Door AJAR Switch Replacement on 2002XLT | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Door AJAR Switch Replacement on 2002XLT

I just finished the successful repair of the driver's door door ajar swith. Thanks for posting all the photos. They were quite helpful.


I also did a "how to." Not as good as this one but maybe a different look will help.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198230

The latch rods are attached with clips. Just undo them.

FWI the horizontal yellow clip comes undone by pushing down on the part that surrounds the rod.

It's not real clear how to undo the clip on the vertical rod - took me a while fiddling with it. It seemed there was a little part of it that moved up.

There is a third rod that works the door lock. That got on the wrong side of the window channel during my repair. I loosed the window channel screw and fiddled with it all after finally disconnnecting the vertical rod yellow clip.

The door latch screws are 27 torx head metric 6-1 screws BTW.

Amazingly it all went back together and fixed the problem. Thanks all.
 



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02 Door Ajar issue

To everybody that posted for this issue, I say thank you. It was really helpful in replacing the sensor. I have WD40'd the crap out of every door, back glass, and liftgate. I have replaced the driver side sensor since it seemed to be giving me the fits. Here is what I have now. With the key in the ignition and all the doors closed, there is no warning (ding ding) happening. When you open the door you the warning sound starts and when you close it, it stops. The door ajar light is still on, and I am at my wits end with this. Does anybody have any suggestions? What is the GEM? and would that have anything to do with it? One last thing, I stopped by local parts store so that they could put the code reader to it, thinking that it would tell me which door was in error, but they came up with nothing. Any insight into this torment would be greatly appreciated.
 












You can swap the actuator units w/door ajar sensors attached, from front to back, but not left to right. That's what I did. I swapped the rear to the front and then put the new one in the rear. The actual door ajar sensors themselves, that snap into the actuator housings, I don't about. They might be one size fits all. It might be the same part on all four doors, but like I said, I'm not sure. You'd have to remove a left and right and compare them, or check the part numbers.
 






I believe as mentioned somewhere else on this site you have to go to Ford and give them your VIN number as the parts change slightly depending on when the car was made.
 






Hey everybody,

I just resolved this issue on my 2003 Limited and thought I'd share my experience.

When my vehicle first started displaying the "Door Ajar" message several years ago, the WD-40 solution would resolve the problem for many months. However, about six months ago the problem changed. Specifically, I started to experience the following:

  • "Door Ajar" warning light and chime.
  • Illuminated dome light.
  • Inoperative driver's door lock switch.
  • Extremely slow side mirror adjustment speed.
  • Dim driver side puddle light.
In my case my doors would automatically lock after my car went into forward motion and the other devices (dome light; lock switch; side mirrors) would function normally - until I parked the car and turned off the ignition.

I inadvertently discovered that turning the dash dimmer switch all the way off and then setting the dash brightness to anything short of "dome light on" would reset the devices and turn off the dome light. IE - in my case I didn't have to leave the dimmer in the off position all the time as mentioned by Borland in the first post. I replaced my driver side door jamb switch but the problem did not go away.

Recently a new action started to trigger the problem: turning on my rear window defroster. This led me to revisit the "broken wire" alternative. I made a cursory examination of the wiring bundle when I replaced the door jamb switch but didn't do a thorough job at the time. So, yesterday I decided to take advantage of the warmer weather here in Denver and I tore apart the driver's door and the infamous wiring boot between the door and the passenger compartment. Sure enough I found a single broken black wire hiding in the middle of the wire bundle. After locating the other end of the wire in the door side of the bundle I fashioned a splice and was able to resolve the issue.

Anyhow - I thought I'd share my experience with this issue. My key takeaways/recommendations are:

  • Determine if you are experiencing any of the other symptoms (slow side mirror adjustment; driver door lock switch failure; triggering the door ajar warning when turning on the rear defroster) that would increase the odds that you have a wiring problem versus the door jamb switch being the root cause.
  • See if you are able to temporarily reset the door ajar warning by turning off your dashboard lights via the dimmer switch and then turning the dashboard lights (but not the dome light) back on. Again - this would indicate a wiring problem as the likely cause.

Thanks to everybody who posted in this thread for the useful information.
 






Thanks to all for this impressive thread. I, too, have been a WD-40 user with so, so results. I am hoping that somebody can tell me how to disable the door ajar alarm completely. I am more than willing to take responsibility for keeping my damn doors closed, grrrrrrrrr. Thanks for any help I can get. FF
 






Hey - Floatflyer! Do yourself a favor: check for the broken black ground wire. It's really not that difficult to get into the door and the wire bundle.
 






Hey - Floatflyer! Do yourself a favor: check for the broken black ground wire. It's really not that difficult to get into the door and the wire bundle.

Thanks to all for this impressive thread. I, too, have been a WD-40 user with so, so results. I am hoping that somebody can tell me how to disable the door ajar alarm completely. I am more than willing to take responsibility for keeping my damn doors closed, grrrrrrrrr. Thanks for any help I can get. FF

I agree with zeejm!!


I had similar electrical issues with my 02 xlt. The dome lights would stay on until the battery saver feature turned them off, 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, etc.

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 a broken wire and repaired it and all is back to normal!

Could also be related to the door ajar switch.

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/replacing the door ajar switch, thanks to borland for the awesome write-up: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249253

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


Good luck with the fix!! :biggthump
 






Both suggestions are good, but do I assume that I need to check ALL of the switch wiring for ALL doors? This problem only occurs while driving so how do you tell which door is the problem?? Sorry if I am a bit lame on this. FF
 






Mine use to always come on when it rained. I got so aggravated so i tryed spraying some WD 40 on mine about 6 months ago. Havent had a problem sense.
 






Both suggestions are good, but do I assume that I need to check ALL of the switch wiring for ALL doors? This problem only occurs while driving so how do you tell which door is the problem?? Sorry if I am a bit lame on this. FF

Check the driver's door. Think about it, the driver's door get used way more than the other doors. The driver's door has to be used every single time!!
 






Check the driver's door. Think about it, the driver's door get used way more than the other doors. The driver's door has to be used every single time!!

I agree with this. The driver's door on my Ex has to get cycled at least 5x more than the other doors, with the passenger front door the next most often used. The rears maybe get cycled 1/50th of the rate of the driver's door.

Makes sense to me.
 






I am having so much trouble on detaching the vertical yellow clip. How do you guys remove it? I played with the yellow part, but it doesnot move. It seems glued to the rod.
I copied Borland's pic. You can find the location of the vertical yellow clip.



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I just finished the successful repair of the driver's door door ajar swith. Thanks for posting all the photos. They were quite helpful.




FWI the horizontal yellow clip comes undone by pushing down on the part that surrounds the rod.

It's not real clear how to undo the clip on the vertical rod - took me a while fiddling with it. It seemed there was a little part of it that moved up.

There is a third rod that works the door lock. That got on the wrong side of the window channel during my repair. I loosed the window channel screw and fiddled with it all after finally disconnnecting the vertical rod yellow clip.

The door latch screws are 27 torx head metric 6-1 screws BTW.

Amazingly it all went back together and fixed the problem. Thanks all.
 






Never mind. I applied some WD-40 to the clip. Use a plier to pry the tab on the yellow clip. Then it comes loose.
After I put the new door jamb switch, the door ajar error is gone. Hope this will kill the problem forever. In the process, the plastic tab of the door switch bezel was damaged. I just ordered it from dealer today.
For the front driver side, there is third rod as mentioned by Roborob. I am still able to remove the door ajar switch without releasing the third rod. I believe it links to the key switch.
 






All: I am extremely glad I found this Explorer forum. All the comments have been great. I tried the WD-40 on all assemblies and it did not work. I have been removing my battery cable every time I leave to fly out of town. Last Sunday @ 0530 the alarm decided to go off! No one around, just went off. I guess it's time to dig in to the door panel. Great pics and directions...thanks everyone!
 






All: I am extremely glad I found this Explorer forum. All the comments have been great. I tried the WD-40 on all assemblies and it did not work. I have been removing my battery cable every time I leave to fly out of town. Last Sunday @ 0530 the alarm decided to go off! No one around, just went off. I guess it's time to dig in to the door panel. Great pics and directions...thanks everyone!

Welcome aboard Russ. :salute:


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

Be sure to take your time when looking for broken/damaged wire(s). When you think you're done looking, look again, and again, and again. A bright flashlight can be very helpful.

If you don't find any damaged/broken wires, or repairing the wires doesn't fix your problem, then it's most likely the door ajar switch.

Good luck and be sure to keep us posted! :biggthump
 






Perfect

Worked like a charm. I bought 4 sensors for the price of taking the car to the dealer to find out which one was bad(Drivers door) Thanks for the savings
 






Quick question. My 03 X is having the same issue. I can go months without it showing up but after a good rain it always pops up. Can I disconnect the wires going to the sensor to temporarily stop the issue until I can get around to going to Ford to get the new part?

Also when you guys talk about spraying WD-40 onto the outside latch where exactly are you spraying it?
 



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Door ajar light, auto door locks, pwr window, malfunction

First, thank you all for all the help over the years, this is the first time I have had to come back to the forum because the problem was not completely resolved. It started early today with the door ajar light and interior lights staying on. windows all worked, running board lights stayed on with vehicle off and doors closed. I read this thread, and went out to my '99 EB X armed with a can of WD40 and Permatex silicone spray lubricant, tried to lower all the windows and now the drivers rear would not go down, I decide to check the door switches anyway and worry about the window later. Process of elimination turns that the same drivers rear door is the culprit of my door ajar light. A few seconds into fogging every nook and cranny around that door latch I actually hear the switch click! I close and open the door a few times and viola! the light is working properly, but the window still is not working. from the front or rear controls all the others work properly. Also of note is that the automatic door locking ceased at the very same time the door ajar light came on. That system is now working again as well. So where do I go from here? Ground wire in rear door, relay, or something else???
 






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