Door latch switches

[Soda-Bread]

Hello! I have a 1995 Ford ranger. It does not have automatic locks. I’m trying to fix my door ajar light problem and in the process I found that my drivers side door latch has two switches- one is the door ajar switch, the other is a mystery. I can’t find any info online about what it could be. Does anyone know what the second switch is for? The door ajar switch looks like the one on the right, the mystery switch looks like the one on the left.

Thanks!

 

[Brain75]

There was a tech article I read here that addressed the VERY common issue of dome light left on due to a door latch switch and I though it covered everything to do with doors/latches/switches (but seems to be 3rd gen and later) - my 2nd gen and all the 2nd gens in the 'yard I have seen have standard short throw pin switches in the jamb. I just searched and seached but could not turn it up...

 

[Brain75]

found it, not a tech article, just a thread:

My dome light will not shut off! (fix inside)

Seems a common Ranger issue is with the dome light never ever shutting off, it's actually a very easy fix. Most will tell you to throw some penetrating oil the door switch, most cars have a peg or something similar which presses in and disconnects the switch (to turn the light off), Rangers do...

www.therangerstation.com

skipping your question, and going straight to your issue (door alight jar), starting with post #9 I see people are indicating this same fix solved their issue....

 

[Soda-Bread]

right thanks, yea there’s plenty of threads about the light issue, but I only found one thread from 2004 asking about what the second switch does and it’s unanswered. The mystery switch does not affect the door lights like the door ajar switch does. I put a meter on the terminals and one side is grounded, the other side was grounded and then momentarily not grounded, periodically with about a 1 second frequency, with the car off. I thought this was strange. It must be going to some system monitoring it even with the car off, but I don’t know what.

 

[Soda-Bread]

I figured it out. It’s a component of the anti theft system. It must be there to sense if the door is locked.

FACTORY ANTI THEFT SYS (horn) - Ranger-Forums - The Ultimate Ford Ranger Resource

Interior Semi-Tech - FACTORY ANTI THEFT SYS (horn) - Well here I am again this is Larry Bran New Problem today. Well having lunch in MacDonald My anti theft system triggered and the horn started blowing. I first thought someone had opened the door or something like that but then I realize no one...

www.ranger-forums.com

Hopefully this will help someone else wondering the same thing down the line.

 

[jamesnelson101]

Thanks for posting... I recently took my latch out and cleaned everything and couldn't figure that out either.