Chrysler Repair: Door ajar and battery draining? 94 T & C, fuse box, chrysler town

Question
A mechanic told me if a door is not shut, even if it is locked will drain your battery charge. Is that true? The SHUT button, not the door striker on my 1994 Chrysler Town & country van was draining my battery. Thought the battery was going bad. The mechanic applied a makeshift extender on SHUT button to close on the driver side front door. Is there a way to disable the dashboard sensors? Don't think mechanic's makeshift extender to the front door SHUT button will last very long. Is there a more durable application? Thank you.

Answer
Hi Adonis,
I can't be sure about door not shut/'drain your battery' issue. Usually the issue is that the door striker doesn't secure the door firmly in the frame so the body computer 'sees' the door to be ajar, and then it might activate the door lock motor to try and correct that. The shut button (mechanical) would be unlikely to have anything to do with electrical power being drained. There are door lock and unlock motors and it is conceivable that if door is ajar that the body computer will try to close it by powering the motor. I would verify that there is indeed being current drawn through the door lock motor fuse when the door is not shut tight. I have the '93 and '95 manuals and the wiring diagrams are identical but the specific fuse that is involved differs for those two model years. But look in the under dash fuse box and see whether you have a fuse in position 10 or in position 24 which is 20 amp. That would be the door lock system fuse.
You won't have a fuse in both of those positions. You could measure the current being drawn with an ammeter by putting that in series with the resistor. It should not read more than a few milliamps which would not drain the battery. If it reads in the amp range then that could drain the battery over time. The dashboard sensors (if you mean the warning light that tells you a door is ajar) I don't believe draw sufficient current to drain the battery as they are very dim. You can always simply remove the fuse 10 or 24 as the case may be if you find that the door lock system is indeed draining the battery. Then just treat the locking function as an old-fashioned mechanical system.
Thanks so much for the rating/nomination.
Roland