New owner of a 97 Mark VIII, and have some questions..

I love this car... very fun to drive, and extremely nice to cruise around in.

But.... I am running into the Door Ajar problem. I know this is a common problem, and have read many threads on the subject.

Here's the problem.... the WD40 trick DOES NOT work. I've been spraying and spraying, opening and closing... to no avail.

It's not recognizing that the driver door is closed... which means the interior lights won't go off... which drains my battery.. which means to drive my ride, I have to either get a jump or hook up a battery charger.

Does anyone have a diagram or illustration or picture of where this damned sensor is? Is it easy to replace?

Well if you were spraying WD-40 and you don't know where the sensor is... what exactly were you spraying?! lol


It is in the middle of the door jam (between the two hinges) and it has a little black rod sticking out of it... worse comes to worse replace the whole thing it shouldn't cost more than $20.

There are two separate switches. One for the courtesy lamps in the A-pillar frame between the door hinges and one for the 'door ajar' warning which is integral of the door latch assembly. The WD-40 'fix' is primarily for the switch in the door latch. Usually the drivers side door latch is the culprit, but it may be the passenger side as well.

Yep.. it was the driver door sensor. Went down to the local Lincoln dealer and picked up the part for about $15 dollars.

I am glad that I replaced it.. but DAMN was it a bitch to replace!! You would think that a part so integral to your vehicle wouldn't be put in such a small, cramped space!