05 XLT Dome Light Stay On, No Door Open Alarm

[prjagman]

First time poster here. Got a 2005 Explorer XLT 2WD with the auto run light option, Had some bad hinges for rear glass hatch hinges and where replaced, Also replaced the rear wheel bearings and hubs and front lower ball joints, this was done by a mechanic friend of mine and he was very careful. Picked up the wagon an noticed that the dome lights wont go off and no door open or ajar message. Pulled the rear door cover, looked and the door ajar switches, opened the rear door and glass hatch individually and each gave a door or rear hatch ajar message? but both went off when close. Read about a battery reset, so disconnected the battery, waited 5 minutes and connected it and dome lights were off, in separate cycles opened first rear passenger door and closed it and light stayed off permanently. repeated test but with driver door and same result. Does this wagon have a dome light relay? I can't find its location. What could cause this? I'm going crazy, pulled the driver side lower panel looking for the dome light relay, but no luck, isn't there. Heard about the PCM module, what is this , could this cause this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated, otherwise the local ford dealer charges $85.00 to diagnose this.

 

[BigRondo]

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 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

Unfortunately the pictures are no longer available in the above thread. IIRC, I believe I unwrapped the wires enough to gain access. When I have gone searching in there I had an idea of what wire I was looking for. I located the the wire I was looking for and gently tugged on that wire on the door side. The wire was pulled toward me and out of the harness. I then went inside the vehicle and gently tugged on the the wire I was looking for and was able to pull it inside the vehicle. I then spliced a length of wire to the 2 ends, completing the circuit. I then gently pulled the excess into the door.

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.

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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

The red arrows show you where to spray: