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Interior Light and Keyless Entry Problem

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Posted by: 95tbirdv8

I searched but couldnt find anything about my problem. on my 95 mark8 there is times when the interior lights or the keypad wont work at all. I can open the door and none of the inside lights turn on, but once i put the key in and turn on ignition, the lights turn on like normal. i checked every fuse, the door pins are good. it works perfect when the key is on ignition.but once i put the key in, it works even if i take the key back out. thanks for any help

Posted by: 4.6powa

this happened to me. it ended up being my radio. no joke. the car has a batt. saver feature. this shuts power to the car down if lights, exc. are left on so the batt. doesnt die. my sterio had a short and always had power going to it therefor tripping the batt. save feature. replaced radio, no mor problem. that is why the keypad works for about 30 mins after you leave the car. then it stops working. i believe if you hit the brake pedal, it will bring power back also. you can check for a power drain by taking a tesy light, and taking the neg. side batt. terminal off. clip tha aligator clip in the wire, and have somone hold the probe to the batt terminal. the light should light up. now, take the keypad module fuse out! you can start pulling fuses until the light goes off. the keypad fuse must be taken out or the light will never go out. and since the door has to be open to acess the fuses, make sure you keep the pin pressed in to stop the dome lights from trying to light, causing a draw. you should not have any power, lights, anything on while doing this.

Posted by: GMAN

Quote:

Originally Posted by 95tbirdv8

I searched but couldnt find anything about my problem. on my 95 mark8 there is times when the interior lights or the keypad wont work at all. I can open the door and none of the inside lights turn on, but once i put the key in and turn on ignition, the lights turn on like normal. i checked every fuse, the door pins are good. it works perfect when the key is on ignition.but once i put the key in, it works even if i take the key back out. thanks for any help

Hey Tbird, I know exactly what is happening. The problem is there is an internal switch inside the door by the latch that has gotten stuck. Even though you open your door, the lights don't come on. This is because the car thinks the door is closed. I live in Houston as well. Drop me a PM, and I can help you with it.

Posted by: unity

If it were that latch, then the keypad would still work. There are sensors on each side of the car in the doors. See here:

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00169.html

This tech article will most likely solve your problem, it is not rare and I myself have it. Now I just need to fix it myself!

Shawn
1996 Mark VIII with a lovely 2004 engine

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMAN

Posted by: 95tbirdv8

im almost sure its not the switch where the door closes. a while back, it kept saying the door was open, i sprayed wd40 on both doors right were it closes and fixed the problem. If it was the switch, then why do the lights turn on as soon as it has ignition on? thats the only part i dont understand. It might be the battery saving feature, i had never heard about that, but it might be it. i have a aftermarket radio, amps, remote start alarm, led scanner, it could be one of those. I also dont think its the switch on the handle. Oh yea, i have the yellow top optima

Posted by: GMAN

Quote:

Originally Posted by 95tbirdv8

im almost sure its not the switch where the door closes. a while back, it kept saying the door was open, i sprayed wd40 on both doors right were it closes and fixed the problem. If it was the switch, then why do the lights turn on as soon as it has ignition on? thats the only part i dont understand. It might be the battery saving feature, i had never heard about that, but it might be it. i have a aftermarket radio, amps, remote start alarm, led scanner, it could be one of those. I also dont think its the switch on the handle. Oh yea, i have the yellow top optima

I have a Pioneer Avic D1 in mine, I honestly believe your problem is the door switch connector that is inside the door next to the latch. I had to remove the window slide inside the door to get my hand inside. Let me ask you, when you open the drivers side door, does it come on? If not, this is the exact same problem I had. Then it is that connector.

Posted by: unity

I just want to add that there are three switches total. Door ajar (located within the door catch mechanism) Primary interior lights (located on the car near the fuse panel) Door Latch sensor (located near the handle)

The Door latch switch can be the faulty one. If your car is locked and you pull the handle up, the lights, keypad and illuminated key hole (if equip) will come on. The problem is that if the car has a problem with the sensor, after 40 minutes or so, the power sentry engages and kill power to the interior light, keypad and a few other items. The Sentry is killed if the key is turned, brake pedal pushed or remote entry is used.

The test is simple. With car off, lock your doors and shut them. Wait for the interior lights to turn off. Once off, pull on the handle. If the lights come on, your problem is something else (more than likely) if they do not come on, the problem is the door handle sensor and all you have to do is follow the link above to solve the problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMAN

Posted by: 95tbirdv8

this morning i walked to my car, i pulled the dr door handle, and it turns on the interior lights like normal. I opened the door and closed it back. I waited for the inside lights to turn off and i pulled the passenger door handle, and it also turned the interior lights on. Everything is working fine this morning. Its something intermittent. The door pins in the front of the door are working, and the ones inside the door where it closes also. Im thinking it might be a short somewhere, but then again, it doesnt happen all the time. When the problem is happening it doesnt work with either door open. Thanks for your help

Posted by: unity

Just to clarify, when you try to open the door, its locked, right? Next time it happens, please note the exact state so we can narrow this down. By the way, do you use you keyless remote ever?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 95tbirdv8

this morning i walked to my car, i pulled the dr door handle, and it turns on the interior lights like normal. I opened the door and closed it back. I waited for the inside lights to turn off and i pulled the passenger door handle, and it also turned the interior lights on. Everything is working fine this morning. Its something intermittent. The door pins in the front of the door are working, and the ones inside the door where it closes also. Im thinking it might be a short somewhere, but then again, it doesnt happen all the time. When the problem is happening it doesnt work with either door open. Thanks for your help

Posted by: 95tbirdv8

yes its locked. i pulled the handle and the lights came on, setting off the alarm. i then unlocked it and opened the door, and the lights remained on. I just remembered, that when im having the problem and the lights arent working, even if i try to turn them on with the dimmer switch, they still dont turn on. Im an installer at circuit city, i tried a lot of stuff already but i cant figure it out.

Posted by: unity

Is it a factory alarm? It should not come on!

If the car is locked and you pull the handle, the interior lights, keypad should illuminate. If its unlocked, the same thing.

If the sentry has engaged and you pull up on the locked door handle, nothing. If you press the keypad, nothing. If you unlock via key (NOT REMOTE) then open the door, still nothing until the key is inserted and turned or the brake pedal is pushed (although that may be a Gen II feature with the brake pedal). Also you are right, the manual control for interior lights will not work until you use the key or brake pedal.

Also, the remote will turn off the sentry. In my case, I always use the remote so I did not notice this problem, until I locked my keys in expecting I could use the keypad - which was out!

It still sounds like the door handle sensor, did you view the link above?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 95tbirdv8

yes its locked. i pulled the handle and the lights came on, setting off the alarm. i then unlocked it and opened the door, and the lights remained on. I just remembered, that when im having the problem and the lights arent working, even if i try to turn them on with the dimmer switch, they still dont turn on. Im an installer at circuit city, i tried a lot of stuff already but i cant figure it out.

Posted by: 95tbirdv8

yes its a aftermarket alarm. The only reason this bothers me its that if someone breaks in the car the alarm wont go off, unless they hit the car. Im probably gona rewire the alarm to each door pin instead of the domelight.

Posted by: unity

Well if the alarm has any draw I am going to suspect that it is the cause of the Power Sentry turning on. Thats does not mean the car alarm will lose power too, but if the alarm is creating a draw then it might trip it. Its just one more thing to look at. I am more of a fan of integrating the sensors into the factory alarm myself since remote starts and other toys seem to cause issues if not properly installed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 95tbirdv8

yes its a aftermarket alarm. The only reason this bothers me its that if someone breaks in the car the alarm wont go off, unless they hit the car. Im probably gona rewire the alarm to each door pin instead of the domelight.

Posted by: 95tbirdv8

well the alarm was installed in february, everything is soldered, i installed it the professional way. im gona try disconnecting it for a day and seeing what happens

Posted by: GMAN

Keep in mind that the factory anti-theft system is still engaged.