
I bought a can of WD-40 today in hopes it will fix a problem I've had for, probably, five years.
On occasion, the dome light in the ancient Ranger doesn't shut off. After we close the doors to the vehicle we can turn around and see the inside light remains on. Well, eventually, it does as go out as when I go down to check a half hour later, it's off. However, the little bulb gets far too hot and I took off the white, plastic shade as it looks like it melted a bit. This has been going on for years, but it has just never concerned me too much. Or last least it didn't bother me enough to try to fix it. Recently, I simply took out the bulb but that does sort of defeat the purpose of having a light in the ceiling, doesn't it?
So, a quick search on the Internet showed this has been a well-known problem for this particular vintage Ranger for at least 15 years. There are even YouTube videos. I thought I may as well try out possible fix #1.
This only involves soaking the door latches in WD-40. Why not? It sounds easy and like it'd be worth a try. I did the first blasts in the mall parking lot next to the Walmart entrance. I sort of made a mess as it leaked on the parking stall floor. So, when coming back to our own driveway, I stopped the truck and gave both sides another dose.
I am hoping this will prove enough. It's possible that the switches in the locks got too stuck or rusty to ever work again. We'll see.