How do you fix a 1995 Dodge Intrepid when the interior light and the door ajar light stays on unless you pull the fuse?

Answer 1

Actually I had that same problem many years ago (I still have the car 94 intrepid). What happened in my case was simply explained: When you close the door, the sheet metal of the door is supposed to press in the door jamb switch (attached to the body) - That shuts the light off. This switch is being pushed out under spring loaded pressure (to keep it in the on position - hence closing the door should turn it off along with the light). I found that when I pressed the button/switch with my finger, the light went out normally. And I don't know if it could be a stuck switch because the spring pressure felt really strong. Over the years, the door is closed or slammed 10s of thousands of times, and the button under the strong spring pressure, actually starts to dent the sheet metal of the door in that spot - and what happens is - now the slightly dented door can't push the button all the way down because the sheet metal is bent away a little bit. So -- The solution is just as simple: You have to somehow pull that small corner section of sheet-metal back out toward the inside of the car so that it can press the button all the way down again. It was long ago when that happened to me, so my memory is a bit hazy of the step by step details - but, I believe I used the bent end of a crow bar to very carefully bend the inner layer of sheetmetal in that spot (try not to put a bump in the outer sheetmetal) and had to remove the inside doortrim panel first in order to get access to that corner of the sheetmetal (2 plies -- you're pulling the inner). I left the wiring harnesses plugged in and put the panel on a wire hanger so it wouldn't dangle by the wires - that way re-installing it was quick. That solution worked for me so well that I completely forgot I ever had that problem until today when I read your entry. It's what I'd call a design flaw. In most American cars, that button is located closer to the hinge for that reason. Because that part of the door doesn't swing even when the door slams, and therefor has almost no momentum. The outer swinging part of the door does have momentum and slams the sheetmetal into the button and this is what causes this problem. Good luck with the fix- Mike I would focus on a bad drivers door jamb switch. Remove it and test/replace it. When they stick, they will cause these problems. Mark