Door open warning and ignition ring lights on all the time

Hi, Our 1998 Hiace Camper (Jap import to the UK) has the door open light on the dash lit all the time. This happened a few weeks ago. Since then the little illuminated ring around the ignition key is also lit all the time. Not sure if these issues are connected. Not sure where to start without a wiring diagram. Any suggestions would be appreciated. It is draining the battery.

It is not the pillar switches for the driver and passenger doors and I dont think there was ever one for the sliding or rear doors.

Desperate to fix as i am looking to sell.

Hi - the sliding and rear doors will set this off - if it were the front doors, the lights in the door panels would activate.

I had this exact issue and it turned out to be the rear hatch. I'm assuming the camper version isn't different.

There is a contact switch towards the rear of the sliding door opening - in the pillar at the back. When the door closes and swings in at the back, it pushes in the switch.

For the rear door/hatch, the switch is build into the latch on the door.

Check the main courtesy light in the roof - it should have three positions. "Off", "Door Open" and "On". We have a small light in the roof at the back, by the rear hatch. It has a two-way switch next to it - "Off" or "Door Open". There may be a very similar light and switch in the step for the sliding door too.

If either of the doors are open - and the lights are set to "Door Open" - all will illuminate (main, rear and step).

I would suspect the rear door first. If you have the same, try hitting the switch to turn the light on. If it was set to off, and it now lights, then you know the door open circuit is active.

If it does illuminate, make sure the sliding door is closed and use a large screwdriver to 'close' the trigger in the rear door latch - as if it's hit the striking plate at the bottom of the van. If the light goes off, you know it's that latch not closing properly when you bring the door down. If that doesn't work - it may be the sliding door - with the rear still closed, find the push switch and see if that's behaving as you expect. If both look OK, then it's probably more related to the wiring.

For me it was the rear latch - I had assumed the rear light switch was on or off - not door activated. When the rear door came down, it didn't slam closed properly and there was still a bit of play - the burst catch was holding the door closed. Annoyingly, neither the striking plate or the latch are adjustable as they are in some cars (well, mine weren't) but I undid and re-tightened the striking plate, with just enough movement so that the door catches if I close it firmly and don't let it bounce. You can get replacement latches but they're not cheap. There are cheap Aliexpress and ebay options but they look a bit flimsy.

Good luck

g00se wrote:

Hi - the sliding and rear doors will set this off - if it were the front doors, the lights in the door panels would activate.

I had this exact issue and it turned out to be the rear hatch. I'm assuming the camper version isn't different.

There is a contact switch towards the rear of the sliding door opening - in the pillar at the back. When the door closes and swings in at the back, it pushes in the switch.

For the rear door/hatch, the switch is build into the latch on the door.

Check the main courtesy light in the roof - it should have three positions. "Off", "Door Open" and "On". We have a small light in the roof at the back, by the rear hatch. It has a two-way switch next to it - "Off" or "Door Open". There may be a very similar light and switch in the step for the sliding door too.

If either of the doors are open - and the lights are set to "Door Open" - all will illuminate (main, rear and step).

I would suspect the rear door first. If you have the same, try hitting the switch to turn the light on. If it was set to off, and it now lights, then you know the door open circuit is active.

If it does illuminate, make sure the sliding door is closed and use a large screwdriver to 'close' the trigger in the rear door latch - as if it's hit the striking plate at the bottom of the van. If the light goes off, you know it's that latch not closing properly when you bring the door down. If that doesn't work - it may be the sliding door - with the rear still closed, find the push switch and see if that's behaving as you expect. If both look OK, then it's probably more related to the wiring.

For me it was the rear latch - I had assumed the rear light switch was on or off - not door activated. When the rear door came down, it didn't slam closed properly and there was still a bit of play - the burst catch was holding the door closed. Annoyingly, neither the striking plate or the latch are adjustable as they are in some cars (well, mine weren't) but I undid and re-tightened the striking plate, with just enough movement so that the door catches if I close it firmly and don't let it bounce. You can get replacement latches but they're not cheap. There are cheap Aliexpress and ebay options but they look a bit flimsy.

Good luck

Many thanks for this - I will run through the various bits. Its a good set of stuff to go on.

I neglected to say that the door panel lights do come on but I took the bulbs out to stop the quick discharge of the battery.

Thanks again.

Ah, if it's the front door panel lights coming on - then it's related to the two front door switches - the rear doors don't activate those.

g00se wrote:

Ah, if it's the front door panel lights coming on - then it's related to the two front door switches - the rear doors don't activate those.

Thanks - saved me a job - although I am a bit perplexed! Any other thoughts welcome. Much appreciated.

Hello ‘julesh’ and welcome to the forum.

If you’re looking for a wiring diagram take a look at the long(ish) first post on my show us yours page. There’s links to one there (and it’s commonly referred to in lots of posts on here, too). There are also a few other useful resources that might help.

My van has several ‘door open’ lights on the dash and each door, as g00se mentions, has a contact switch (somewhere) to indicate if the door is shut or ajar, with courtesy etc lighting, too. If the problem is with the front doors this likely the easiest to fix. To service the contact switches remove the rubber covers on the contact switches, unscrew the fastener and extract the switch. They are easy to test and simple to replace or delete as required. They are very widely used across the Toyota range.

The contact switch can fail to work properly for several reasons including if the door has dropped with rust or wear in the hinge.

If it’s the wiring or the rear doors then this will be a bit harder but it’s just an open circuit fault and wiring isn’t too hard to follow and check.

From memory the ignition is illuminated when the van is unlocked or if the dash lights (aux) are on, but don’t quote me. On a lot of vans this bulb doesn’t work; your lucky, really. If it bugs you and you can’t fix it, it’s an easy delete.

HTH!!

Looking at the electrics diagram that does the rounds, page 68, it looks like the two front door switches are "push to break" - that is, when one of the doors is open, the plunger sticks out and the circuit connects to earth. Which suggests there will be one 'live' wire and either no other with the switch being earthed to the frame - or a second wire that goes to earth. In which case, if you can disconnect and isolate the wires going to the two switches, the lights should go off.

I may be wrong though, and if it's push to make, then connect the two wires (or earth the wire if there is just one wire) on both switches and the lights should go off.

That way, you should be able to identify if it's a dodgy switch by finding a way to turn the lights off.

Also, the diagram indicates that when one of the front doors is open. the front door courtesy lights are illuminated, as is the ignition key ring. But they are not activated by the rear and sliding doors - which only activate the internal rear lights (main, hatch and step). Both illuminate the dash door open warming light.

g00se wrote:

Looking at the electrics diagram that does the rounds, page 68, it looks like the two front door switches are "push to break" - that is, when one of the doors is open, the plunger sticks out and the circuit connects to earth. Which suggests there will be one 'live' wire and either no other with the switch being earthed to the frame - or a second wire that goes to earth. In which case, if you can disconnect and isolate the wires going to the two switches, the lights should go off.

I may be wrong though, and if it's push to make, then connect the two wires (or earth the wire if there is just one wire) on both switches and the lights should go off.

That way, you should be able to identify if it's a dodgy switch by finding a way to turn the lights off.

Also, the diagram indicates that when one of the front doors is open. the front door courtesy lights are illuminated, as is the ignition key ring. But they are not activated by the rear and sliding doors - which only activate the internal rear lights (main, hatch and step). Both illuminate the dash door open warming light.

Many thanks for this - I will have a chat with the auto electrician and see where we go.