Ok so I went to come to work this morning and when I opened my door the window dropped like usual, but when I closed it, it didn’t go up and I saw my driver’s door open light on the dash. I tried opening and closing the door and still showed open. I got out and tried actuating the door mechanism and it showed closed. I opened the mechanism again and got in and closed the door. Still says open. I had to leave so I just left with it saying open. Of course when I got out at work I had to manually raise the window so it would be sealed, luckily it’s raining today drrrrrrr!

 

The primary suspect would be a failing battery. The secondary suspect would be a failing door latch assembly microswitch....

 

Have you tried a window reset? Ignition on, roll window down until you hear a click, then up again until you hear a click. Also get your battery fully charged to avoid other issues.

 

Yes I did the window reset several times. I'll have to check the battery voltage, but I think it's fine. I'm leaning towards the door switch, but I'm going to have to look at it. It works if I push on the door, then unlatches again. I went out and threw the latch several times with a screwdriver at break and shot some we in the mechanism. I found that if I push on it and hit lock it locks, but then within a couple of seconds the alarm starts going off. I got it to close with the window up, so hopefully it doesn't drop back down. I'll go look at lunch.

 

As I recall both the 97 and 98s' puddle light is tied to the latches' micro switch. So is the dash display.

Iow sitting in driver seat doors closed, you should be getting a Drivers door open message, regardless if ignition is on or off - puddle light should be on if switch is faulty.

Mentioned puddle light for 2 reasons:
1) switch diagnostics
2) battery drain

Don't forget that #2 will quickly complicate performance and diagnosis.

Thinking back when it happened to my 1998, the window tended to keep dropping.

The fact that fiddling with the latch temporarily cures things makes me suspect the switch, but the good news is battery reset and window reset cures this the vast majority of the time.

John

 

Yeah in messing with it at lunch now, raining of course, I came out and it was going up and down every once in a while. I got in on the passenger side and put the window up. It seems to be staying for now. Letting it run a little for some power replenishment. I'm really leaning towards the switch\mechanism being bad. It doesn't look hard to replace, but we'll see

 

For some definition of "hard" I suppose

Replacing the microswitch is no cakewalk, especially on the driver's side with the key linkage to disconnect.

I'm not trying to be a raincloud here, but just want to temper expectations before you dive into a project that isn't a breeze.

 

Ah gotcha drrrrrrrr

 

+1 with Volkris, I'd call it more intimidating than difficult. Afterwards you'll be like, wow that took a while (lots of pita steps), but it wasn't nearly as hard as it looked...especially with rev Sam's video and all the notes on here.

No, it's not a 20 minute job, but you can certainly do it with out a problem.

John

 

We’ll see how long it lasts, but I looked in my spare parts area and found a right side assembly, of course it was missing the micro switch! Drrrrr! I rooted around a little more and lo and behold I found a left assembly! I tested it and it seems to be working. I looked where the micro switch is and thought hmmm maybe I’ll try shooting some electrical components cleaner in there and then some silicone spray. I went to the car and started it and it still showed driver’s door open. I took my cleaner and blasted it then worked the mechanism a few times. I let it dry then shot some silicone spray in. I actuated the latch and the light went off! Wooohoooooo! I did have to reteach the window, which doesn’t surprise me because I was messing with stuff. Like I said, we’ll see, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

 

Unfortunately, lubing the door latch assembly is a temporary fix. I did the same thing throughout the latter half of 2018 and into early 2019. Generously lubing the latch assembly would relieve the issue for several months at a time. Eventually it had no effect and that is when Wayne (cjd777) and I replaced the microswitches in April 2019. Presto, the issue was finally resolved....

 

Where did you find your microswitches? I saw some old threads but I figured I'd ask since yours was more recent

 

Hey you might get lucky. I had this problem 3 or 4 yrs ago. Trouble cleared while I was working on it. I had the latch removed and all of a sudden it worked ok. Reassembled and never had an issue again.

Hope you are as lucky.

John

 

I have the drivers door open warning message and my local Indy tells me I need a new door lock mechanism. Problem is you can no longer get them and have to rely on latches from scrapped cars. Can anyone confirm this. Thanks.
Mike

 

From what I've seen they are discontinued. I've seen used ones on eBay going for $180! If it's just the microswitch they can be replaced for not near as much

 

Here's the switch from Mouser electronics.

Do a quick search. Price is about $7.00

 

Awesome! Thanks very much!

 

Be sure to order two of them. You will want an extra one on hand for when the passenger door latch assembly decides to get flaky as well....

 

I've just done the exact micro switch replacement and it all went well EXCEPT that after a sound door thud I now have the Door Open warning light on, puddle light etc. The Omron switch you get needs to be bent to match the same height that the one comes out. I did that but I don't think I did it enough. It looked similar but sadly I should have added a smidgeon more for good measure. See the many great articles, google - xkr door ajar micro switch

With a torch you can see the end of the switch in the door lock if you manually close the latch. If I then use a small screw driver and push the switch lever end a tad it opens the switch and is where it should be. I went to the good side to validate this too. Once you have closed the latch, open the door pull and use a screw driver to pull the latch back open again.

Re time I note the Jag TSB says it should take 45 minutes! It took me several hours due to a few fiddly things I hadn't expected.
25 & 30mm Torx, 7mm socket/spanner (my trusty adjustable just wouldn't get into the space), screw driver. Small thin tool (driver) to remove the plastic cap that covers the screw behind the interior door release. The plastic is 5mm or so deep so needs to be prised out rather than sprung out.
What to use to keep new switch in place. I used two screws mentioned elsewhere but as they were such a tight fit I used a drill to shave off a tad of plastic by making the switch holes a smidgen larger. The two door latch holes had to be countersunk, so just used a larger drill in the small holes to do that.
Take a picture of the switch BEFORE you remove it (it comes out in a flash) so you know how to put the new one back.
As all articles state - disconnect the battery if you ever put your hands near the window mechanism as you can activate the window mechanism by accident!
The window guide rail took me hours to figure out. A small pice of rubber at the top had slipped down and thus I couldn't get the edge backing the silver metal block that slides up and down the guide edge (the rail edge gets slid into that sliver metal block and thus the window slides up and down the edge)

Now for me, second time around, to take the door trim off, remove window rail guide 30mm Torx top, 2 x 25mm torx bottom, pull with force at the bottom, the rod that comes down to the bottom ball joint, remove lock cover (7mm nut and spring clip that I prised inwards to the car.) then carefully remove the next rod. Push down the place plastic collar to allow the top half metal rod to come out of the plastic bottom. (I had to wd40 it as it was pretty stuck. I actually took both 7mm nuts off which frees the door handle and let me free the rod from the handle (note side and position before doing to eas re assembly) , take out the lock and then get the black collar down and part making the refit easy.) And free the door lock itself (3 x 30mm torx) I hope to do all that this time in 20 minutes. Take out two screws holding my switch, bend the lever a few mm more and then put everything back.I suspect the reverse will still take longer, perhaps 30-40 mins "if" all goes well. I note Gus threw away the door lock metal guard plate. It took me 30 minutes of fiddling (might go in first time but who knows) to get it back and realigned so can understand why he threw it!

I'd set aside a nice warm day to do the job.

PS: I used two of those Red Solder Heat Shrink Sleeves to join the new switch wire to the old ones. Just used a gas candle lighter to heat the solder and all went well. Halfords (UK car parts store) charged close to £2 each v's a ton of them for that price on eBay!