door jamb switch

[Tate]

ok cruisers,
this is my second post for this site and got some good advice on my first, so here goes,

something continues to drain my battery and i have a sneaky suspension that it is my dome light. the light works as far as fuses and bulb, but when switched to on, nothing comes on. when switched to door, it comes on when a door is open (sometimes). i can close the door and the light goes off. then i can come back to the truck a little later and the lights back on. So, i leave the light switched to off all the time. which i cant stand because i want light when i open the doors. the bigger problem is that almost every morning i have to jump off the cruiser on the initial crank of the day. after that it cranks everytime. I am only assuming that this is the fault of worn out door jamb switches. just wondering what you all think. thanks in advance. Tate

 

[acs]

Interested to hear what the Guru's have to say about this one. I have a similar problem, but only while in motion. I too wonder whether it's just the door jam switch that's faulty.

 

[Kernal]

For the faulty light switch a new OEM part is only about $20.

 

[Tate]

ok update,
i just went out to crank the cruiser for the first time today. got it going and turned on the the switch to "door" and the light came on. then depressed the drivers side door switch, and it went off. continued to hold the switch down and i could hear the relay or some switch click and the light came back on. i tried releasing the door switch and depressing it again and the light continued to stay on. Maybe this info will help.

 

[Brentbba]

I agree with Kernal. Sounds like you need to change that door switch. I haven't changed the front door ones, just the rear, but I'd think access would be pretty easy behind the plastic cover between the two doors and that's easy to remove. Call CDAN or BENO and get the new switch.

As a test, do any of the other door switches act the same way?

 

[NLXTACY]

It's just one bolt and a one wire pigtail to remove. Pretty simple. Just remove and inspect. I bet you could easily repair yourself.

 

[Tate]

Thanks yall
I ordered all four after testing each of them. They were all pretty touchy. By that I mean I could barely touch them or jiggle them and the light would flicker. Then stay on continuously or turn off. I'll let yall know tomorrow when I replace them if this was the culprit.

 

[Brentbba]

IIRC, when I replaced one, I took it apart and found that the 'innards' that broke was a plastic piece that acts as a plunger. It breaks and can wobble around. If it stays in alignment everything is ok, but if it slips in any direction you get the flickering, etc. It's been several years, but on the one I 'should' replace the piece in the rubber that compresses just wobbles around.

What's the going 'mud' rate on these suckers?

 

[Stevesnj]

Try just cleaning the inside with contact cleaner. just may be gunked up.

 

[Tate]

Replaced all four easily and I CAN SEE THE LIGHT!! Thanks All for your input.

 

[blkprj80]

I'm going to say you probably didn't fix your battery drain problem.

If you look at the dash with everything off and closed, do you see the "door open" light? Does it work when you open any door?

You heard a relay click? Sounds like you may have an alarm system maybe?

 

[Tate]

Well. I don't see a door open light but then again I have never seen that light on my dash.
However I do have a non working alarm on the truck. The siren is there under the hood and it does have wires to it. The battery has a wire with a fuse (fuse is taken out) going from the pos to the neg terminal. I wondered about this but haven't made it that far in the elimination process. Any advice would be greatly accepted. Thanks.