Turning signals on 1998 ford explorer

[Ambiron]

Hello I am new to this forum as I am a first time owner of a vehicle. So I got the vehicle from my grandparents as they could not figure out the problem with this vehicle. My dome lights stay on continuously with the door ajar light on and never goes off no matter how hard I slam the doors. I'm assuming it's something with the back hatch door. So my battery drains if I leave the battery connected so I have to disconnect the battery every time I park it. Also my turning signals don't work. I have replaced the arm on the steering wheel, the fuses inside the truck and the relay switch under the steering wheel and still nothing. Also my radio don't work. Oh and I guess the heater core hosing busted last year and leaked antifreeze all over the inside of the truck. That was fixed though. If anyone can help me with this problem I would greatly appreciate it. I will try anything at this point.

 

[CDW6212R]

Welcome. For the dome light staying on, that will be one or more of the door latches not being shut completely.

Find the dimming wheel that controls the dash lights and the dome light. It's next to the light switch, a simple thumb wheel. Roll it all the way down to shut the lights off. It has a detent at the top, and the bottom. It locks the lights on, or off, or in the middle automatically. That will allow you to leave the battery connected and still shut the lights off.

Each door latch has a "door ajar" switch inside it, to turn on the lights when any door is open. First inspect the door latch strikers, the post on the vehicle where the latch grabs onto. Those have a plastic bushing which wears out after years.

Using any striker bushing except the proper diameter, will cause the door latch to not fully close. People are buying the parts store bushings, and those are too large. You have to buy an entire striker bolt to get the proper bushing, which comes with it. Amazon sells the Dorman version for about $8 each, Rock Auto it costs just over $6 each.