I have a 1998 F150 Excab. The door ajar light is on, and the interior light is on. I determained that it is the passanger side that is causing this. The drivers side will turn the light on, but the passanger side won't. Does anybody know how it works, what triggers the light to come on an off when the door is opened and closed. I don't see any type of pins that push in and out.

 

The switch is inside the door. Its probably like the Rangers.
Sometimes you can spray Electrical Spray in and the switch will work.

 

Hey there guys, I just fixed this on my neighbor's 1998 ORP F 150 last weekend. If you open the door and look where the striker is on the door jamb, now look at the clam shell or jaws where the latch catches the striker when you close the door, inside the door shell is a switch about the size of a AA batttery that clips into your lock mechanism and plugs into your wire harness. I am a Ford Motor Company employee this is sound good personal advice and what you need to do is use some compressed air and blow the dirt and grease out of the lock mechanism and then shot some WD40 or even some white lithium grease down in there and work the door handle by opening and closing several times, this should cure your problem for a while, but if you decide to change the swith, beware! You have to tear the entire inside of the door down and out to reach this switch located under the catch assembly in your door shell.

Hope this helps and saves a few nights and days of domelight driving, LOL

ShowYa in Kansas City

 

People have asked about this over the past couple of months. It all sounds like good advice.

Please pass the word... WD40 does not work in the long term. There are no/0/nada/zilch lubricants in WD40. It is a solvent that loosens up existing lubricatnts. It adds no lubricity of its own. The fix may seem to work, but has only been postponed.

As Showya has suggested, white lithium grease will work. While down there might as well grease up the hinges with the stuff too.

I learned about this years ago from a machine tool salesman.

BTW, WD40 consists of kerosene and propane, so it makes an excellent fire starter.

Sorry, I got off on a rant there.

 

Thanks for the info about the grease for the door light switch.
The people on fordranger.com are going nuts with door switch problems. Some answer with using WD-40, but the grease should do better. We have 96 and 01 Rangers and 98-01 F-150's, F-250's, F350's, and E250-350's at work. I'll keep the grease idea in mind. I'm sure we will be having problems.
Mike Chiodetti.

 

Thanks, my truck has been doing this lately too.

 

Man i used WD 40 2 years ago and the problem has never resurfaced. You want to loosen the grime holding the switch!!

 

I tried the spraying of wd-40 in the switch. It didn't work. I went down to the dealer and picked up the relay that controls the interior lights and replaced the bad unit. It has solved my problem for the last year and a half

 

Trixman, little help since I left the shop manual at my Uncle's


Is the relay behind the dash, area of the interior light dimmer? Had a problem with mine yesterday and heard a click back there when it rectified itself. Cost and / or part number?

TIA, Catmandu

 

I just got done doing the lithium grease treatment on my truck,(my dome lights and door ajar lights were stuck on) and it worked perfect! Did the door hinges and even the tailgate! thanks for the advice.
Bill

 

I think I'll stick with the WD-40. The consensus is that it's dirt that's causing the problem. WD-40 washes the dirt away, then evaporates. Grease in a spray can has solvents in it. The solvent washes away the dirt, but leaves grease behind. Grease attracts dirt, doesn't it?

The latest (that I know) Ford approved fix is to spray brake cleaner in there to free up the switch. As far as I know, brake cleaner is pure solvent.