warning beep without a key in the ignition
 

Hi folks ... i have a 1998 ford ranger single cab XLT with the 2.5 engine ... When my driver side truck door is open the warning beep goes off regardless of whether the key is in the ignition or not. How can I fix it to where the warning beep only beeps if keys are still in the ignition?

I did notice that if the door is open and the key is not in the ignition and it is beeping ... if i push up on the ignition it moves up a little and the beeping stops ... let go of it and the ignition falls back down a little and the beeping starts back up.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

There's a ground wire that's supposed to clip to the ignition cylinder. This clip is supposed to ground when the key is inserted.

The wire is likely grounding out on something. Remove the lower shell by unscrewing the tilt lever (if you have a tilt steering wheel) and three phillips screws. It may take some gentle persuasion.

The clip is usually a blue or teal color, right on the ignition cylinder. These clips seem to break a lot. If desired, it can simply be taped off to eliminate any dinging at all.

Count the beeps. Example- Like 5 beeps pause 1 beep

As far as I know, the Ranger never had any system that made the door chime, headlight chime, whatever-irritating-chime-it's-whining-about-now, act as a (for lack of a better phrase) trouble code, similar to the flash patterns used by pre-obdii vehicles.

Try it if you want, though. Just because I haven't heard of it doesn't automatically mean it's false.

it just beeps continually ... no pauses etc ... i don't think it's making codes ...

i don't have tilt steering ... i will look into that clip ... sounds like that could be it!

The reason I asked that is because Fords airbag system will do this when it goes bad. I experienced it on my 95 escort. It would keep chiming all the time, even when door is closed.
If your airbag light is burnt out it does this to let you know the airbag is not working.

Google Ford airbag chiming. A lot of hits.

mine only chimes with the door open ... not when i close it ... and if i push up on the ignition switch it stops ... so i think it's probably the clip ground.

here is a video i saw in another forum

That's most likely your issue.

The black wire is a part of the clockspring assembly, so if you'd like to go that route you can replace the entire clockspring. If I remember correctly, however, they're a bit expensive.

Alternatively, a replacement clip can be gotten for basically free at a you-pull yard.

Or, as I mentioned earlier, tape the thing up and berid of it all together. Choice is yours.

If it isn't that clip, I will be surprised.

Hi!

I just bought a 98 ranger xlt that was doing the same thing so I checked and the clip was indeed broken and that was what was causing the problem. I taped it off and when I went to put the key in and test it, it was tight//didn't want to accept the key anymore and once I pushed it in the ignition wouldn't turn. I thought maybe it was because everything was still disassembled so I put it all back together and tried again and the same thing happened. I'm not very mechanically inclined and have just learnt the little bit I do know from reading and watching youtube videos. I'm assuming I've jarred or misaligned something. Does anyone have any idea what I could have messed up?