central locking/door ajar problem

[2002v8]

Ok, well after always telling both my girlfriend and my best mate to stop slamming the goddamn doors on my truck or they would break something, i think one of them finally did we all went out for a day and the door that those 2 always slam seems to cause the message center to think that the door is ajar even when the door is closed and my vehicle will not lock with the remote or central locking anymor., I know it is this door because when it first did it the message center was saying door ajar when it was closed but would be fine when the door was wide open. Anyway, now it is just the same all the time and is causing me problems because the vehicle thinks the door is open I will go to lock it and it will just unlock itself straight away. Any hints on why it could be doing this I'm going nuts having to manually lock my doors one by one

 

[F47]

I am certainly not an expert in the electrical department, but I recently fixed the power windows on an 02 Explorer LTD, as none of them worked from any switches. Pulling back the boot at the door hinge area will reveal a wiring harness. (Lots of post are out there on this topic). Since the harness is flexed each time the door opens and closes, eventually the wires can break. If you look carefully in there, you will quite likely find a broken wire. My problem was the power windows and it was a black ground wire at the drivers door but there are a lot of other functions carried in that harness.

I was in a hurry, as my daughter uses this vehicle and it is on the road constantly, so I fixed the issue using a couple of butt connectors and a short length of wire in the same gauge as the broken one.

It does not take much to have a look at the harness. Get a good light to shine on it and look carefully.

Also I suggest searching around in the forum for "door ajar" and you will likely find some helpful insight, but chances are the harness in the hinge boot is the problem point.

Good Luck!

 

[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

Please keep us posted as feedback helps others reading this post looking for a fix to the same or similar issue!

 

[2002v8]

Thank you very much, i found the problem. i got the door covers e.c.t off and found a connector that had slipped off i had to take the locking mechanism out to clip it back in, i think it was the wire that led directly to the sensor because as soon as i put it back in it worked, i also wrapped some iso tape around it to ensure it doesn't happen again, took me about and hour to fix and that was not knowing how to do it so am guessing its about a 20 to 30 min job

 

[BigRondo]

Nice job getting it sorted.

Thanks for keeping us posted.