clarehills

I know, it is OT but I have been bumping it in the General Tech with no responses so I thought I would try you lads.

I have a 2003 GT and when I open the driver door the interior light does not come on and if the headlights are on I don't the the annoying (but crucial!) beeping. The light comes on when I open the passenger door.

I looked all over where the driver door connects with the car and can't find the switch - any suggestions? Could it be a fuse?

clarehills

Bump - I'll try again...

clarehills

So last weekend I tried to get to the "door ajar switch", which after doing some research, I found out was attached to door latch mechanism on the inside of the door. I got button console, door handle shield, mach 460 speaker, and finally the door panel off after a little effort.

I was then able to see the door ajar switch attached to the back of the locking mechanism (I had a diagram which helped). As it was difficult to reach and get a good look at I tried to get the door latch mechanism disconnected from the actuating rods. This turned out to be a real pain in the hole, the connectors are plastic and I couldnt see how to get them off with breaking them. So then I tried something different, I removed the 3 screws holding the latch to the inside of the door so that I could move it around a bit. Even so I was unable to figure out how the door ajar switch it attached to the door latch mechanism.

Right - so my questions are this:
1) Can anyone tell me if there is a knack to disconnecting the plastic clips for the door lock actuators so that I can remove the door latch from the door and thus make it easier to remove the door ajar switch?
2) Can anyone tell me how to get the door ajar switch off the door latch mechanism? I was trying to find (through a hole in the door panel) where the clip holding it in is.

I had to give up and put it back together - I suspect I will need to have a new door ajar swithch to put in there anyway as when I disconnected the wire going into the door ajar switch there was white goo in there (I know, I know, don't start) - like moisturizer - I don't think it was dialectric compound so I suspect it is leaking something that lubricated the plunger or something - can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks for any help you can provide lads, I am trying to figure this out for myself and at least 2 other people who PM'ed me to see if I had a solution for them after seeing the original post...
C

clarehills

So I finally got around to getting the replacement 'door ajar switch' - see first image below. On a different forum someone told me that there was not a tab holding it in: "the switch is not held in by a clip it twists out of the latch. if you just pull the latch away from the door a little then you should be able to twist it out." So I took the door apart again and was still not able to get the damn thing off!! Surely someone must have done this before or know something, here are my questions:

1) Looking at the pictures of the switch below with the little metal tab thing, does it look like a twist off or does it look like there is something else holding it in? The last picture is of the swithch inside the door still attached to the doorlatch

2) Can anyone tell me if there is a knack to disconnecting the plastic clips for the door lock actuators so that I can remove the door latch from the door and thus make it easier to remove the door ajar switch?

3) When I was unable to remove the switch, I decided to make sure that was the actual problem. I plugged the connection into the new one expecting the light inside the car to come on and it did not, I pushed in the little button on the top of the switch and still nothing - does that mean the switch in the door is really ok and the problem is elsewhere? Should the connection have a live current that I could check with a multimeter or something?

I would really appreciate some help on this lads, the car is still in pieces but I have to put it back together tonight for work tomorrow.

<The new switch>



<The old switch in the door>

1fstblckgt

Bump for you.

clarehills

I have about 3 hours before I need to stick the mean machine back together - can anyone help out pleasse!
Thanks
C

PS: Thanks for the bump 1fstblckgt[8D]

oxfordgt

Kinda sounds like a bad fuse or something if you pluged in the new switch and it didn't work unless the switch itself grounds when its in its spot. Try plugging in the new switch again then touch the metal of the switch to bare metal in the door and see if the light comes on.

blstoff

this is exactly what happens . switch needs to be grounded .left door & right doorswitch are on the same fuse .

clarehills

Excellent information oxfordgt and blstoff. I will give that a lash when I get home and let ye know how it turned out - thanks very much!
C

clarehills

No go lads, I tried connecting the new switch and touching it off various parts of exposed metal on the inside of the door while actuating the switch with zero effect of the chime or dome light. I guess the switch is ok and I have a different problem:

Do you thing it is a damaged wire? Could it be a fuse (blstoff - where is the fuse that the left and right share - maybe it is loose)? Something else?

Appreciate the help