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Door AJAR Switch Replacement on 2002XLT

Worked like a charm! I spent $15 on the part from SilverState, gave them my VIN number to check against their inventory, and they got me the correct part the first time around (so maybe Ford has straightened out that mid-model-year change confusion).



For first timers doing the door-ajar replacement procedure, there might be some issues opening up the plastic clips, which are described in more detail here:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170619&page=2

For me, taking the door apart took nearly an hour; replacing the part took 10 minutes, and re-assembly took about 10 minutes - and everything worked perfect the first time through. THANK YOU for the excellent directions!

Thanks!

Tim Ventura
http://www.ismautomation.com
 



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Hi all!

Just bumping this thread to say THANK YOU!

I bought this 02 Explorer a month ago and the 'beep-clickclick-DOOR AJAR-beep-clickclick' insanity began a week after I bought it. I found this thread and decided to replace both front doors' switches.

Problem fixed for less than $50.00 and a couple hours of my time!

Thank you for a great forum and a great thread!
 






I've had an '05 XLT that i bought wrecked and had it professionally rebuilt back in april. I thought I had all of the bugs worked out of it, but they just keep popping up. The latest issue is the phantom "door ajar." I tried the recommended WD40 method, but to no avail. So I tried the windows down, alarm set, and open each door. The alarm didn't go off for any of them. I did notice while performing this procedure that when I open the driver's door, the puddle light is not on when the door is closed, comes on at the first detent, turns off at the second detent, and comes back on when all the way open. I am assuming that this is a broken wire, but does it sound like that's gonna solve my "door ajar" problem also, or am i missing anything?
 






Why the WD40 solution works in some cases

borland wrote:
There are several post claiming spraying wd40 through the outside door handle fixes this problem. The switch appears to be sealed so not likely that the spray could get inside the switch. If the warning lamp is intermittent, the spray repair may just be coincidental and actually have no affect. So I suggest replacing the switch.

I wish to share my observations and success as this offers an even quicker and cheaper solution than borland's for anyone that observes the same as me.

I had the issue of the alarm going off intermittently when parked every night and the courtesy light coming on and off with door locks while driving my 2003 XLT. Going by borland's original thread I needed to determine if it was a broken wire or faulty door ajar switch ... however, before this I decided to play with the latching mechanism at the rear end of the drivers door. I observed that I could use a screw driver to simulate the door pillar striker to activate the mechanism ... but what I noticed when doing this is that by wiggling the screwdriver after the mechanism latched I could actually get the mechanism to engage even further. This indicated that something was gumming up the mechanism and preventing it from fully engaging by itself.

I therefore tried squirting WD40 into the mechanism while I continued to activate it with the screwdriver. I observed that within a minute of doing this the door latch mechanism would fully engage by itself. I repeated this with the other three doors and the tailgate. It's now been 2 weeks since I did this and I've had no further problems. So my guess is that everyone that has had success with WD40 has had the same problem as me, and the WD40 is freeing the latching mechanism which in turn allows the door ajar switch to be activated (so the WD40 is having no direct effect on the sealed switch itself).

Brake cleaning fluid will probably be more effective than WD40 and I'll use that if the problem re-occurs. WD40 or any wet lubricant will attract dirt into the mechanism ... so if the problem re-occurs I'll use a dry lubricant after cleaning the mechanism with brake fluid.
 






I’ve had the false “DOOR AJAR” warning lamp on my instrument cluster for some time. This is on my 2002 XLT.

This problem is intermittent, but seems to be reoccurring more often now than before. Often enough that I've been leaving the courtesy dimmer switch in the off position for about a year.

From searching the prior posts, apparently it can be either a bad switch or a broken ground wire at the door. Since mine is intermittent, the switch is the likely problem.

If you think your switch is bad, wait until you have the warning lamp and then immediately do the following troubleshooting to isolate the specific door causing the warning, using the alarm and wireless remote entry to set the alarm:

A. With all the windows in the down position, activated the alarm and waited about 30 seconds. Then open one door only from the inside door handle. If the alarm goes off that means that door switch tests OK.
B. Reset the alarm again, trying this on each door. Unfortunately, you can’t do this test on the rear liftgate and rear glass. At least not on my truck.
C. If no doors sounded the alarm, you probably have a problem not related to the switches on the doors or door's ground wires.

On my car, the driver’s door switch tests to be the problem area.

If you think your problem is the ground, checked the wires in the rubber sleeve between the door frame pilar and the door. If any damage is found it should be repaired.

The door ajar switch is attached to the bottom of the latch mechanism. The latch assembly is held to the door by 3 screws and two rods. The screws you could access from the outside of the latch. The rods are hold in place by two yellow plastic clips.

This assembly has two electric plugs one for the lock actuator (the biggest of the two) and another for the ajar switch.

There are several post claiming spraying wd40 through the outside door handle fixes this problem. The switch appears to be sealed so not likely that the spray could get inside the switch. If the warning lamp is intermittent, the spray repair may just be coincidental and actually have no affect. So I suggest replacing the switch.

Here’s how I removed the door panel and the AJAR switch.
1. Remove the plastic cover around the door handle. There are two forward clips, so use a putty knife as shown to pry from the front and then pull out.

doorajar001.jpg


2. Lift up the door switch panel from the front and remove. Disconnect the electrical plugs.

doorajar002.jpg


3. Remove three screws holding the door panel in place. One screw at the top, two along the bottom.

doorajar004.jpg


doorajar005.jpg


4. Lift the panel enough to reach the electrical connector to the outside mirror switch. It helps to insert a small flat blade screwdriver between the switch and the plug so as to relieve the detent holding the plug locked in place.

5. Slowly pull back the window liner from the bottom corner enough to permit working inside the door as shown in the photo. Use one of the window wiring plugs to grip the corner to hold it back as shown.

doorajar006.jpg


6. Disconnect two latch rods (one vertical, one horizontal) by disconnecting the ‘yellow’ clips. Here's a photo showing the AJAR switch way in the back using an inspection mirror. Annotated is (1) AJAR switch, and (2) the AJAR wiring harness and connectors.

doorajar008.jpg


Here's the latch mechanism pulled out enough to allow removing the AJAR switch. I've annotated with the (1) marker pointing to the switch.

doorajar009.jpg


7. The AJAR switch can be removed by rotating it 90 degrees toward rear of the latch.
8. Reinstall in reverse order.

After removing the switch, I found I was sent the wrong part. The part they sent is very similar but has a rectangular electrical connector, while the one I need is square. So I have reassembled everything and will wait for the correct part.

Hope this helps anyone with this common problem.

borland
2002 XLT
Fantastic. Saved me a ton of time and research. I am a picture kind of guy and this was exactly what I needed. Thanks a million.
 






My alarm started going off again last night. I had an issue where all my windows stopped working about 1.5 years ago and ford repaired a broken wire in the drivers door. The Alaram was going off about a year ago and liquid wrench worked on that and it did not come back until last night.
I am going to call ford in the morning and see if they have the door ajar sensor parts. But first I will take mine out and clean them and see how that goes. I have replaced 2 windows actuators and all speakers twice so I have had the doors apart several times so thats no big deal.
 






My alarm started going off again last night. I had an issue where all my windows stopped working about 1.5 years ago and ford repaired a broken wire in the drivers door. The Alaram was going off about a year ago and liquid wrench worked on that and it did not come back until last night.
I am going to call ford in the morning and see if they have the door ajar sensor parts. But first I will take mine out and clean them and see how that goes. I have replaced 2 windows actuators and all speakers twice so I have had the doors apart several times so thats no big deal.

I would not bother "cleaning" squat.
I thought that would do it too. I took the latch all the way out and then
the door switch (OBTW don't just turn it 90deg, use a small screw driver to hold down the tang then turn it 90deg).
I pushed down the little ball bearing on the switch and soaked in some contact cleaner. (see earlier in this thread). Well that lasted 6vmo then the failure came back. HOWEVER, when I put in the reworked the switch back then I put in a separate switch in parallel with it such that I had a countermeasure in place. When the alarm started triggering in the middle of the night again I just went out and flipped the switch. That of course makes that door vulnerable to a break in but so be it for now until I can order a new switch.
 






My alarm started going off again last night. I had an issue where all my windows stopped working about 1.5 years ago and ford repaired a broken wire in the drivers door. The Alaram was going off about a year ago and liquid wrench worked on that and it did not come back until last night.
I am going to call ford in the morning and see if they have the door ajar sensor parts. But first I will take mine out and clean them and see how that goes. I have replaced 2 windows actuators and all speakers twice so I have had the doors apart several times so thats no big deal.

I would not bother "cleaning" squat.
I thought that would do it too. I took the latch all the way out and then
the door switch (OBTW don't just turn it 90deg, use a small screw driver to hold down the tang then turn it 90deg).
I pushed down the little ball bearing on the switch and soaked in some contact cleaner. (see earlier in this thread). Well that lasted 6vmo then the failure came back. HOWEVER, when I put in the reworked the switch back then I put in a separate switch in parallel with it such that I had a countermeasure in place. When the alarm started triggering in the middle of the night again I just went out and flipped the switch. That of course makes that door vulnerable to a break in but so be it for now until I can order a new switch.


Have you guys considered a broken wire/wires in the door boot?

BigRondo said:
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

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.

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






great writeup! and thanks for the wd40 tip
 






Door Latch Screws

So the WD 40 trick got me by for a while, thanks! But unfortunately I am at the point that the darn thing will not stop dinging as I drive down the road. I ordered a switch and actually opened the door panel to temporarily jumper the switch until the part arrives. BTW I have a '02 XLT.

What type of bit is required to remove the door latch mechanism? I tried the limited selection of Torx bits that I have and it seems to be between a T-25 and T-30. Also, are these standard Torx or Torx Plus?

Thanks,
George
 






This problem has been plaguing me for years. I finally found your fix, and it is GENIUS! I got the part from my local Ford dealer for $25, and my dad and I had it fixed in about an hour and a half. THANK YOU FOR POSTING!!! By the way, after talking to the Ford mechanic at the dealership, he also recommended taking off the door latch with the three screws securing it do the door. This made it much easier to get to the door jamb part. Thanks again!!!
 






My alarm started going off again last night. I had an issue where all my windows stopped working about 1.5 years ago and ford repaired a broken wire in the drivers door. The Alaram was going off about a year ago and liquid wrench worked on that and it did not come back until last night.
I am going to call ford in the morning and see if they have the door ajar sensor parts. But first I will take mine out and clean them and see how that goes. I have replaced 2 windows actuators and all speakers twice so I have had the doors apart several times so thats no big deal.

My door ajar sensor was so corroded there was no cleaning it. I would recommend getting a new one from your dealer. Mine was about $25.
 






HELP!!!

So I took the computer out to the truck and followed Borland's excellent tutorial to a T though I somehow missed the part about removing the three screws holding the latch assembly to the door so I sat confounded for an hour trying to figure out how Borland managed to pull out the latch mechanism. Once I got the latch mechanism free i had a hell of a time trying to pull it out as the 3rd "rod" that extends up to the key hole on the door handle kept blocking the mechanism's exit.

Finally I got the mechanism free, pulled the old door ajar switch only to realize like Borland I was sent the wrong part. Putting the mechanism back in was really hard as I didn't take photos or extensive notes on where everything goes.

Long story short once I got everything back and the door latch screwed back in I had a very hard time locking and unlocking the door. I'm not sure if I bent the rod connecting to the keyhole but it seemed to interfere with the smooth locking and unlocking I was able to achieve prior to taking on this task. Has anyone experienced this problem before? Did I bend the rod and render it somewhat useless? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am heading to All American Ford in NJ today to get the correct Ford part to swap out.

Lastly, once everything was back in the problems I experienced were WAY worse than before. The door ajar light and audible signal would happen if I lowered my window, turned on the defroster, used the car's horn...almost any time I activated something electrical. Also the passenger side window won't go down either from the driver side "master control" or from the passenger side window switch. When you press either of the switches to lower the passenger side window the little light on the window switch dims (from both the master control and the passenger side switch).

Could all these new problems arise from the old door ajar switch not being securely in place and causing a short in the system or is this the age old split wire in the boot problem as well???

Any help would be appreciated as I consider myself not a mechanic but quite handy and the fact that I altered how smoothly my driver side door locks and unlocks has me quite annoyed and confused.

Thanks in advance everyone and as many have stated...this forum ROCKS!!!!!
 






Hi everybody!
I have a question: How many AJA Switch the Explorer has? One per each door?
 






Yes, there one for every door that has keyless locks.
 






Also, there is one for the back hatch and the back window.
 






Hello. Isn't that door switch with the door closed, in the closed position? With
the door open its in the open position? Is this correct? If it is, does it have two wires going to it? If it does, couldn't you locate a wiring diagram and find where those two wires end up under the dash and just tie them together so it thinks the door is always closed. The dome light should still work by the switch on the dash. I use the drivers side door 99% of the time. I don't need a door ajar chime and indicator light to remind me of anything. Am I missing something?
 






Hello. Isn't that door switch with the door closed, in the closed position? With
the door open its in the open position? Is this correct? If it is, does it have two wires going to it? If it does, couldn't you locate a wiring diagram and find where those two wires end up under the dash and just tie them together so it thinks the door is always closed. The dome light should still work by the switch on the dash. I use the drivers side door 99% of the time. I don't need a door ajar chime and indicator light to remind me of anything. Am I missing something?

Welcome aboard!! :salute:

You are correct. The circuit is closed with the door closed & open with the door open. Disconnecting the switch will illuminate the interior lights.

Locating the 2 wires in the door would be easier than locating them under the dash.

Let me know if you need any diagrams or pinpoint tests. My shop manuals only go up to '03 but should help you out with your '04.

Good luck getting it sorted. :D:thumbsup:

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






HELP!!!

So I took the computer out to the truck and followed Borland's excellent tutorial to a T though I somehow missed the part about removing the three screws holding the latch assembly to the door so I sat confounded for an hour trying to figure out how Borland managed to pull out the latch mechanism. Once I got the latch mechanism free i had a hell of a time trying to pull it out as the 3rd "rod" that extends up to the key hole on the door handle kept blocking the mechanism's exit.

Finally I got the mechanism free, pulled the old door ajar switch only to realize like Borland I was sent the wrong part. Putting the mechanism back in was really hard as I didn't take photos or extensive notes on where everything goes.

Long story short once I got everything back and the door latch screwed back in I had a very hard time locking and unlocking the door. I'm not sure if I bent the rod connecting to the keyhole but it seemed to interfere with the smooth locking and unlocking I was able to achieve prior to taking on this task. Has anyone experienced this problem before? Did I bend the rod and render it somewhat useless? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am heading to All American Ford in NJ today to get the correct Ford part to swap out.

Lastly, once everything was back in the problems I experienced were WAY worse than before. The door ajar light and audible signal would happen if I lowered my window, turned on the defroster, used the car's horn...almost any time I activated something electrical. Also the passenger side window won't go down either from the driver side "master control" or from the passenger side window switch. When you press either of the switches to lower the passenger side window the little light on the window switch dims (from both the master control and the passenger side switch).

Could all these new problems arise from the old door ajar switch not being securely in place and causing a short in the system or is this the age old split wire in the boot problem as well???

Any help would be appreciated as I consider myself not a mechanic but quite handy and the fact that I altered how smoothly my driver side door locks and unlocks has me quite annoyed and confused.

Thanks in advance everyone and as many have stated...this forum ROCKS!!!!!

Welcome aboard!! :salute:

The symptoms you described are indicative of broken/damaged wires in the boot. Having said that:

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.

Good luck getting it sorted. :):thumbsup:

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



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Door AJAR Switch Replacement on 2002XLT w/Photos

Thanks for the reply Rondo and thanks for all the awesome advice/guidance etc on this forum.

To follow up on my situation I guess my 1st attempt with the WRONG SHAPED door ajar switch bought on EBAY was a great practice session/trial run.

The next day I traveled out to NJ to work on the problem in my mom's driveway rather than on the streets of Brooklyn. I located a Ford Dealer who had the correct part in stock and once I removed the door panel the entire process was much much easier the second time around. I believe my removing and replacing the bad switch the day earlier just put said switch into it's death spiral which was causing all the different problems I mentioned as once the new Factory part was installed...voila...no more problems of any kind!!!

Subsequently I messed with the metal posts that run from the key lock entry on the door and bent it ever so slightly which allowed it to lock and unlock the door as smoothly as the day it rolled off the production line.

Overall what began as a frustrating experience turned out to be a great one as the EBAY seller fully refunded my $$$ for the wrong part (PLEASE IF YOU TAKE ON THIS JOB MAKE SURE YOU GET THE PROPER FITTING DOOR AJAR SWITCH...SOME ARE SQUARE LIKE MINE BUT LATER ONES SEEM TO BE RECTANGULAR AND WILL NOT FIT THE SQUARE HOUSING) and the Ford part was only around $30.

I will state I COULD NOT HAVE DONE this job without the help of the very informed forum members here and the awesome photos that walked me through the process step by step. Just remember you need to remove the 3 screws that hold the entire assembly onto the door. These can be easily accessed once the door is open but for some reason (as this step wasn't indicated in the photos) I originally thought I could bypass this part of the process.

She's running smooth and silently now thanks to all here!!! Cheers!!!
 






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