I have a 2002 Ford Explorer. For the last couple of weeks, I have had a “door Ajar” light on the instrument panel. Occasionally, I also get a warning beep…but not all the time. When I open the doors, the overhead light only goes on when I open the left rear door. It goes off when I close the door. When I start the car, the dome light comes on and remains on for about 10 seconds, then goes out. Normally, when I turn the key off, I still have power to the radio, electric windows and locks. Now when I turn off the key, power shuts down immediately. When driving and I apply the brakes, I hear sounds like the door locks are trying to engage. Anyone have any ideas, before I take it to the dealer?
You have a defective door switch. This failure is all too common in all Ford products.
Unfortunately, Ford buries the switch inside the door behind the latch where there is no easy access. The standard treatment, used by many owners, is to squirt the switch with copious amounts of WD-40.
I have a 2002 Eddie Bauer Explorer…for months now I have been trying to figure out why the door ajar light was on only after my wife had driven the car…I initally guessed it was the rear hatch door switch as they are known to go bad and I would just open the hatch then close it and and be done with it…what she was doing was by accident pushing the blue button on the remote which opened the glass part of the hatch which I never noticed when I was opening the entire hatch and closing it which then closed the glass part as well…motto of the story is that things are not always as they appear to be…