Hey all. Thanks in advance for the tips. I've got a '97 Ranger - 2.3L, 5spd that I recently bought. It wasn't until after I had driven it home that I realized the dome light did not work (I test-drove it during the day, and didn't notice that the light didn't come on).

So I thought "well, maybe it's a fuse." Sure enough, I find that the appropriate fuse was actually missing from the panel. So I popped one in there, and dome light worked perfectly.

Until I got out of the truck. I shut the door, and the light goes off. I lock the door, the light stays off. But, when I pull the door handle (even when it's locked), the light turns on. And from what I can tell, it stays on indefinitely. It was cold out, and I didn't feel like standing around like an idiot waiting for the light to turn off while freezing my butt off.

Any ideas on what may be causing the problem? I've also noticed that sometimes it will just go on randomly even when I don't pull the handle. As a result, I've just taken the damn fuse out again so I got no light. What with daylight savings time and all, it'd be real nice to be able to find my stuff when I get home from work at night . . .

Oh well, any and all help would be most appreciated!

 

If you don't have the pin switch in the door jamb like the older trucks, then you have the switches made into the door latch. Spray some WD40 up into the door latch to loosen it up.