Dome Light Problem

The interior lights on my 99 Windstar stay on after closing the doors sometimes, I have tried spraying the door latches with WD 40 with no help. I have noticed that if I adjust the tilt wheel the lights will go out.
Anyone seen this problem?

Welcome to the wonderful world of Windstar!!! (Ha-Ha) I have the same problem with mine. I cleaned all the contacts with emery cloth, WD 40, PB blaster, etc. and nothing seems to work. One thing you don't want to do though is pull the fuse for the dome light. Your power windows will also quit. (They don't tell you that in the owners manual)

Do your interior lights go out after you drive for about 1/2 mile? Oddly enough we had a massive cold front go thru Central PA the other night (-10 f) and my horn started blowing all by itself!!! Of course this happened at 3:45 AM!! I ran out to the van pulled out the owners manual to find which fuse to pull and finally jerked it out to get the horn to stop blowing... Then I thought to myself, great now the dome light will be on for a while and kill my battery in this extreme cold. Well to my surprise as soon as I shut the door... Bingo the light went out and now to my amazement the dashboard door ajar light went out and the automatic door locks started to work again!!! No more problem with my dome light! Of course my horn doesn't work but I guess it's a trade off. Oh yeah one more bonus. My rear windshield wiper started to work again. It hadn't worked since the dome light problem.

Well Good Luck, I know this doesn't help much but it does make for a few laughs.
Kenny

Don't forget to verify the rear hatch switches....both of them.

My wife's 98 Windstar been doing this off and on for 3 years. I replaced the rear and sliding door switches but the problem returned. I have tried all the tricks listed but the problem always returned eventually. :banghead: After getting totally fed up with this I finally went to the Radio Shack and bought a switch, an inline fuse holder, 15 amp fuse and some spade lugs. I had to grind the width of the spade lug to match the width of the contacts on the fuse so it could plug in to the fuse box in place of the original fuse. Wire up the switch, the in line fuse holder and the spade lugs and plug the spades into the fuse box in place of the fuse. Next attach the switch at the bottom of the dash using one of the screws already there. Now when the light's don't shut off a push of the switch shuts them off. If you need to open the window another push on the switch and power is restored to operate the windows.
You would think that Ford would FIX this problem. :shakehead

I have started to just turn off the interior lights with the headlight switch by rotating the wheel for the headlights all the way down. At least this keeps from running the battery down.
The one thing that I have noticed that may be the key is that when I notice the light staying on I move the tilt steering wheel. Sometimes it takes a good hard jerk up or down but the lights do go out. Seems like maybe a bad connection in the wiring in the steering column from the ignition switch maybe.
Does this sound plausable?

The ignition switch can wear down and not click all the way off, if you aren't careful. My '97 winny can be started and the key removed while still running, so I have to make sure it is fully into the off position lest I run my batteries down.

Mine just started this annoying interior light thing. I've tried WD-40 in all the latches including the back and sliding doors, no joy. I have read where lubing up the plastic square spring loaded sliders helps. I tried that too, and when it didn't work, I figured I would take them off to see if I could do anything there. Turns out there are no wires connected to them. Are they magnetic relays or something? The door ajar light stays on, but there is no chime.

I have been plagued with the same damned problem. I have narrowed it down to being the sliding door. (When I connect the upper and lower contacts on the door post, the light goes out.) Does anybody know exactly where the switch in the door is located? There is a latch mechanism on the front and back of the sliding door. I have tried spraying with WD-40, and this worked for a few days, but the problem is back.

Clean of the the metal plates and the 4 pin contacts- (on sliding door) I wouldnt use any thing abrasive- Just a good cleaner like brake cleaner (dont spay wires) and a scrubby(plastic). Those plates/pins seem to where out and loose conection, you may/may not need to replace them. get used scraper!
(but if the lights do go out when you move your column- it hase to be wiring(or swicth ) in around stearing column.

I sprayed the door latch with WD-40 last night, and it's back to normal (that means it works) again. It seems to have the problem when there is a lot of moisture in the air. If I use a short piece of wire and touch the top pad on the door post with the bottom one, the lights go out, so I know the problem is either in the door latch sensor or the 4-pin connector. If it keeps acting up, I'm going to remove the the 4-pin connector from the sliding door and install a jumper wire between the top and bottom pins, and re-install the connector. That way, I will still have the interior lights come on when the door is open. The only downside is that the door ajar warning won't be as accurate, but at this stage, I don't really care!

I am having a similar problem with my dome light, except that I get the annoying chime as well. I thought that I had it figured out. If I put the key in the ignition before the dome light turns off automatically, then I am guaranteed to have the light AND the chime stuck on while I drive. Both turn off when I go more than 10 mph, but the chime comes back on whenever I stop at a stop light - it is driving me insane!
But when I wait for the light to turn off then the chime and the dome light stay off. Except that now it is happening other times too. Sometimes when I open the door the light stays off and then turns on when I put the key in the ignition. A friend of mine who is a svc. manager for Ford said he thought the problem would require replacing the Electronic Control Module. I will try cleaning all the contacts, maybe that will work.