Dome light activation? (1 Viewer)

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I noticed that my dome light will only turn on with the driver's door. If I open the rear side door, only the courtesy lights in the floor light up but not the dome light.

Is this normal? If not, recommend some things to check?
Thanks
 
On my LX the middle dome light and door lights turn on when the front door is open, but the rear cargo area light and door lights, turn on when a rear door is open (assuming the dome light switchs are set correctly). So maybe chek that the cargo light works properly, if not clean the contcts etc. It sounds like the door switch is operating properly if it is activating the door lights when you open it...
 
Okay...more for sake of noobs who will likely ask this question again some time in the future...

so there are 3 lights. the map light right by the mirror, the first dome light, which is between the 1st and 2nd row seats, and the 2nd dome light which is in the cargo area.

Let's call these:
Map light,
1st dome light, and
2nd dome light,
for the sake of this post.

Map light has its own switch -- it's not operated by any door.
The 1st dome light is activated by opening the front doors (when the switch on the light is set to DOOR).
The 2nd dome light is activated by opening the 2nd row seat doors and the cargo hatch (when the switch on the light is set to DOOR).

If you experience anything different...you might have a bad switch or the PO might have modified the wiring.

I suspect FirstToy has a bad switch.

Uhhh....JD -- you did check that the lever is set to DOOR on that light...didn't you ;)
 
Interesting that this was the first post here for me to view this morning. I was planning on doing a search on this subject.

I have this problem:

Sometimes when opening the rear hatch and the 2nd dome light is set to "door" I will get a buzzing for a few seconds, the same sound as the key is in the ignition, which it is not. The 2nd dome light will also be very dim. Sometimes it works just fine.

Sometimes when opening a rear door no lights will turn on when both the 1st and 2nd dome lights are set to "door". And again, sometimes everything works perfectly fine.

I was going to look into the switch corrosion, but I don't think that covers my first problem with the alarm or buzzing noise.
 
TOY350 said:
Interesting that this was the first post here for me to view this morning. I was planning on doing a search on this subject.

I have this problem:

Sometimes when opening the rear hatch and the 2nd dome light is set to "door" I will get a buzzing for a few seconds, the same sound as the key is in the ignition, which it is not. The 2nd dome light will also be very dim. Sometimes it works just fine.

Sometimes when opening a rear door no lights will turn on when both the 1st and 2nd dome lights are set to "door". And again, sometimes everything works perfectly fine.

I was going to look into the switch corrosion, but I don't think that covers my first problem with the alarm or buzzing noise.
I had the same thing happen on my 93, I believe there was a short in the wiring harness as it goes from the body to the rear hatch, I wiggled the wires and it never happened again, though I expected it to be only a temporary fix, so that might be worth a try...
 
I recently installed the cargo area light and have experienced the dim light and muted tone from the dash with the light on door. I am hoping it is something easy as I don't want to open up the headliner if I don't have to. mine's a '94
 
NorCalDoug said:
Uhhh....JD -- you did check that the lever is set to DOOR on that light...didn't you ;)

duh, of course I did :rolleyes: .....(click) ;)

yes, it works as you described. I just thought that the 1st dome light (between the front two rows) would turn on if the rear side doors open.

In my 4R the side doors activate the 1st dome light and rr dome light is only activated by opening the rr hatch... the difference must be related to 3rd row seating.
 
firetruck41 said:
I had the same thing happen on my 93, I believe there was a short in the wiring harness as it goes from the body to the rear hatch, I wiggled the wires and it never happened again, though I expected it to be only a temporary fix, so that might be worth a try...

Where does the harness run from the body up to the dome lights? One of the rear quarters or? I would like to try moving the wire harness and see what it does to the lights.
 
The harness I was speaking of runs out of the right rear above the hatch opening (jamb) into the top of the rear hatch, about 5" long. I believe, but don't know for sure, it goes to the switch in the hatch that turns on/off the domelight, also probably has the wires for the rear defrost.
 
Old thread I know but this just helped me. I had a similar problem with a dim dome light and key in ignition chime with just the hatch opened. The light would brighten with either rear door open and the sound would go away. I tried pulling the rear door switches. When I did this, I got the key in chime that I had been getting with the hatch open. Also the backlighting on the dash turned on and off. The thing that really got me is that my door locks triggered unlocked :eek: Not a good thing to happen with a dome light short. Anyone else ever had this?
 

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