Disable interior lights?

[J_Love312]

This may sound like a stupid question, but I'm new with explorers. How do you disable the interior lights?

 

[Joe Dirt]

You really can't, unless you pull a fuse, but then you lose other functions. You could pull the bulbs, though. Or maybe custom up the door switch.

 

[budwich]

by "disable", you mean NEVER having them work... OR you mean turn them off once they have been turned on by a door/switch? I assume the second. The first is "easy"... just pull the bulb(s). The second might work IF you have one "instance" that you want this work on... for instance, open tail gate... then just pull the "sense wire" going to the tail gate door switch so the system doesn't know the state of the tail gate... all the other switches will still function as usual.

 

[J_Love312]

Sorry budwich,i meant to say bypass,temporarily. Like when I have the doors open while working on my car, etc, so the battery doesn't drain. My Tahoe, (hope I dont offend anyone with that word, lol) had a button you push to override then if you want them off temporarily. I gues ill just pull the bulbs. Thanks for the info.

 

[sjr033]

I don't know if it was like this on your year, but mine will turn off by themselves after a few minutes with the door open. Also the dash light dimmer wheel will turn mine off.

 

[bobflood]

The Explorer is the only vehicle I have ever had where the illumination dimmer doesn't have a detent at the end to turn the lights off completely. Must be the same reason Ford won't let us turn off the AC independently of the mode switch!! Mother knows best??

 

[windsors03cobra]

If I roll the dash light dimmer all the way down on my 99 there is a detent that turns the dome light off.
First auto I ever had with this feature, I was use to the old turn knob stem dash light control as seen in a old Ford trucks.

 

[bobflood]

If I roll the dash light dimmer all the way down on my 99 there is a detent that turns the dome light off.
First auto I ever had with this feature, I was use to the old turn knob stem dash light control as seen in a old Ford trucks.

Dash dimmer in my '97 will not turn off the interior lights when rolled down all the way. IIRC, my various Dodge's and Chevy's over the years always turned off interior lights by rotating whatever controlled the illumination level.

 

[Jason c]

If I roll the dash light dimmer all the way down on my 99 there is a detent that turns the dome light off.

My 2000 does this as well.

 

[J_Love312]

Ive tried rolling the dimmer light swith all the way down and up and still nothing. I got to say I'm not liking this feature, or lack there of. Well I guess it wasn't just me then who was having this problem. Guess I'll just have to pull the bulbs. I wonder if there is a way to put a switch in to overcome this and overide the lights when depressed?? hmmmmmm............

 

[Spdrcer34]

Starting in 1998 or 1999 they changed the Dimmer switch to add this feature. I do now know if this part is backwards compatible.

My 1998 Mountaineer is able to override the automatic dome light feature by rolling the dimmer back.

Ryan

 

[Joe Dirt]

Yup- learn something every day- I never tried it with my 2000's until tonight. I know my '95 and '97 didn't.

In the 2000, there is a detent to turn them off, and they will not come off with the doors. Problem I see is that in order to get to the detent, you have to dim the dash lights all the way down, and they stay that way once you go to detent.

 

[sexy_mama_k]

So does anyone know if it's backward compatible?

 

[Alessandro,]

I am also interested in the answer.
My 97 XLT will not turn off the dimmer.

 

[albi1cnobi1]

The easy way would be to see if the dimmer from a later(98-01) 2nd gen would work in the earlier years. Other than that the tailgate is easy. I installed a switch next to the rear door lock/unlock button so I can keep the tailgate open when camping. For the other doors you can intercept the trigger wires at the GEM and install a switch. If you click on the 1354 swap thread in my sig, about halfway down the first post there is a wiring diagram of the GEM door switch pin out. Disregard the wiring mods, they were for my situation.

 

[koda2000]

check with ford to see if the 97-?? and 2000-2001 dimmer sw has the same part #

 

[sexy_mama_k]

It's not gonna. They're slightly different parts.

 

[storlied]

Does anyone know what she can do? She got rear ended, it's either the rear hatch or the passenger side rear door that's causing this issue... what wire do I need to cut or whatever to get this fixed?

 

[bobflood]

Does anyone know what she can do? She got rear ended, it's either the rear hatch or the passenger side rear door that's causing this issue... what wire do I need to cut or whatever to get this fixed?

Go here for wiring diagrams that will let you figure out how to change:
Auto - Online Repair Info
http://search.ebscohost.com/
ID: rrcc
PW: rebsco
Select: Auto Repair Reference Center
Fill in: Find Your Vehicle
Follow prompts down to Wiring Diagrams.

 

[storlied]

Nice find, thank you.