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2003 Mountaineer Interior Light Problem

7 messages,  Last post on Feb 27, 2011 at 6:50 AM

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What is this discussion about? Mercury Mountaineer, Interior, Lighting, SUV

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#1 of 7 2003 Mountaineer Interior Light Problem by dnyelator

Jan 30, 2010 (12:56 pm)

I have a 2003 Mercury Mountaineer. The interior lights come on and stay on after you turn off the vehicle. I've searched many forums and have seen people that say to spray the door latches, so I did that and still have the issue. Also saw someone post about the door ajar display. It works fine, it comes on when I open each door and goes off when I close the door. So that's suppose to eliminate a door switch problem. The only way to get the interior light to go off is to manually turn the light switch dimmer all the way down and click into the off position. So I have seen a post about a possible GEM (Generic Electronic Module) problem that could be causing this. I have one other strange behavior that leads me to believe its something like the GEM. Each time I hit the rear window defrost button, the interior light comes on, a bell sounds and the door ajar light comes on. I read that if you change out the GEM you have to upload the configuration to a scan device first. Is that the case? So do I have to go to a dealer and pay several hundred dollars to fix a light problem? Any help is very much appreciated! Thanks!

#2 of 7 Re: 2003 Mountaineer Interior Light Problem [dnyelator] by mercury2003

Mar 27, 2010 (2:27 pm)

Replying to: dnyelator (Jan 30, 2010 12:56 pm)
I have the exact same problem.. to a tee...
 
Did you find any resolution?
I hate to take it to the dealer without knowing the problem..
They want $65 an hour to look at the electrical system and then more money to fix and parts.
 
Any help would be great.
 
Thanks

#3 of 7 Re: 2003 Mountaineer Interior Light Problem [mercury2003] by dnyelator

Mar 29, 2010 (9:49 am)

Replying to: mercury2003 (Mar 27, 2010 2:27 pm)
Yep, I tore the driver's door panel off and traced all the wires and found a broken black (ground) wire that was broke. This was after I tried the spray in the locks, removing the boot on the back latch and looking inside the boot of the drivers door. It's a pain, but that's what it was. I spliced the wire and everything works like new. Now my son's explorer started doing the same thing. Ford obviously has a problem with this.

#4 of 7 Re: 2003 Mountaineer Interior Light Problem [dnyelator] by ks45

Jun 17, 2010 (3:06 pm)

Replying to: dnyelator (Mar 29, 2010 9:49 am)
dnyelator do you remember how you took off the door panel, how many screws are there and if any are hidden or not etc? I need to remove the front door panels on a friends 04 and just looking for some info before getting into it.

#5 of 7 Re: 2003 Mountaineer Interior Light Problem [ks45] by dnyelator

Jun 20, 2010 (1:08 pm)

Replying to: ks45 (Jun 17, 2010 3:06 pm)
Sorry, I just saw this. I remember I did a google search, but never came up with the exact directions. I do remember I popped off the small panel around the door pull handle and there was a screw behind that, then I snapped off the panel that held the electical locks/windows and unplugged all of those connections, then I think I just lifted up on the entire door panel and it came off. I hope this helps.

#6 of 7 Re: 2003 Mountaineer Interior Light Problem [dnyelator] by kchambers

Feb 12, 2011 (3:20 pm)

Replying to: dnyelator (Jan 30, 2010 12:56 pm)
I had the same exact problem. went to dealer. They wanted $500+ plus to look at it and "fix" it...then the guy took pity on me, outside of warranty, two kids in diapers in car screaming, and my look of dismay with so many problems that would cost a ridiculous amount of money to fix b/c all were out of warranty...anyway! The guy whispered to me that I could spray the latches of the car doors real good with WD40, opening and closing the latches quickly in order to really get the oil in there. IT WORKED!!! That was 3 years ago (I have a 2003 Merc Mountaineer I bought new), no problems since.
 
I have also had the tailgate support beam (not sure what to call it but it is the bottom frame of the glass tail gate that pops up?) crack. I have seen so many other Mountaineers w/ the same problem (Ford Explorers too). The dealer flat out refused to fix it. Said not their problem. I really wish it was. It must be a design flaw if it happens to so many of these cars.
 
The other big problem is that it stalls out now, randomly, and then will start back up. Mechanic says they won't be able to find the problem until the car completely dies. This type of intermittent problem is so hard to find, BUT COMMON! There were 32 other posts on that topic. What do I do? I feel like I should just get rid of the car...what do you think?

#7 of 7 kchambers by eddiejt

Feb 27, 2011 (6:50 am)

I have a 2003 mountaineer that stalled regularly and restarted after a few seconds. I traced my problem to clogged fuel injectors. The amount of fuel needed to keep the car running just was not flowing fast enough. This could be easily fixed or very expensive to fix. The easy fix is to put some injector cleaner in your gas tank when you fill up. The expensive fix if that doesn't work, is to track down the bad injector or injectors and have them replaced.

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