (it takes some effort) and then pull up. You will hear it unsnap from the floor. Open the right rear door and push the cushion over to the passenger side. The C pillar lower cover (next to rear upper seat cushion side) comes off by prying it toward the center of the car. You have to compress the seat cushion to get it far enough in to clear the long alignment pins. These can be flexed slightly to get it off. It you absolutely can’t do it this way, you have to remove the upper rear seat cushion. It is bolted in at the bottom.
Remove the left rear trunk interior trim panel by removing the two push pins in the upper edge. If you have a trunk CD changer, the trim panel for that has to come off by removing the large black screw head looking things. The interior trim panel can be folded down onto the trunk floor. It doesn’t have to be removed.
Ok, now that half the car is apart, let’s begin.
Drivers’ door:
Pop out the switch hole cover from the door panel and install the switch of your choice. On the door itself, look at the door wiring harness near the take-out for the trunk release button. It should be covered by the white water shield. Lift up that section of the water shield and you should see a bundle of taped wires. Make a 3-4 inch slit in the tape at the trunk switch take out and look for the black wire with a white stripe. It is a pretty thick wire. If you have a test light with a needle probe, it should be hot all the time. Pull this wire away from the rest of the harness and then slit about 3/4" of the insulation off this wire without cutting it in two (see photos). Remove the center locking clip from the new fuel door connector and then the wire that is going to go to the fuel door latch out of the connector. Put the fuel door plug in line with the trunk release and temporarily tape the wires together. This will help you get the length right. Run the short wire up from the new fuel door connector and over to the place where the insulation was stripped off the black/white stripe (B/Ws) wire. Strip 3/4 off the end of the wire from the connector and solder into the B/Ws wire. You can use a wire tap if you don’t want to solder. I like to use the liquid insulation and then some tape to cover the joint.
Next use either a fish tape or a soft wire hanger to fish the wire through the rubber connector between the door and A pillar. Bend the end of the hanger into an oval loop. Work it through the rubber connector from inside the door. You can massage the outside of the rubber connector to help it work through the rubber without puncturing the rubber. Once it is inside the pillar, hook the end of the white/pink strip (W/Ps) into the hanger loop and feed it back through the rubber connecter into the door. Follow the route of the harness to the place where the trunk switch take out lead is. Run the wire to the new connector and reassemble the connector. You can now tape the four wires (two for fuel door, two for trunk) together until about 4 inches from the connector. Tape up the area where the wire was soldered and then every four inches along the door harness back to the inside of the door. Make sure the wire is not against any sharp edges. At this point you can reassemble the door if you like.
Rear Body:
Now run the wire along the left sill plate to the back seat. There are two small screws that hold the black sill conduit cover in place (there is a provision for a third screw in the rear door opening, but I have never seen it used from the factory). If you remove the screws and open the conduit, you will see a bunch of wires. Leave enough wire to follow the harness as it comes from the door down to the sill plate and then run it along the sill conduit. Tape it to the wire bundle about four to six inches along the way.
From inside the trunk, run the fish tape (hanger) from inside the trunk along the top of the driver’s side wheel well. You will see two other harnesses running through there already. Once the hanger is fished through to the rear seat area, pull the wire into the trunk. Again tape it every so often as you can reach and make sure it is away from sharp edges. You can test the operation of the wires by putting a test light on the trunk end and pressing the button. You should have 12V.
(continued in Part 2)
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Originally Posted by vegasmarauder
