Hi guys, 1998 dodge ram, 318 automatic trans...

The problem is not new, but we are trying to sell it and two days ago we had a really heavy rain. In the past to solve the problem, we would just leave the windows open and let it 'dry out'. I'm not sure where the water is coming from, maybe the door seals as it is the extended cab?

Anyway, the problem is the dome light stays on until the key is put in the on position, so the only way to keep the battery from draining is to either pull the iod fuse or battery cable.


What is getting wet to cause the lights to stay on? I've tried pulling the door plungers but the lights stay on, so this leads me to believe they are not what is getting wet.


Thanks in advance!

 

you got an air compressor? try blowing compressed air down into the door to accelerate the drying process. otherwise maybe inspect the door wiring harness going into the door or remove the door panel to see whats going on (although i'm not sure what you're looking for). probably looking for two skinned or pinched wires in the harness that short when wet.

you might could untape the harness around the door area to break the short and find it.

water might be entering the harness in the window area, and then wicking back into the the door jamb area. i assume the dome light wires stop at the jamb. unless, they go all the way back to the lock to come on automatically.

 

I didn't even think to open up the door panel. Right now I have the carpet pulled back and the sill plate removed as the carpet was completely saturated. I didn't notice any bad wires, thinking maybe the water was running down the A-pillar. The odd part is that after a day or two, the water drys and the dome light works as normal. As I said this has happened before and always with the same result.

 

got an air compressor?

 

my initial understanding was that you had a water problem only in the door itself.

but if you have wet carpet and water in the cab, i'd ignore the door and the door panel and look at the plunger and its wiring which is all inside the cab, and not in the door.

the plunger has 2 little o-rings. one for the open position and one for the closed position. inspect these and spray the hell out of them with WD40.

next remove the kick panel and find the wiring into the plunger. blow it with compressed air or hair dryer. if that doesn't work, slit open the tape and spray the hell out if with WD40 and/or more hair dryer.