I have a 97 Aerostar. The door ajar light stays on, and something is pulling the battery down it's a slow pull, that takes a week to kill the battery. I have found the power leak is on Fuse #8 the door ajar fuse. I have replaced the sliding door closed button switch and the passenger door switch. Any help will be appreciated.
Thank you William

 

Over time the sliding door rollers wear down, lowering the door, I would make sure that the contacts are lining up. Those are the metallic discs in the door jam between the sliding door and the passenger front door.

They also wear over time and may be corroded. Look for that also.

Also, welcome to FTE!

 

The 97's must work differently from earlier models. On my 90, the door ajar light only comes on when the key is in the "ON" position, if the door is ajar.

But I have had the rear door not close properly, which left the dome light on, and killed the battery over night. If this happens to an older battery, it can kill it very quickly.

 

The door ajar light is only on when the van is running. The rear dome light has a switch and it is off, and I added a switch to the other dome light so it is off. So I can't understand what is pulling the battery down.
Thank you

 

I recently found the tiny lights around the vanity mirrors in the visors of my Mustang coming on by themselves. The problem was that the cover that's supposed to push on the shut-off switch has a fabric hinge and velcro closure. After 27 years, all of that stuff is deteriorated, and no longer holding together well enough to push the switch hard enough. So if I leave the car for more than a week, the battery would be weak enough that I would need a jump to start it. When the battery got old, it would die from a week of this slow drain. I've since pulled the bulbs out of those lights.

To chase down your drainage problem, I would pull the ground cable and put an ammeter between it and the battery post to check current flow. With the key off, you should expect 10s of milliamps (don't remember exactly how much) for things like the computer and radio memory. If it's much more than that, I would start pulling connectors (or play with the ignition switch) and look for a drop in current.

 

We have a Windstar with a draw. We pulled every fuse there is, it seems to be a combination of fuses and about 3/4 of an amp. What are SSP fuses,,, there are 4 of them.

 

have you checked at night to see if any lights are ON inside the van ?

for example, the front floor lights ? check the Glovebox light and switch; Press the glovebox light switch to see if the light goes OFF.

you might have two different issues going on, considering the DOOR AJAR is only ON when engine is running.

I wonder if the switch you added to the sliding door STEP light is causing the drain. I added a switch to the STEP light too, but I have no battery drain.