96 Ford Van-how to deactivate dome light activation when locked door handle pulled?

[jimtmcdaniels]

Say does anyone know how to deactivate dome light from coming on when my 96 Ford van is locked and someone pulls on a door handle?

This seems to be a feature some automakers did for a short time.
I guess as a courtesy light and to make sure no one was hiding in your vehicle from a horror movie scene?....

This feature is very undesirable now that window breaking addict thieves looking to see objects in our vehicles.

Wonder if there's an easy way to turn this off.

Thank you

Jim

[JWA]

There is or should be a switch inside the door shell actuated by the exterior door handle's operation you could disconnect. This was a feature on a '97 E-250 I owned, not present on my 2000, 2003 or 2005 E-Series vans.

Because my aftermarket alarm is activated when the dome light is powered on for a short while I thought this would be a good idea, anyone testing for unlocked doors would find the alarm triggered instead.

Disconnecting the handle switch from the door wiring harness should do the trick.

HTH

[jimtmcdaniels]

Thank you well
That's not going to be too easy because I'll have to do all the 6 door handles than..

What I may need to do is install an alarm system which also has a warning sound which I can attach to the door handle wire. So that if someone pulls on a door handle, a short warning alarm is sounded.

[posplayr]

I would guess if there are 4 door handle switches that they all tie together at a common point going to the control box for interior light controls .

You need the factory wiring diagrams to check.

[jimtmcdaniels]

Right ok.

Also hmm I guess this signal doesn’t signal anything else then that I can think of…

[posplayr]

Originally Posted by jimtmcdaniels

Right ok.

Also hmm I guess this signal doesn’t signal anything else then that I can think of…

I have the 1997 Econoline manual. Page 94-1 "Illuminated Entry" has an "Illuminated Entry Module" There is a single Door Handle Input.
Wire Color is W/LB (White/Light Blue) (Pin 2 of 8).

The unit is located at the low center of the dash next to (the driver's side ) of the radio.

Page 151-12 F6

[jimtmcdaniels]

Wow good info thank you

Hope to get to this kind of stuff this winter!

[posplayr]

Originally Posted by jimtmcdaniels

Wow good info thank you

Hope to get to this kind of stuff this winter!

As another alternative, you could put a switch on the door switch wire (under the dash) so that if you want to disable the door lock activation you can switch that on or off.

[jimtmcdaniels]

Yes thank you
I’ll figure out the best thing now that I know the facts and options.

[JWA]

In my reply to you on FTE there's a link to a wiring diagrams book for your year chassis. It's very possible a '96 & '97 can share a schematic for this feature but Ford is also known to change such things "just because.". Here's the one I linked on FTE: https://www.ebay.com/itm/185226825224

FWIW that's not a horrible price as listed but but I believe the seller has or had a Best Offer. Since I put it in my watch list he's sent me an offer of $47 plus free shipping.

If you'll be doing more electrical work or troubleshooting these sorts of things are massively handy to have around.

BTW please let us know what your final solution is---could be helpful to others at some point.