How to Turn the Lights Off in a Jeep After the Doors Have Been Removed

A Jeep uses courtesy lights that are activated by a relay system. When the doors are closed, the electrical circuit is broken by the door pushing against a pin on the door frame, and the lights go out. When the door opens, that pin moves to close the circuit allowing the lights to go on. Unfortunately, when you remove the door, the mechanism by which the lights go out is now also removed. You have a few options for turning the lights off once the doors on a Jeep have been removed.

Things You'll Need

  • Socket wrench
  • Socket set
  • Epoxy
  • Disconnect the negative cable from the battery. If you are going to be working on your vehicle, you can disconnect the battery. Of course, this won't help you if you need to drive it, however, it will turn out the lights. Loosen the cable clamp on the cable running to the negative battery terminal and slide the cable off the terminal.

  • Glue the pin in the door shut. The pin, typically located on the back of the door frame near the seat belt mount, can be permanently glued, using epoxy or super glue, so that the circuit is permanently broken. The lights will go off and stay off, but it's not easy to reverse this procedure if you ever want the lights to come on again.

  • Remove the fuse for the interior lights. This will turn off all of the interior lights. Open the fuse box under the steering wheel and remove the fuse for the interior lights using the diagram on the underside of the fuse cover to locate the proper fuse. Use the fuse puller in the fuse box to remove the fuse. This method is reversible and is the easiest to execute.