Truck thinks door is ajar, but none are! How to diagnose, drains battery

[Canadian]

Hey guys, I bought/traded for a 2001.5, very nice and clean car, literally just had a used engine and transmission put into it by the previous owner who I know, the truck has an issue where the battery seems to drain very fast though, within a day it will be dead. I notice the door ajar light is on though, even though all doors and trunk are closed. I even walked around the car openning one door at a time and manually pressing all the door sensors to closed and the light never went off, the truck does not have one of these sensors as far as I can see though, so maybe its something back there.

I also noticed the interior light doesnt come on when you open a door, but I figure that must have something to do with the door ajar light, the car also has an aftermarket "middle" light about the back seats, it an LED bar manually operated by a switch, but I just keep it off, im not sure if anything or what was in that spot from the factory, but id imagine its the front overhead console that should be lighting up...

If I could get a little help diagnosing this Id appreciate it alot, it seems to be the only problem with this beautiful truck. I have downloaded the FSM for the year and model, but honestly cant understand much of the language or diagrams, there just beyond my knowledge

Thanks so much!

[jyeager]

I am not sure about your 2001.5 model, but in my '97 model, the front console lights don't come on with the door. They are only manually activated. The factory dome light over the back seats comes on with the doors...an only when the 3 position switch is in the middle position (other positions are always off, and always on).

 

Your "AFTERMARKET" middle light, is probably the factory dome light that may have been upgraded along the way.

If so, try looking for a 3rd position to it's switch to see if it just needs the switch moved to the right position to work along with your doors...you may be toggling it from always off to always on and not be aware that it has an automatic option with the doors.

 

As for the door ajar problem....well, it looks like it's not just a switch adjustment problem because of the manual test you did. You now need to test the wiring by checking each door's circuit. One of them has a bad switch, or wiring somewhere.

 

And one important thing...your rear hatch DOES have a switch too. I think you were trying to say that it didn't. You just don't see it. That's important to identify and test as well.

 

[hawairish]

And one important thing...your rear hatch DOES have a switch too. I think you were trying to say that it didn't. You just don't see it. That's important to identify and test as well.

 

Yep, check this. It's actually integrated into the latching mechanism...just a simple plunger. You can test it wth the hatch open just by sliding a screwdriver into the latch...as if to replicate the latching action when it hits the striker.

[Fijipathy]

I had a similar problem with my R50 - dash light telling me a door was not closed stayed on, and my interior light stayed on. It turned out to be the passenger side front door rubber switch that was faulty. I had removed them one by one until i found the faulty one. Its still off the truck and i haven't replaced it and all works fine. This however shouldn't drain a good battery in a day but check all five of those switches (including rear hatch) first.

[Canadian]

if you remove and disconnect the door switches it tricks the truck into thinking there closed?

 

I went around the car again today, aswell as manually did the hatch and hatch glass with a screwdriver but the light still never flickered or went out

 

open

 

closed

 

The dome light is most definetely aftermarket aswell, its on a cheap looking toggle switch and just an LED bar type thing, there no 3 position switch or wiring other than positive/ground, although Im unsure where its getting its positive from, presumably one of the old dome light wires