alarm/interior light

[Austen]

New member, thanks for the forum. 2000 ML 320 riving along and the interior dome lights come on, turn them off and they come on again; stop - get out - use key fob to lock - 20-30 sec later alarm goes off - unlock/lock okay; get home, park use key fob, lock and walk away and alarm goes off; I took out the alarm horn relay and fuse so the neighbors could sleep; took out the dome light bulbs and left the vehicle unlocked. Any ideas as to what is going on here? I did have a problem with the sunroof not closing all the way and used the manual crank to close it but that was a day before this so I can't imagine a link. Any ideas would be helpful. This is a new vehicle for us, we really like it.

[Gilly]

More than likely a door jamb switch, but on the ML's it's built in to the door latches. Usual culprit is the rear hatch switch, but could be one of the 4 doors. Since it's allowing the interior lights to come on, I wouldn't suspect the hood switch.

Gilly

[Austen]

Thank you for responding. Is there an out of dealership repair that I can do, or is this a take it in kind of repair?

[Gilly]

Tough question (that's always a tough question! I don't "know" you and add to that; what if something unusual goes wrong? Every tech at some point has a 10 minute job that turns into a 4 hour ordeal!).

You could start the diagnosis though: Lock the truck and after a few minutes start jerking on the doors with the door handles (including the rear hatch/tailgate) to see if you can get the alarm to activate, you might at least be able to find out exactly where the problem is.
Gilly