I have a 98 ford windstar interior lights wont go off all of a sudden I have to disconnect battery?

Question

For some reason out of the blue the interior lights wont go off.I have to disconnect the battery.Fixed the fuel pump now lights stay on.

Answer 1

My mom had a problem with this on her van, on your sliding door they have some little contacts in the door that have to mesh up with some contacts on the pillar. if they get worn or dirty they can not make contact and the car thinks the doors are open and the lights stay on.

hope this helps.

Answer 2

We had the same problem with a 95 Windstar that was given to us.

We just spent 500 for a new battery and oxygen sensor, on the thing, they could not find anything wrong with the lights.

Now days later, my wife drives the thing, comes back and the interior lights won't go out. She did use the side door to load in boxes. Maybe it is the contacts, its raining, maybe they short when wet.

She just drove over to the dealership. Its 3:33pm here, they close at 5:00, hopefully I will have an answer for you today.

She came back, and said the sliding side door was not closed properly.

Well, if this happens again, where I have to use magic to close it, I am just going to get a screw driver and pull out those problem lights, so as not to have to buy another battery.

Answer 3

Ford Windstar Interior

Answer 4

I'm a little unclear here about what your asking. You wanting to have the doors and possibly the rear hatch open with the radio on while your at the park correct? The problem your having the is Dome lights a staying on and draining the battery? Or are you just having the doors open with out the radio and your losing battery power? If it's the issue of just the doors open then you can pull the fuse for the interior lights and it will kill them. other wise I think the problem lies with the radio consuming too much power. My daughter left the sliding door open all night one night (from about 6:00 pm to about 9:00 AM) and the next morning the van started with out issue. If you have a kicken radio with lots of amp and EQ usage that's your main cause. the only solution would be to get a deep cycle batt.

Answer 5

suspect generic electronic module [gem] failure.
note if lamps go out after 10-15 minutes suspect bad switch located in the door latch or short to ground of this switches wire at the door most often used [drivers] where harness comes out of body and goes into door [please make sure you did not inadvertently turn them on at the panal dimmer switch] yes i have done this my self more than once.