Interior lights stay on

[Fox Fader]

Good thread, glad to know this.

 

[rkmiller5]

Not the Door Jam Sensor. It's a broken wire in the door

I had the same symptoms.
1. Door Ajar Light off
2. Key in ignition warning on even with door closed
3. Dome light stayed on until the battery saver timeout turned it off
4. Hitting lock twice on the key fob gave a double horn beep like a door was ajar.
5. Keyless entry would not lock car
6. Keyless entry would unlock car but set off alarm until code was entered.
7. Radio would turn off immediately instead of courtesy off.

I replaced the door jam sensor (What a Pain!) No change
Then read this forum and found the black wire between the door and body.

I had to remove the door panel, and speaker, then remove the electrical tape to peel back the rubber boot far enough.

The black wire was almost cut clean.

I spliced it together and everything works great!

Thanks for all of you who posted this before me

 

[alexk]

I got to thinking, mine does this and could it somehow be related to the puddle lamp on the drivers side not working?

 

[YountExplr]

so what would I look for if my rear passenger door was activating the door ajar light and I have intermittent control of the window from the drivers controls, but control of it from the door itself. Also my locks work from my rear button (by the glass hatch) but not so much from my drivers controls (only on occation).

 

[LoKo498]

I have the same problem on my 02 Explorer. Just started happening about 2 weeks ago & getting worse. I read that the WD40 trick will work & to look for the broken black ground wire.
I will try both them tricks in the morn & let you guys kno what happens.
With the truck parked & alarm armed, it sometimes go off for no reason in the night.
Thank you guys for this great how to & hopefully this will fix my problem.

 

[JeffBoston]

you guys all rock
i took off the panel, spliced the ground wire and the wire that ran the power mirrors.
everything works again.
many thanks
jeff

 

[LoKo498]

I sprayed some WD40 in the door latch area & it seems to work. Been going good for about 3 weeks now!!!

 

[dklimek]

I LOVE THIS FORUM!!! I have literally been driving myself friggin crazy trying to pin this problem down, my lock doesn't work, my radio is messed up, the electronics have started to stay on a little after the key is turned off, and the dimmer setup is screwed up..the door ajar light wont go off nor will the lights. Going to pull it apart more in a little!

 

[Oldwolf]

Why are you guys removing the door panel if the break is in the wire in the rubber boot?

I fixed mine a while back by sliding the boot away from the wire far enough to fix it.

It is broken again, because again, the puddle lamp has stopped working.

Has anyone bough a new wiring harness yet? It looks like it might plug in behind the door panel and under the dashboard. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[BigRondo]

Why are you guys removing the door panel if the break is in the wire in the rubber boot?

I fixed mine a while back by sliding the boot away from the wire far enough to fix it.

It is broken again, because again, the puddle lamp has stopped working.

Has anyone bough a new wiring harness yet? It looks like it might plug in behind the door panel and under the dashboard. Can anyone confirm this?

Taking the door panel off allows easier access to the broken wires. I pulled the broken wire into the door and connected a piece of new wire then ran the new in through the boot and connected to the other end of the broken wire. This new piece of wire will relieve the stress on the wire.

I suspect that yours broke again because the stress wasn't relieved.

 

[mkaroc]

Interior lights stay on; door ajar;

just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions; the WD-40 on the door latches worked great. Door ajar notice, interior lights wont go off, accessories don't work after key is removed; key in the ignition warning chime with door closed - all fixed with WD40 to the sticking door latch relay. Power to the internet!

 

[BigRondo]

just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions; the WD-40 on the door latches worked great. Door ajar notice, interior lights wont go off, accessories don't work after key is removed; key in the ignition warning chime with door closed - all fixed with WD40 to the sticking door latch relay. Power to the internet!

Welcome aboard mkaroc!!

Glad you got it fixed! :biggthump

 

[rc2009]

im stumped

I cant figure it out. Sometimes the alarm horn beeps twice sometimes just once. And unless you turn the dome lights off by the switch they just stay on. Ive read on here that it could be in the door latched or could be the ground wire in the boot. But the windows still work and locks still lock and unlock. I do have a blown courtesy light bulb in my mirror. Could that be my problem why they stay on. Like I said. Im stumped. I would gladly appreciate the help. Thanks.

 

[BigRondo]

I cant figure it out. Sometimes the alarm horn beeps twice sometimes just once. And unless you turn the dome lights off by the switch they just stay on. Ive read on here that it could be in the door latched or could be the ground wire in the boot. But the windows still work and locks still lock and unlock. I do have a blown courtesy light bulb in my mirror. Could that be my problem why they stay on. Like I said. Im stumped. I would gladly appreciate the help. Thanks.

Welcome aboard!!

I had similar electrical issues with my 02 xlt. The dome lights would stay on until the battery saver feature turned them off, the accessory delay wasn't working, the driver side puddle light didn't work, the keypad on the door would set off the alarm when I pressed it, the door ajar light would flash and beep at highway speeds, the radio would shut off as soon as I turned the key off, the delayed accessories didn't work, etc. The alarm would beep twice when I armed it. Recently all 4 windows stopped working. Most recently the driver door lock actuator stopped working.

A lot of electrical issues can be traced back to broken/damaged wire(s) in the boot between the body and the driver's door. I found 2 broken wires and repaired them. The thin black ground wire was broken and after repairing it all was back to normal. When the windows stopped working, I repaired the thick black ground wire and the windows now work like a champ. I had to repair the pink/black wire to fix the driver door lock actuator.

Here is the thread for removing the door panel: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=303524

Here is a great thread for checking for broken/damaged wires, thanks to synyster for this awesome write-up: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=270081

Be sure to take your time when looking for broken/damaged wire(s). Check all the wires for breaks/damage. When you think you're done looking, look again, and again, and again. A bright flashlight can be very helpful.

Could also be related to the door ajar switch.

Here is a great thread for checking/replacing the door ajar switch, thanks to borland for the awesome write-up: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249253

That is a great write up.

On a side note, before going through a complete replacement of the switch, you can spray WD40 into the door latch opening on each door, as these become stuck sometimes....and this can alleviate the issue.

This worked for me, after going for more than a year of the "door ajar" light coming on occasionally...mainly after a car wash, high humidity, or rain....making me unable to lock/arm the vehicle from the door keypad and keeping the dome lights on. Worth a try....it worked for me

Hope this helps out! :biggthump

 

[rc2009]

Ok so after driving my explorer and diagnosing problems. I found out unless you have the dash light switch turned off, when you turn the truck off and take the key out the radio shuts off and the interior and puddle lights come on and the theft light blinkes without the door opened. Also the alarm horn goes off twice like a door is open. But whenever you turn the switch off everything goes back to normal except the theft light still blinks. So can anybody help me with whats going on with my explorer?

 

[BigRondo]

Have you checked for broken/damaged wire(s) in the boot between the body and the driver's door, and/or sprayed WD40 into the door latch opening on each door?

 

[rc2009]

I havent tried looking for the broken wire between the driver door and body. I did spray wd-40 in all the door latched and that didnt work. Another thing I noticed by coincidence was when you turn the rear defroster on the door ajar indicator goes off. Idk what the deal with that is. My next solution though is the the boot between the driver door. If that is it how would I go about repairing it?

 

[BigRondo]

I had similar electrical issues with my 02 xlt. The dome lights would stay on until the battery saver feature turned them off, the accessory delay wasn't working, the driver side puddle light didn't work, the keypad on the door would set off the alarm when I pressed it, the door ajar light would flash and beep at highway speeds, the radio would shut off as soon as I turned the key off, the delayed accessories didn't work, etc. The alarm would beep twice when I armed it. Recently all 4 windows stopped working. Most recently the driver door lock actuator stopped working.

A lot of electrical issues can be traced back to broken/damaged wire(s) in the boot between the body and the driver's door. I found 3 broken wires and repaired them. The thin black ground wire was broken and after repairing it all was back to normal. When the windows stopped working, I repaired the thick black ground wire and the windows now work like a champ. I had to repair the pink/black wire to fix the driver door lock actuator.

Here is the thread for removing the door panel: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=303524

Here is a great thread for checking for broken/damaged wires, thanks to synyster for this awesome write-up: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=270081

Be sure to take your time when looking for broken/damaged wire(s). Check all the wires for breaks/damage. When you think you're done looking, look again, and again, and again. A bright flashlight can be very helpful.

 

[RLH]

Thanks for all the info on a broken wire in the door boot. Had the same problem and was getting ready to start checking door switches. Read your solutions and checked for a broken black wire and there it was. Repaired it and now everything is working great. Thanks again. saved me lots of time and work.

 

[Majin1084]

Hey guys, just started having this problem as well. On a side note I just broke my shifting gear lever on my explorer as well this past Monday and my 6 CD radio won't let me eject my CDs out. What bad luck I've had this week with my car. Anyways I notice this with my car, I don't have the door ajar problem but I did notice before this started happening that whenever I pushed the rear defrost that my car would say door ajar, but now that this happened with the interior lights it stop doing that all of a sudden. While I was trying to figure it out, I also noticed on my driver side door the mirror with the light would not turn on when I would unlock the door with the alarm like the other side did, yet when I had the door open the light would come on, then I realized that it would turn off when I would close the door half way. Anyways I'm going to open the door panel this weekend, while also fixing my other problems. Hoping some of the solutions that I've read dealing with this issue is just a loose/broken wire. I'll be posting a picture of this issue so if anyone catches something I miss, please let me know. So I can correct.