Dome lights

[berto69]

My wife has a '99 Windstar and she has been complaining of the dome lights flickering on and off on her way to and from work. Is this somehow linked to the headlight switch or is there a short somewhere in one of the door swithces? I don't know if the door adjar light stays on or not. I guess I will be driving it for the next few days to see if I can pinpoint the problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[AZ_KitKat]

Had this prob with my '02 Windstar LX and it seems to be the door sensors on the sliding doors and rear door. The door ajar light would come on and I'd have to stop to open and close the rear door again ( a bit harder to force the contact).

There are sensor plates (several of them clustered together in the jamb) that tend to collect road dirt and grime after a while. A simple cleaning via windex and a washcloth or paper towel will shine them up. My neighbor used a pencil eraser to buff his out, although it left rub marks on the surface (not sure if that will affect it in the future). Also, make sure the posts that contact the surface of the sensor are fully extending. If not, a bit of WD40 (don't overdo it or it'll get on the the contact surface and you'll be back at square one) to free the post up.

Of course, this is just my fix and I'm nowheres close to being anything of a mechanic...but it did work on mine and the lights stay off while we are putting down the road now.

[berto69]

Thanks for the help. I had the same problem with an old Dodge van that we had before this one... Didn't bother to go back to the basics on this one. I did drive it a bit today and it did happen to me. I will go out right now and do as you suggested and see how it goes.

Thanks again!
Robert

Originally Posted by AZ_KitKat

Had this prob with my '02 Windstar LX and it seems to be the door sensors on the sliding doors and rear door. The door ajar light would come on and I'd have to stop to open and close the rear door again ( a bit harder to force the contact).

There are sensor plates (several of them clustered together in the jamb) that tend to collect road dirt and grime after a while. A simple cleaning via windex and a washcloth or paper towel will shine them up. My neighbor used a pencil eraser to buff his out, although it left rub marks on the surface (not sure if that will affect it in the future). Also, make sure the posts that contact the surface of the sensor are fully extending. If not, a bit of WD40 (don't overdo it or it'll get on the the contact surface and you'll be back at square one) to free the post up.

Of course, this is just my fix and I'm nowheres close to being anything of a mechanic...but it did work on mine and the lights stay off while we are putting down the road now.

[DRW1000]

Originally Posted by AZ_KitKat

Had this prob with my '02 Windstar LX and it seems to be the door sensors on the sliding doors and rear door. The door ajar light would come on and I'd have to stop to open and close the rear door again ( a bit harder to force the contact).

There are sensor plates (several of them clustered together in the jamb) that tend to collect road dirt and grime after a while. A simple cleaning via windex and a washcloth or paper towel will shine them up. My neighbor used a pencil eraser to buff his out, although it left rub marks on the surface (not sure if that will affect it in the future). Also, make sure the posts that contact the surface of the sensor are fully extending. If not, a bit of WD40 (don't overdo it or it'll get on the the contact surface and you'll be back at square one) to free the post up.

Of course, this is just my fix and I'm nowheres close to being anything of a mechanic...but it did work on mine and the lights stay off while we are putting down the road now.

Those "sensor Plates" that you are referring to are for the speakers and power door locks. They are not the door ajar switch. this switch is actually at the back of the door Jamb. Most likely the door switch that is causing the problems are in the hatch. These ones are problematic but easily "fixed" try searching this forum for "door ajar"

[AZ_KitKat]

Well now, don't I feel silly! I did say that I'm nowhere near being a mechanic! LOL However since cleaning them up there haven't been any annoying lights coming on or door ajar indicators. Are you sure that they are not interconnected in some way.

I was once told by a Ford mech that the systems on the Windstar are virtually all connected into one in that if one system has a problem and there are no indicators included (ie lights, buzzers, etc) that another system would pick up the slack for it regardless of relativity, meaning that sometimes even the computers don't know whats wrong with the car. In that regard, if the connectors I mentioned that you indicated are for the speakers/power locks were in fact dirty and caused an open in the circuit, would that make the lights come on to indicate a problem?

Just curious...