What the HELL?!! door switch prob.

[j_wintle]

Hey I'm new to the forum. This is my first post. I hope someone can help.

Here's the deal, I bought an 02 Excursion last year and the dome lights never turned on when I opened any door. Also, if I armed the stock alarm and then unlocked and opened a door through an open window... nothing. No horn or flashing lights, so I figured the door switches were bad/dirty which caused it not to know when a door was open (no Door Ajar light on dash either).

Before I soaked everything with WD-40, as is the popular solution to all things related to a ford door switch, I decided to check some wiring. Took off the drivers door panel and Voila! somebody had unplugged the wiring harness to the door switch. Thinking I had just solved my problem I plugged it back in and put everything back together.

The good news is now my dome lights work, the BAD news is..... wait for it.....THEY DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO!! When I close the door, all the lights come on and when I open the door the lights turn off again (after a short delay)

I checked the passenger side and found the same thing, door switch unplugged. Obviously this was the redneck way to fix the backwards issue, But I'd like to find the cause of the REAL problem. Any ideas?

I had to unplug the driver's door switch because the lights stay on while the doors are closed.

I searched all the forums before posting and found nothing like this. The common problem is sticky switches, but my switches work fine. My theory is wherever the switches send the signal is malfunctioning.

PLEASE HELP!!

[20stroker02]

Well most people disconnect the switches because they hate the door chime when the key is in the ignition. It's been awhile since I looked at the connector in the door but is there a possibility the switch is hooked up backwards. I almost forgot.... WELCOME TO THE ORG!

[j_wintle]

That was my first thought also. The plug only goes in one way, but I tried it flip flopped with a couple wires as jumpers and got the same result. Incidentally, I don't think I ever heard a door chime while I had it hooked up, don't know if that matters

[20stroker02]

That being the case I think you have one of those famous or infamous wiring gremlins, you can get a wiring schematic and start chasing or just unplug the switch again. Sorry I couldn't be more help but you might get lucky tomorrow when some of the Ford techs check in, they are very helpful on this site.

[j_wintle]

[Austinj427]

Lol, thats kinda funny. best of luck with your search. If it was me I would just print off a wiring schematic and set aside a day to figure everything out.

[stroker/stonemaison]

Acouple of months after I bought my truck my dome light and door ajar light would go of randomly,drove me nuts. ALso when I got out of the truck (key off out of ignition)the dome/box light ect would stay on, 5 plus min.
after haveing a problem with my starter and replaceing my glow plug relay I decided to bite the bullet and throw acouple of new battery's in the beast.
Old batterys seemed fine just looked verry old and seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
WELL after putting in the new batteries the domelights worked great shut of in about 15-20 second, door ajar light never comes on while driveing anymore.
Turns out after load testing my old batteries that one of them was on its way out.
when bateries fail Ive seen them do some funky stuff that makes one scratch there head. MAYNOT BE YOUR CASE BUT I WOULDNT RULE IT OUT.

[j_wintle]

I did just replace both batteries in January of this year. Thanks for the suggestion! I figure if I get enough random comments/suggestions I'll figure this thing out.

[greasyF250]

I put in lock sets from an '03 f350 into my 2000 f250. All the plugs were the same but the dome lights and door chime were backwards. doors closed the dome lights would be on . door closed with key in ignition, door chime would ring, doors opened , dome light off, no chime. Check the part #'s to verify the correct switch.

[JAJOHN8213]

I had a similar prob with 2 seperate 99 F250's. Isprayed wd 40 in the small hole above the door latch on both doors and it fixed the problem. A tech at ford told me it was a commom thing for the switch inside to stick. It has been several months with out another problem. I hope it helps.