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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
I have another light that I want to go on when I open the car door, but I don't know where I would find that wire. Can someone please explain how to wire it? (Do you guys understand what I even mean?)
You want another light to be triggered by an open door just light the dome lights and the lights in the front doors, correct? My suggestion is the get a relay to run the power through for the light. Run power and ground lines as you normally would through the relay for lights such as PIAAs. Then, instead of running lines to the switch like you normally would, run a lead and return to the dome light fuse. This way, when that circuit is active, it will activate the new lights.
Does this make sense? Maybe you can get a cheap light wiring kit from Autozone to do this. I know Pilot, PIAA, and other companies make relay and wire harness kits for lights.
Your main fuse panel should be by the driver door hinges in the side of the dash. The dome light fuse should be in there. Like Jim said, check your manual for fuse assignments.
Actually, I'm planning on doing the opposite of what you're doing. I need a switch to shut off the dome lights, even when the doors are open. To do this, I'm going to intercept the lead to the dome light fuse and stick a switch in line (with oodles of wire to mount the switch). This will open the circuit even if the doors are open.
According to the Haynes manual the black/light blue colored wire comming out the front doors is the hot wire for the door switched interior lights. I would just use a plastic wire connector and splice your hot wire into there.
If I wanted the light to be able to switch between the door mode and being on, whould this be the correct wiring? (I am bad at this stuff and want to make sure i am doing it correct). And do I need to add any fuses anywhere? Dead Link Removed
Matt, I need a little more info. What kind of light are you going to put in? Watts?
Do you want to be able to turn it on when the doors are closed?
Do you want to be able to turn it off when the doors are open?
I think I just got it. I have glow in the dark pedals (12v) that I want to have on a 3 way switch. Position 1 is off, position 2 is on, and position 3 is connected to door lights. If my switch doesn't have a light on it, there doesn't have to be a ground, right? I wired it for position 1 and 2, but stuck on 3. Do I splice the light blue/black wire near the emergency brake and run it to the 3rd prong? BTW, what guage is the light blue/black wire?
Sorry, I dont know how to hook up a three way switch.
Seems you will need a ground somewhere to complete the circut unless the lights themselves(light body) are grounded.
The wire black/lgt blu is probably a 14 guage or less.
Hope this helps...
I found a black wire w/ lt blue stripe and visa versa, spliced them both and no power. The doors were open so there should be a current. I am getting frusterated that I cannot find this wire. I am about to call up a car stero installation store to find them for me, and I'm sure they would charge me. Can anyone else help me?
When trying to find this hot wire in the harness coming out of the door I just bought a 12volt tester that's like a pen. Clamp the aligator clip to ground and jab the sharp end of the pen shaped tester into each wire. You'll probably get a number of hot (on) wires because of power windows and other accessories. But only one of these hot leads will turn off when the door is closed. Good luck. The other thing you could do is fish a wire up under the headliner to the dome light . Connect to the dome's lead that is hot when the door's are open. Easy.
The headliner is the fabric glued to cardboard on all of the ceiling of your truck. You're gonna need a long wire. First remove the plastic over the door (passenger or driver whicherver is best for you). Then remove the plastic running down the 'a' pillar. (Between the windshield and side window.)Fish a straightened coathanger from the hole in the ceiling where you removed your dome light to the new opening over whichever door you chose. Then connect your wire to one end of the coathanger and pull your new wire through. Now run that wire across the top of the door and down the pillar. Now replace the plastic pieces. Take care not to screw through your wire. Attach your new wire to the wire in the dome light that becomes hot when your doors are open. You now have a wire that's hot when the door's are open. Good luck.
