2008 Sebring Touring - door ajar warning stays on and drains the battery.

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12-08-2021, 07:48 AM

Morgan2021

Junior Member

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Join Date: Dec 2021

Posts: 2

2008 Sebring Touring - door ajar warning stays on and drains the battery.

Hello everyone,

I have 2 issues that I’m trying to solve:

The rear driver side door seems to have some sort of issue with the sensor. The door ajar message shows up on the dash. I can get it to go away for a few seconds by opening and closing the door a few times. However, it comes right back on and drains the battery overnight. I’ve looked at the locking mechanism and wiring in the door to see if I can see anything obvious without any luck. I took it to a mechanic and they couldn’t reproduce the issue…of course. I think it was because the temperature was getting warmer out when I took it in. A few months passed by without any issues. When autumn came around, the same problem showed up again. I’m guessing there is moisture inside the door causing the sensor to not work. I shut off all of the interior lights when shutting off the car to stop the battery drain with no success. Is there anyway to disable the sensor?
Last spring when the issue above showed up, I would jumpstart it until one day it would no longer start. No power anywhere while hooked up to another car. No dash lights, radio, interior lights. Completely dead. I looked at the battery and saw that the posts were corroded. I replaced the battery and the terminals. The car would start fine after replacing it. A couple of days ago, I tried to jump start the car again and the same thing happened. Completely dead. Nothing at all. No dash lights. No odometer. No crank. Nothing. Im not sure what to do at this point.

any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

12-08-2021, 09:25 AM

dcotter0579

Senior Member

Join Date: May 2008

Location: Detroit suburb

Posts: 5,649

The sensor is in the door latch. Try replacing the latch. In the meantime, pop out the IOD fuse to prevent battery drain.

12-08-2021, 10:32 AM

Morgan2021

Junior Member

Thread Starter

Join Date: Dec 2021

Posts: 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcotter0579

The sensor is in the door latch. Try replacing the latch. In the meantime, pop out the IOD fuse to prevent battery drain.

Just got it jumpstarted. I had to clean the negative post and cables where they attach to the body. That allowed me to get it running.

I popped up the IOD fuse like you suggested.

thank you!