door ajar light stays on

[Daver]

I have a 2000 Explorer XLT with 200,000 miles on it. Runs perfect, doesn't leak a drop. Life is good. Problem is, recently when I put the vehocle in gear, after taking my foot off the brake, the doors don't automatically lock. Doesn't happen every time, just some of the time. The door ajar light on the dash will light up. Once, when I manually locked all of the doors, the ajar light went off. Now it stays on and also the interior light stays on after I exit the vehicle, then extinguishes itself after it times out. Needless to say, all the doors, the rear hatch and the rear window are securely closed. Any ideas on what the problem could be would be appreciated.

 

[koda2000]

very common problem. all five doors have switches attached to their latch mechs. sometimes these switches will stick or break, this causes to DOOR AJAR light and interior lights to stay on. it usually turns out to be the driver's door switch (because it gets the most use) that causes the problem. sometimes spraying the switch with wd40 will get it working again and sometimes you need to replace it. with 200K you may need to replace it. at any rate, i'd start with the driver's door. pretty easy job and there are many posts on this subject (some with great pictures) showing how to o it.

 

[SoNic67]

Silicon spray into the door mechanism (strike) to lubricate it again.