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Door Ajar Light

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Old 12-31-2004
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Door Ajar Light

I have been having this problem for some time now, the door ajar light keeps going off and on when im driving. But tonight when I parked the car, the center light will not go off, i guess b/c it thinks a door is open. I checked the dim light roller switch and its not that. So I disconnected the battery for now, but does anyone have any suggestions on what to do. Thanks for your time.
Nate
 
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Old 12-31-2004
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actually i had this very same problem with a dodge dakota. the fix, coincidentally was resetting the PCM. ie, disconnecting the battery, and reconnecting it. if you find this doesnt work, youre most likely looking at the door switch, which i believe is actually built into the latch nowadays.
 
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Old 12-31-2004
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Just lube the door switch heavily with WD40 by spraying it right into the latch mechanism and opening and closing the door a few times. Usually fixes it. I've never heard of resetting the GEM (the PCM doesn't use the signal) to fix it -- but hey if it works that's great! There are some many interesting problems with modern vehicles...
 
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john i was suprised too when that fixed it, i was actually disco the battery to let it sit overnight, but i slipped pulling the cable off and it fell back on, and poof, it was fixed. see, i do old cars, problems had reasonable explanations back then
 
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Old 12-31-2004
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Amazing .... while you were replying to my post I was outside and figured, hey, since the battery is disconnected I will clean off the terminals. And just for S's and G's I decided to try and see if the light would go off. And just like that it doesnt do it any more. Thanks for the post.
 
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Old 12-31-2004
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It might come back though. It could be "galvanic" action in the switch contacts and taking off the battery allows it to clear. Pretty wierd if it's electronic though. Wonder what kind of fault would cause a simple 12 volt digital input to go intermittent and then be cleared like that? I'm even having a problem seeing how they could have screwed up the firmware even.

I'm still suspicious that this has not "fixed" the problem, even if it makes it go away for awhile.
 
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i didnt think it would work either, but it worked in my experience, happened to my friends truck over a month ago and he hasnt called me back, so its fine.
 
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Old 12-31-2004
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Yup, WD-40 in the door latches. Had the same problem. Did it last year and havent had a problem since.
 
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So, WD40 AND the battery disconnect, and who knows what might happen? :p
 
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Old 01-31-2005
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i had this problem for only one day, i didn't fix it and it never came back, but for temporary i just drove with the interior light on
 
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