Driver door/Interior Lights

[gtyates]

Having an odd issue with an '05 Sport Trac I just picked up. Basically when I open the drivers door the interior lights do not come on. I have tried spraying WD-40 in the latch but so far has not helped. Also probably related, but the auto lock feature will not work properly, causing the interior lights to flash and the door ajar light to flash as well when the autolock tries to lock the doors after putting the truck in gear. And finally, when pressing the power door lock button on the drivers door the interior lights come on and the doors do lock. The truck has keyless entry as well as keypad and it all works properly, including as soon as I touch the keypad it lights up and the interior lights come on. I am leaning toward this being some issue with the door latch. All other doors act properly. Has anyone else had this issue and been able to resolve it?

 

[ncranchero]

Sounds like either a bad switch on the door lock or a bad ground.
This is a rear door lock w/switch but the front is very similar.

 

[gtyates]

Thanks NCRanchero. Photo is extremelly helpful!! I guess the best way to get to it is take the door panel off?

 

[ncranchero]

Yes, you'll have to do that & it's still not the easiest thing to get to. Have bandages ready.......lots of sharp things inside a door!

 

[gtyates]

The last time I took a door panel off I had a speaker with a loose connection. It was not too bad to "fix", but I suspect this door lock/switch issue will be a little tougher.

 

[bdmaash]

before taking out the latch,
try measuring to see if the switch works

- make sure the ground connection to the latch is good (black wire)

- (while the door is open you should measure a ground on the yellow or yellow/black wire)

- if you aren't measuring a ground, then take the latch out.

if you do measure the ground, the latch is fine, and start looking for a broken wire

another check would be:
remove the yellow wire off the door latch (with connector) and ground that out. Doing this would turn on the interior light also, and if key is in ignition, it will buzz to remind you.
This check would prove that it's a broken connection somewhere.

 

[gtyates]

Thanks again for advice. As a small follow-up my autolock feature is now operating properly. Interior lights still do not come on when opening the driver door though. Now I just have to find some "free" time to look into this closer!!

 

[gtyates]

Further follow-up. I opened up the door panel and discovered a yellow/grey wire that was broken/exposed. I have grounded this wire and now my interior lights stay on all the time and the door ajar light stays on. Any other ideas on where I might have a wiring issue? And was I correct to ground the grey/yellow wire?

Thanks.

 

[gtyates]

Further follow-up. The yellow/grey wire goes to the receiver electrical connector for the door sensor (it is grey colored and slides over the black door ajar swith pictured in this thread). This is part of the factory wiring of course. The wire at the connector was broken off inside the connector. I was able to get very creative and use a slide-on electrical connector and some additional wiring to make the wiring reach from the connector to the spot is is broken. No idea as to why it broke as I only recently purchased the truck, but there is no obvious evidence anyone before me had ever taken the door panel off and further no evidence that anything inside the door was ever worked on. The bottom line is, at this point in time, everything is working as it is supposed to!!

 

[bdmaash]

Further follow-up. I opened up the door panel and discovered a yellow/grey wire that was broken/exposed. I have grounded this wire and now my interior lights stay on all the time and the door ajar light stays on. Any other ideas on where I might have a wiring issue? And was I correct to ground the grey/yellow wire?

Thanks.

Further follow-up. The yellow/grey wire goes to the receiver electrical connector for the door sensor (it is grey colored and slides over the black door ajar swith pictured in this thread). This is part of the factory wiring of course. The wire at the connector was broken off inside the connector. I was able to get very creative and use a slide-on electrical connector and some additional wiring to make the wiring reach from the connector to the spot is is broken. No idea as to why it broke as I only recently purchased the truck, but there is no obvious evidence anyone before me had ever taken the door panel off and further no evidence that anything inside the door was ever worked on. The bottom line is, at this point in time, everything is working as it is supposed to!!

well it looks like you figured it out and posted your fix, good job.

- the yellow wire is the return signal to let the computer/module know the state of the door (open/closed). when that wire is grounded the computer thinks the door is open.

 

[gtyates]

well it looks like you figured it out and posted your fix, good job.

- the yellow wire is the return signal to let the computer/module know the state of the door (open/closed). when that wire is grounded the computer thinks the door is open.

So that would explain why when I grounded the yellow/grey wire it caused the interior lights to stay on and the door ajar light to stay on as well. Of course I did not have a wiring diagram but I felt certain after I grounded the wire and it did turn on the interior lights that everything from that point was good as far as the wiring went. My challenge was finding where the yellow/grey wire was supposed to go since there was nothing hanging loose from the connector. I found additional help here from a "sticky" on fixing the door lock issue that had another excellent pic of teh insdie of the door that showed where the black and yellow/grey wires went.

I hope by my posting what I discovered it will help someone down the road!!