"door open" dash light and interior lights staying on

[silversuper]

and yes I made sure the doors were closed

just bought the truck and when the truck or key is on, the dash light is lit saying a door is open. This, I believe, is leading the front and rear dome lights to stay on, even with no key in and the truck locked.

short term: how do I pop those lights off and pull the bulbs without breaking it to keep the truck from running the batteries down?

ultimately: how do I fix this? I'm assuming its a switch at one of the doors but it has 4, how do I narrow it down?

thanks
-Richie the newb

[Superduty07]

You can try lubing the door latches and working them but the door pannels come off in about thrity seconds can unplug on stwitch at a time or take then out and see which ones sticking

[Rocweiller]

Originally Posted by silversuper

and yes I made sure the doors were closed

just bought the truck and when the truck or key is on, the dash light is lit saying a door is open. This, I believe, is leading the front and rear dome lights to stay on, even with no key in and the truck locked.

short term: how do I pop those lights off and pull the bulbs without breaking it to keep the truck from running the batteries down?

ultimately: how do I fix this? I'm assuming its a switch at one of the doors but it has 4, how do I narrow it down?

thanks
-Richie the newb

Lubing the driver side latches worked for me.

[silversuper]

white lithium grease works for this or should I use something else?

[Davey~do]

If greasing it does not work, you will need to use a multi-meter to test which switch is bad. There is a single "door ajar" wire for each door. Set the meter to measure resistance; put the negative lead to ground, and use the positive lead to check continuity on that wire. If the switch is working correctly it will go to ground with the door closed and show OL when open. All doors with the exception of the driver's front can be found under the sill plates. Unfortunately, you have to go into the driver's front door itself to get to that wire. Wire color is going to depend on whether you have keyless entry from Ford or not.

[Acidsniper]

Do the '03s not say which door is open? My '06 says "front left door open" and whatnot...

No additional input from me, the others got you on the right track The dome light covers just pop off. Use a flat head screwdriver and gently press in on the side with the little "notch" in it. They'll pop right out.

[silversuper]

Originally Posted by Davey~do

If greasing it does not work, you will need to use a multi-meter to test which switch is bad. There is a single "door ajar" wire for each door. Set the meter to measure resistance; put the negative lead to ground, and use the positive lead to check continuity on that wire. If the switch is working correctly it will go to ground with the door closed and show OL when open. All doors with the exception of the driver's front can be found under the sill plates. Unfortunately, you have to go into the driver's front door itself to get to that wire. Wire color is going to depend on whether you have keyless entry from Ford or not.

does the wire go to the truck side of the latch or the door side? my truck has a remote for lock/unlock but no keypad on the door

[Davey~do]

Originally Posted by silversuper

does the wire go to the truck side of the latch or the door side? my truck has a remote for lock/unlock but no keypad on the door

Mine (I think, it was a couple of months ago) was a yellow wire with black stripe. It runs from the rear of the door, at the latching mechanism, through a harness that eventually runs through the little bellows-like rubber sleeve between the door and drivers side front pillar. From there, it runs up into the dash to wherever it goes. So, effectively, the only place you can grab this wire is inside the door itself. Be aware, though, that on mine (an '05), there were TWO yellow/black wires in that harness. It was the only one of the two that was grounded on door shut and OL when open.

However, what Acid said makes sense. As usual, I overthought the situation and tried to make the job harder than it should be . Mine does the same as his; I would think yours would too. Have you looked at your message center and opened/closed all the doors to see if it indicates an open door?

[LOOSEWHEEL]

This is a common problem. A shot of WD40 into the latch will usually clear this up for most. Try that before you get caught up spending time searching for wires.

[silversuper]

mine is an 03, it just shows a little crew cab with all doors open. anyone with an 03 that can chime in? I hope its not all the latches....