Door Ajar Light

[sperold]

After months of oiling the little plunger that turns the dome light on, I finally realized that the light is controlled by a mechanism associated with the door latch.
I oiled it up a bit and the light went off - for about a week. I have no idea which door is causing the light to come on, so I have to do all four.
Can anyone advise me where to put the straw from the WD-40 can, to do the most good. Is there another hole in the door where you shoot the fluid?
Does anyone have a picture of this mechanism that would help me understand how to fix it.

 

[pejohnson]

Same problem here as well, still haven't figured it out. I pulled the sensors in the doors from a local junk yard thinking that was the problem. Replaced all 4 and still the light remains on.

 

[jelloslug]

It's in the door latch. If you pull off a trim panel you can peek back there and see the wire that hooks to the latch itself. The switch itself is actually for the illuminated entry system.

 

[rubydist]

iirc, spraying the WD40 into the top side of the door latch would take care of the problem whenever it appeared on any of my cars. haven't had that happen for a while, so I don't recall exactly where to point it, but I can attest that the WD40 sprayed on the latch mechanism in the right place will take care of it, usually.

 

[turbo79]

iirc, spraying the WD40 into the top side of the door latch would take care of the problem whenever it appeared on any of my cars. haven't had that happen for a while, so I don't recall exactly where to point it, but I can attest that the WD40 sprayed on the latch mechanism in the right place will take care of it, usually.

We just bought a '96 Explorer, so I found and joined a Forum called "Serious Explorations." Same 'DA' issue on our new rig, I searched at that Forum and the same solution with WD-40 as the answer popper up a lot. Spray the top of the latch, and also the two slots where the door handle is attached is what the problem solvers there said.

Well, it's a Ford from the '90s, so there's that in common.

 

[luigisho]

and spray all 4 doors. any of them could be bad.

 

[Frisbeeguy]

I've had this problem three times on my Explorers & WD-40 did not work. 1st - jumped the broken ground wire that had broken inside the boot between the door & frame (drivers door).

Then it came back - I recently replaced the DA switch in the drivers door and problem solved. You may need a new switch. (probably drivers door - it's used the most)

There was a write-up on the procedure. To trace - roll down all windows, set alarm and one by one attempt to trip alarm by opening doors.