[Chopper]

2006 Dodge grand caravan sxt door open light comes on with interior light while driving over bumps. It looks like when you open a door the interior light comes on and the open door light comes on the dash board.

I cannot find the door switch for the doors, the must have used a different method for the door switch on this model. The older models had a switch that pushes in when the door is closed.

It looks like a loose connection somewhere but I don't know where to look.

Can some one point me in the right direction?

Thanks

 

[ImperialCrown]

The switch is part of the latch. All doors must be flush to the body when closed.
The DRB III has the capability to see each door switch state separately in order to identify which door is triggering the light.
The sliding door rubber stops/bumpers must be present. Some had the possibility of being missing.

 

[Chopper]

The switch is part of the latch. All doors must be flush to the body when closed.
The DRB III has the capability to see each door switch state separately in order to identify which door is triggering the light.
The sliding door rubber stops/bumpers must be present. Some had the possibility of being missing.

Thanks for the reply, now I know where to look. I had no idea it was there.
It certainly looks like a switch in one of the doors is not working properly when closed and the vibration while driving causes it to act up triggering the lights in the interior to come on while driving.

 

[chuzz]

I don't know about on your van, but I've had some that I was able to lightly sand the contact points on the latch and door and take care of the light coming on. You might give that a try.

 

[Chopper]

I don't know about on your van, but I've had some that I was able to lightly sand the contact points on the latch and door and take care of the light coming on. You might give that a try.

Thanks Chuzz, on my model there is no such thing, on the older model they had those contacts two stationary on the frame and two spring loaded contacts on door. My older T& C 1997 Had it but the 2006 Model got rid of that and you cannot see it anywhere, apparantly it is in the latch/locking assembly.

This this is driving me nuts.

 

[chuzz]

Sorry to hear that man, I wasn't sure when the change was made. Some of the others will have to try to help you out, but I suspect what Imperial Crown said is most likely what's going on. He knows his stuff.

 

[ImperialCrown]

The manual and power sliding doors have a wiring harness in a plastic 'chain' under the doors. It flexes as the door opens and closes. Wires can fatigue and break after many cycles, but that would be an 'open' and not turn on a courtesy light (it would stay off instead). Not a loose connection, but a switch 'tickling' on at times of body/door flex.
A short to ground or (more likely) a door or liftgate switch is briefly closing the contacts and bringing the lights on. This can be a mechanical adjustment problem between the door latch and the body as it flexes over bumps. Finding out which door is doing it is 90% of the diagnosis.
Once the problem door is identified, a closer look at the latch switch and wiring is necessary. There is no real adjustment of the switch itself and if the door striker and hinges are in proper alignment, a latch replacement would probably be the fix. Pushing out against each closed door and liftgate from inside with your foot may get the light to come on and you can then identify the offending door for a closer look.
Both front and power sliding doors and power liftgate also have control modules that are addressable with the Chrysler dealer scan tool (and possibly other premium aftermarket scan tools). A road test and a helper to watch the door inputs display will identify which latch switch closes when the lights flicker on over a bump (open switch=off, closed switch=on). This probably won't set a fault code.

 

[bguy]

Any door which rattles or is harder to close than it used to be would be the first suspect. A missing piece of weather strip can be enough to let a door move around when shut.

 

[Chopper]

Thanks for the input ImperialCrown and bguy, before I saw your replies, I took the tailgate lock assembly apart cleaned and lubricated the mechanism, cleaned the wiring harness connectors and inspected.

I could not find anything wrong with the assembly it has a switch in there that when the tail gate is closed the switch opens, and vice versa.

At this juncture I am not sure what the problem is but I will try the tip ImperialCrown suggested.

I will let you guys know what I find as I am sure this is a fairly common problem.

This Vehicle seems to be plagued with electrical issues as I have fixed a couple so far.

Thanks guys.