Door ajar light on dash

[jreask]

My door ajar light on the dash flickers on and off if the rear window is all the way up. The rear wiper works with the window up. The rear dome light flickers along with the door ajar light if the window is up. If I roll the rear window down about 4 inches the dome light and door ajar light go out completely. The rear dome light works in all positions. I've searched but haven't found a situation like this. Seems like the window must be contacting something to turn the light on and off. Anyone know how this works? Thanks in advance.
2002 Sport edition
255K miles

 

[TheDurk]

Before looking at anything else, 80% of all liftgate electrical weirdness turns out to be caused by worn/broken wires in the harness between the top of the liftgate and the body. Slide that harness and look for broken wires or exposed copper.

 

[jreask]

Before looking at anything else, 80% of all liftgate electrical weirdness turns out to be caused by worn/broken wires in the harness between the top of the liftgate and the body. Slide that harness and look for broken wires or exposed copper.

The best part is that everything is working, it's just the flashing light irritates me. Thanks for the advice. I'll check it out tomorrow after I replace the rotors.

 

[jreask]

Where is the sensor that tells the ECU that the window is up or down?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Could also be a bad door position switch that is in each door frame. If one of those is grounded the lights turn on. Worth pressing on all the rubber buttons/boots to see if one is acting funny, takes all of 15 seconds.

 

[volkinator]

My door ajar light on the dash flickers on and off if the rear window is all the way up. The rear wiper works with the window up. The rear dome light flickers along with the door ajar light if the window is up. If I roll the rear window down about 4 inches the dome light and door ajar light go out completely. The rear dome light works in all positions. I've searched but haven't found a situation like this. Seems like the window must be contacting something to turn the light on and off. Anyone know how this works? Thanks in advance.
2002 Sport edition
255K miles

Could also be a bad door position switch that is in each door frame. If one of those is grounded the lights turn on. Worth pressing on all the rubber buttons/boots to see if one is acting funny, takes all of 15 seconds.

Mine'll do this every now and then too. I'm fairly confident it's the position switch of the hatch. My boot was bad and I repaired the wires to the hatch, but the light comes on as well. Try jiggling the hatch when it's closed, my light will flicker like that too.

 

[gamefreakgc]

To expand a bit on what [MENTION=115347]gamefreakgc[/MENTION] said, pretty sure all the "door ajar" switches are wired in series, so a fault or intermittent in any one of them will flicker the light. This is why all 5 door switches should be checked.

They are, if one of them grounds the light turns on and the dash light appears.

 

[TheDurk]

To expand a bit on what [MENTION=115347]gamefreakgc[/MENTION] said, pretty sure all the "door ajar" switches are wired in series, so a fault or intermittent in any one of them will flicker the light. This is why all 5 door switches should be checked.

Actually, you've got series and parallel backwards. They are wired in parallel, and that is why each one can do that. If they were wired in series, you would have to open ALL the doors for the light to come on.

 

[jreask]

I removed the latch on the bottom of the rear lift gate. There is a plastic bag covering the cable and the wire. Similar to the bag around the power antenna motor. Anyway, I took the bag off and the latch was full of dirt and grime. The white wire was extremely tight,it almost looked like it was cut too short. I sprayed the inside of the latch and cleaned it up and replaced the bag. So far the door ajar light is now working properly. The wires at the top where they go from the body to the gate were in good shape.
So far so good.

 

[allyall]

Mine ajar light was rear hatch related

Thanks for all the updates. I had a similar problem and just got the fix. My door ajar light would come on randomly while truck was parked, setting off the alarm. I haven't been able to lock it for over two years. It also flickered while driving. My issue turned out to be the wire to the rear hatch. I took apart and cleaned all four door jamb switches with a screwdriver and electrical contact cleaner. Light still flickered. Then I took the rear hatch latch off (three bolts). I cut the wire cover length wise, then clipped the red wire. Bingo. door ajar light has not come on since. (granted, this is a permanent fix and won't be "warned" if rear hatch isn't shut completely, but at least I can lock my truck again).

 

[Steve240]

Thanks for all the updates. I had a similar problem and just got the fix. My door ajar light would come on randomly while truck was parked, setting off the alarm. I haven't been able to lock it for over two years. It also flickered while driving. My issue turned out to be the wire to the rear hatch. I took apart and cleaned all four door jamb switches with a screwdriver and electrical contact cleaner. Light still flickered. Then I took the rear hatch latch off (three bolts). I cut the wire cover length wise, then clipped the red wire. Bingo. door ajar light has not come on since. (granted, this is a permanent fix and won't be "warned" if rear hatch isn't shut completely, but at least I can lock my truck again).

Bringing an old thread up, but can anyone tell me where this red wire is located? I was trying to do the same thing and just kill the light by disconnecting the switch in the latch. I removed the connector going to the latch assembly which I figured would have been the right wires but it did not turn off the light. I am 99% sure the light is being triggered by the hatch. The light stays on with the key out which also appears to be draining my battery faster than usually. I left the truck for a week and it wouldn't start. Both of these issues happened after I removed the back panel of the hatch and sprayed it full of jigaloo to get the latch moving. Gate was stuck shut.

 

[BoomerBob]

Bringing an old thread up, but can anyone tell me where this red wire is located? I was trying to do the same thing and just kill the light by disconnecting the switch in the latch. I removed the connector going to the latch assembly which I figured would have been the right wires but it did not turn off the light. I am 99% sure the light is being triggered by the hatch. The light stays on with the key out which also appears to be draining my battery faster than usually. I left the truck for a week and it wouldn't start. Both of these issues happened after I removed the back panel of the hatch and sprayed it full of jigaloo to get the latch moving. Gate was stuck shut.

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but together with all the info here I was able to fix my problem with the open door light on the dash that stayed on all the time on this new-to-me 98 4runner.

I couldn't figure out where this red wire was until I stumbled on the video below. It's behind the latch mechanism at the bottom of the rear hatch. I too sliced open the wire casing and snipped the red wire. This turned off the dash warning light. I won't have a warning light if the rear hatch is open anymore but hey; we managed to get through life without all these warning lights before they became standard equipment so I'm good with it being disabled.

YouTube

Just posting this in case someone else has this issue in the future so they can save a bunch of time figuring it out if this is the issue. At some point this rig was rear ended just a little. Enough to barely tweak the hatch. Maybe that had something to do with it or maybe just because it's a 22 yo rig.