I understand the feature for letting you know your door is ajar, but if you are going to put a cheap sensor that doesn't last and is not effective why bother? Oh, I'll tell, to take even more money from you!!!
About two months ago, my door ajar MSG was on, as we're the dome lights. Good news is that the dome lights go off about 15 seconds after being put into drive, or after 20 mins after getting out. I noticed other posters said this problem drained their battery, but this failsafe should avoid that situation unless that is not working or the battery is very weak. Spraying WD-40 into the mechanism has not worked and I will have to check a couple of other things I found on this site that resolved the problem. I was surprised to hear from some that it happens when it rains, my truck has never been garaged, and the problem started after 9 years. Sorry to say but I believe we have had worse problems with older cars especially cars American cars in the early 80's. As I said my truck is 9 years old, i bought it new in 03, except for gas mileage I love my Expedition.
- Ken D.,
Cumming, GA, US
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This is VERY annoying. The door ajar and dome lights stay on when the car is started and dome lights will go off after driving for awhile. The door ajar "alarm" continues to go off while driving and sometimes causing the interior lights to come on. There seems to be no way to get it to stop going off. Both driver side and passenger side mirrors malfunction when you put the car in reverse they do not return to the original setting. Cannot adjust setting from inside the car i have to manually move the mirrors. I love the options that my expedition has to offer, however these two issues are making my not want to drive.
Always try WD-40 in the door mechanism first. WE suffered with this problem for a long time because of the expected cost to repair it. I found the solution on car complaints and it fixed the problem instantly.
The door ajar notice and interior lights have been coming on since a month after I purchased this truck. Ford "fixed" the problem three times while I was still under warranty by changing sensors and latches but problem always returned. After warranty was up had problem "fixed" two more times, neither lasted more than a few weeks/months. I've now had my truck for 8 years and have just grown accustomed to never having my panel lights on. It's ridiculous (with all the complaints I've seen on here and elsewhere) that Ford refuses to admit there is a problem with this vehicle. (my transmission had to be totally rebuilt at 22000 miles also but that's a whole separate story...but at least that "stayed fixed") :) Any tips would be appreciated. Truck only has 55000 miles on it (2003) and I have no plans to get rid of it but I would love to get rid of this annoying problem!
I've had this problem since i bought the truck. been to shop 2 times already and had it fixed. and the repair only lasts a couple months. I've replaced every sensor this past summer and the lights are still on. its a pain to drive with no dash lights, cuz the dome light don't go off. my last resort is gonna be to take it back to ford again for the 3rd time. my boyfriend is a mechanic and he hasn't been able to fix it either. I'm ready to junk the truck and eat whats owed on it and go buy a chevy pick up. I'm bout done with fords forever.
I bought this truck last knight. I knew the door ajar light was on, but thought it was just something stupid. Then found out after dark, the dome lights wouldn't turn off. So then I figured the door ajar light had something to do with the dome lights. Then when I turned the truck off, the radio turned instead of turning off when the door opened. That told me it was a sensor. So I got a can of WD-40 (PT Blaster) and sprayed all of the latches. As I was doing that, I found 2 of the doors were missing the rubber stops. I had some laying around in my tool box( I don't know why) but I replaced them. And that seemed to take care of it. After looking around the WWW, I see this has helped other as well.
I have had nothing but problems electrically with this 2003 Expedition, which I bought new. Worst vehicle I have ever owned! Will never purchase another Ford based on my experiences with this vehicle.
This problem is so annoying. I have spent many nights sitting in my truck(which I love) trying to figure out how to get this light to go off. Thanks to another customer's complaints I now know what to do to fix it ...but every time it rains... come on Ford, recall it and help us out. We love our trucks but not this problem.
we found that our door ajar light and dome lights would not go off on a rain day... what we did to find out where our problem was check the locking mechanisms on the door and it was stuck in the open position... my husband pushed it up and it went off... it wasn't a big deal and we will get it checked out... I wish that ford had a recall for it so we wouldn't have to worry about it on rainy days....we are really happy with our vehicle at this point... it is everything we need and more!!
First - your Ford Service should be able to tell you which door is the culprit. If yours can't, find one who can. Mine said it was the right REAR door, when all along I was convinced it was the right front.
Second, check to see if all the little black rubber bumpers on the door jambs are in place. That appears to be my problem. My door ajar light started coming on 2 years ago. I tried slamming, I tried WD-40, and finally I changed the sensors on both front doors. The warning and chime still came on until I got the above diagnosis, and I noticed that one of the little cone-shaped bumpers for my right rear door was missing. Once I replaced that in a couple of minutes (for an outrageous $5 plus tax!), the problem stopped.
Third, the design of the door ajar sensor on the 2003 Expedition is criminal. It's a metal plunger in a switch whose circuit is open when the door is properly closed, and closed if not - sending the warning signal. The plunger is pushed down by the bottom of the "C" shaped door latch as it rotates around the striker on the door jamb. If the door latch hasn't rotated far enough because the door is really ajar, the warning sounds. It also sounds 1) if the door is not held tight by pressing against the aforementioned bumpers or 2) if the metal plunger has worn a groove in the bottom of the door latch, preventing the latch from pressing down enough on the plunger. Because the sensor is mounted below the latch inside the door, it's unlikely that WD-40 will reach it and do any good. However, a new bumper fixes 1), and a new latch (not sensor) will fix 2). It's less likely that the plunger will get stuck in the up position and stay that way if the door handle is worked vigorously. However, if this is the case, a new sensor is needed.
Interior dome lights and chimes would go off intermittently. Extremely annoying and distractful having dome lights pop on and off along with chimes doing the same.
I too have the Door Ajar problem. Passenger Front door is the worst when there is humidity, The WD40 has helped but I have also found water inside the door after heavy rain that may also be contributing to the issue. I have pulled the rubber plug at the bottom of the door and drained as little as a quart and as much as a gallon from the door.
If you go to the local Ford dealer they will be able to look up the part and show you it on the computer. You do have to remove the door panel on the inside to get to the latch and the switch. The electrical connection if i remember correctly is a twist on connection. Fixed the problem! the part at my cost was about $20.00. It was on the Right front door.
The info system on the dash constantly says door ajar! However, none of the doors are ajar. When we took it in to be fixed they could not find the problem and the car was acting fine. There have been many other electrical problem since: interior lights staying on for hours, side view mirrors moving every time the doors are unlocked, side view mirrors not moving at all, sun roof leaking, driver side map light working occasionally, etc. Why won't ford recall ?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Door Ajar sensor randomly started going off while driving. It went on like that for about 2 months, and now the vehicle always sees the door as open.
- Trip M., Kennesaw, GA, US