shackf16
New Member
I'm relatively new to this forum but it has been a big help reading through a ton of threads about EVAP issues and door ajar problems. I have replaced all 4 door jamb switches in my '03 Eddie Bauer over the years, and some more than once. The most recent issue proved to be 3 of the 4 switches bad - only the rear driver's door worked correctly. I picked up a 2-pack of passenger side switches off of Amazon and switched them out last week, but it hit me that there should be a better way to do this. I scoured YouTube and saw a video where a guy disassembled a cheap magnetic door alarm sensor and used the pickup portion only to ground out the circuit inside the kick panel. To do that he taped several small hobby magnets to the outside of his door frame to get the pickup to ground out. after he spliced it into the sensor wire. This was kind of ingenious, but WAY too much work for what it accomplished. I am planning to simply use some "old school" plunger style door jamb switches to accomplish the same effect. A 4-pack on Amazon was less than half the cost of a single proper door jamb switch that mounts into the door latch mechanism. Those are a pain to swap out, and lubricating them won't work when a stupid switch literally falls apart.
I was able to find what should be the correct door jamb switch wiring diagram by using the search function and spending a ton of time scrolling. I'm going to leave all the functional and broken switches in the door latch and instead splice into the sensor wire in the kick panel before it goes to the switch in the latch. When the sensor wire goes to ground, the system thinks the door is closed. I will have to drill a hole into the door jamb itself to do this, so I'll make sure I get it sealed up well to avoid water intrusion. This is such a simple and much more permanent fix than continuing to replace that stupid switch inside the door. Ford's engineers should be forced to replace these for all the owners out there and then they would come up with a better design. (It's almost like they wanted to keep the Dealer's Service Departments busy...)
I'll pop back in here with some photos of the installation. I hope this helps some other folks who are as tired of this as I am. It will also make checking for future failures much easier!
Cheers,
Shack
I was able to find what should be the correct door jamb switch wiring diagram by using the search function and spending a ton of time scrolling. I'm going to leave all the functional and broken switches in the door latch and instead splice into the sensor wire in the kick panel before it goes to the switch in the latch. When the sensor wire goes to ground, the system thinks the door is closed. I will have to drill a hole into the door jamb itself to do this, so I'll make sure I get it sealed up well to avoid water intrusion. This is such a simple and much more permanent fix than continuing to replace that stupid switch inside the door. Ford's engineers should be forced to replace these for all the owners out there and then they would come up with a better design. (It's almost like they wanted to keep the Dealer's Service Departments busy...)
I'll pop back in here with some photos of the installation. I hope this helps some other folks who are as tired of this as I am. It will also make checking for future failures much easier!
Cheers,
Shack
