Car thinks doors are open?, Elelctrical Gremlin Options

[DEATH]

Since I got the car I've been having some small problems with the alarm and stock courtesy door lock functions:
1. The DS door does not register as opening or closing [This causes the car to lock me out when I start it to warm up and I close the door to gather things from the house - I'll return to the car to find all doors locked with me out]. I believe it has been wired out by looping the incoming and outgoing voltage causing the door to always appear closed to the system. The easy temporary solution was to get a spare key made from a flat blank and keep it in my wallet - this I can't live with cause my OCD dictates the car must be restored to showroom quality.
2. This same problem causes the headlight auto-off to not work - a mild nuisance as you can plainly tell the lights are on, go back to the car and turn them off. Again I must fix this.
3. I have been doing some work on the glovebox area installing a DVD player and screen [wait til you guys see this I have a new location for the screen that will rock your socks]. The first thing I noticed was that the light in the GB didn't come on when I opened it. I determined the electrical connection was just loose and I fixed this problem. This was the day the real new problem came up:
4. Now neither of the car doors will register as open. The light does not light up in the gauge cluster - nothing. However, when I go to set the alarm, the remote reports back on the little screen that a door is ajar and the alarm chimes 3 times to indicate something is not right. This morning I wake up to go to work and the battery [Optima Red Top] is dead. This tells me something has gone wrong with the door pin switch on the passenger side now.
Now I still have the PS dash taken apart mostly with the majority of the screws removed and only the clips holding the whole assembly together. Since the new problem started the day I took the GB area apart it leads me to believe I may have disturbed something there causing the problem. The thing is I know I never touched the door pin switch or the plastic trim around the door sill at all so most likely that's not it. What I was wondering is if anyone knows if the ground for that switch [would it even need one? It should just open and close a circuit that includes all the door pin switches right?] is located near the glovebox or PS dash board anywhere? Maybe one of you has had this problem too?
Baring that - does anyone know where and what I should check for with my multimeter to get these door pins working again?
One further complication/symptom is that the dome light does not come on anymore [It never did with the DS door because of the known problem there but now the PS door won't turn it on as well]. That switch was also broken and ghetto rigged by some previous owner in the past. Now before you guys say I need to fix my ghetto ass car - I know - that's why I'm typing this . I can't stand all the little retarded issues like this that cause the car to lock me out, or make me late for work and need a jump start. Personally I can't stand a bolt to be missing from anywhere on the car so rest assured I am eliminating all these issues as quickly as time and parts money will allow. This car will be returned to it's former glory eventually.
Thank you for reading this and please offer me any assistance you can or problems/solutions you have had in the past with your Celica.

[Batman722]

when you open the hatch, does the light on the dash come on ?

check both door pins, remove them clean the connections, they stick pretty easy. They ground directly to the chassis on the switch.

the GB light only comes on when the lights are on I believe

[DEATH]

the GB light only comes on when the lights are on I believe

OK - good to know when diagnosing - thank you.

check both door pins, remove them clean the connections, they stick pretty easy. They ground directly to the chassis on the switch.

Will do - any info on which wire should have voltage with door open etc.? Unfortuantely both of my doors are acting up so I can't use the other one to diagnose

when you open the hatch, does the light on the dash come on ?

Good thought - BRB.

Update: OK no - the gauge light does not come on when the hatch opens and also the lights will not come on without the key in the ignition. This is getting weirder?
The only other thing I did that day was to wire the Radio to always be on [I just have to turn it on/off manually with the remote - this is so I can listen to the radio without anything else on the car being on while I'm working on it so I don't run the power down as quickly - The fans are on all the time when the key is in like the MR2 guys do - don't ask that's an issue for another day god I hate ghetto rigged cars] - do you think this could have caused this condition? Is there a monitor built into the car to watch power draw during the cars off-time which may be thinking the car is still on?

This post has been edited by DEATH: Apr 22, 2008 - 10:00 AM