2003 Toyota RAV4 interior lights

OHIOST

MEMBER
2003 TOYOTA RAV4

Electrical problem
2003 Toyota Rav4 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic

The indicator light on the dash came on a couple of days ago indicating one of my doors were open. I checked all the doors a couple of times and made sure that they were closed. The light dimmed but never went off. Now tonight I came home and the interior lights in the car were on. I checked the doors and they were all closed and the interior light went off. A couple of hours later the interior light came back on but all the doors were closed. Then an hour later my car alarm went off but no one was near the car and the doors were all closed and secure. (Not sure if the alarm is related) I think it has something to do with maybe electrical short but dont know where to start or if I can fix it on my own and obviously a shop will charge greatly to run diagnostics.

1 Reply

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Hi ohiost,

Thank you for the donation.

One of the door switch is not being closed fully when the doors are closed and it could be due to the doors out of adjustment.

To diagnose which switch is causing the problem, open each door at a time and manually use your hand to depress the door switch. Any door switch that turns the dome light off is the one you ned to check.

Check the switch rubber for wear an tear and remove it to check if necessaery.

This problem would cause the alarm to go off intermittently when the switch is avtivated by vibrations around.