98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

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Jan 5, 2000 | 08:19 AM

waltinvt

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98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

98 reg cab;4WD; XLT; no power windows or locks.

Maybe a coincidence, but Jan 1 and now I'm having strange electrical problems.

Jan 1 - nighttime: Dome light started staying on after door shut (checked - it's shut tight).

Dash "door ajar" light comes on / goes out sparadicly (again, doors are shut tight).

Couldn't figure out, so had to pull dome light fuse to drive at night (This fuse is also for "battery saver" - whatever that is). Even then, "door ajar" still goes on and off with no apparent pattern.

Today, Jan 3: Road muddy so put in 4WD High. 4WD High & 4WD Low lights both blink on / off together sparadicly - even when dial turned to 2WD.

Havn't called dealer yet. Wanted to see if anyone else was having similar problems first. Sometimes dealers' repair shops are the last to know about problems and how to fix them.

Thanks, Walt Mather - Vermont

Jan 5, 2000 | 10:07 AM

Boss_358

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From: Benton County, MN

98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

Your truck is still new and should be under warranty. You should probably take a problem like that back to the dealer.

Jan 5, 2000 | 10:12 AM

Boss_358

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98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

Sorry, I misread your question. My parents had a problem somewhat like that with the domelight on there 98 F-150 but it had power windows and those were affected by the problem. They took it to the dealer and had the problem fixed but I can't remember what in the world they replaced.

Jan 5, 2000 | 01:09 PM

Rich

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98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

I have a 95 Ranger and have had similiar porblems. I discovered that the door switch keeps going fowl. Ford placed the door switches inside of the latches and this appears to be rough on the switch. Have the dealer replace the door switches and this should solve the problem.

Jan 7, 2000 | 07:43 AM

Walt Mather

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98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

I think the 4WD High / Low light thing threw me off. They wern't acting up until I pulled the fuse to kill the dome light / door ajar problem.

Last night I put the fuse back and all the problems seemed to be solved.

My guess is that it's just a door switch problem that's related to temp outside and when I pulled the fuse, which is also for the GEM and battery saver, it cause the 4WD light blinking problems.

I expect the dome light / door ajar thing will act up again when it warms up and I'll have to deal with a door switch fix or pull the dome light bulbs til I can get it to the dealer. Taking the fuse out is probably not a good option, cuz it seems to disable the GEM and I'm not sure what sort of problems that creates.

Feb 25, 2000 | 08:21 PM

driver

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98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

My '94, '97' and both of my '98 Rangers periodically have the same dome light problem. An easy "fix" for this is to spray WD-40 or similiar spray into the door latches. This will free up the dome light switches, and cure the dome light and door ajar problem. I do this about every 6 months or so. It's a pretty common problem.

Feb 29, 2000 | 03:49 PM

joephlebietz

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98 Ranger & weird electrical problems

Had a problem with my 97 ranger reg cab 10,000 miles,in Mich,in winter conditions. The truck is cherry and under warranty.Service guy said bring it in,no problem. Gotta remove th trim panel and replace the latch. Well,ya know that the panel never goes back in with out rattles and such so I gave the latch a shot of WD-40 and so far,so good.
Having read other posts here,I'm a little leery about long term.
Depending on you guys for input.