Dome Light Mystery.....

[crabby1313]

Newby here...
I have a 2002 Ranger - over the last day, the dome light will randomly stay on (until the timeout runs out). I can shut the doors again and make sure that there is nothing interferring, but they still stay on. I can't find the sensor that turns them off anywhere.
Can anyone help me?
David

 

[jimbo74]

my dads 98 ranger does this also... is it an extended cab? well supercab with the 4 doors? sometimes his just doesnt turn off...... but i go and check it 20 minutes later to make sure it isnt killing the battery and its off, and the car starts fine......

 

[crabby1313]

It's a 2002, extended cab, but only 2 doors.

 

[yob_yeknom]

You don't have the dimmer switch turned all the way up so that it turns the interior lights on do you? Does it stay on when you drive?

 

[crabby1313]

Nope - the door open light above the Speedo also stays on .

 

[yob_yeknom]

One of your door switches is bad, so your truck always thinks a door is open. They're located inside the doors.

 

[crabby1313]

Was afraid of that - where in the door is it?

 

[yob_yeknom]

It is built into the door latch.

 

[silversport]

This happened on my '96 Ranger. Try spraying some kind of contact cleaner in the door latch. I did that then sprayed it with 711, wd-40 will work too and it fixed the problem. If that doesn't work then the switch might be bad.

 

[Josh Adams]

mine does this too, i'll have to try the cleaning thing

 

[DB_1]

Maybe Ford should have a recall LOL... mine does that too every so often. I do a lot of wheelin too so everything gets dusty.

 

[mx_racer_14]

geeze, my ranger does it to whenever the passenger back door is opened. it stays on whenever I get in for like a day then it works the next day as long as no one uses the door. My dad's superduty used to do this also.

 

[tatoo844]

do you spray it with the door panel on like on the outside of the latch or do you spray it inside with the panel off. Do you think this would work if the switch was stuck closed

 

[silversport]

do you spray it with the door panel on like on the outside of the latch or do you spray it inside with the panel off. Do you think this would work if the switch was stuck closed

There isn't a need to remove the door panel at all. I just sprayed the contact cleaner into the latch(I soaked it pretty good) from the outside and let it dry. Then after about a half hour go back spray some wd-40 in there. While your spaying keep open and closing the door too. Thats about how I did it and I haven't had a problem since.

Now if the switch happens to be bad then I think you'll have to remove the door panels to get to it, but I'm not sure on that. As far as the switch possibly be stuck closed I think if you open and close the door while your doing this it should free it up. And if it doesn't then you might have a bad switch. Hope this helps.