LX450 Front door dome light, headlight and door ajar Issues (1 Viewer)

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Sep 6, 2004
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Seems like I am having all sorts of problems at once. Still trying to locate a front door actuator. Can only find the passenger front and rears. Now I have noticed that my lights are not shutting off when I turn the car off and exit the vehicle as well as the door ajar and dome light are not working when I open the door. I ordered a new assembly for the front door after cleaning my old one did not do anything. Still no dome light or door ajar light and the headlights stay one when I exit the vehicle. I read somewhere that the factory alarm can cause this. Is there any way to test this? the door ajar, dome light both work when the passenger door is opened. Just nothing when I open the front door.
Any help will be appreciated.
Tom
96 LX450
 
The 4 door courtesy switches are a very simple contact to ground.
Each switch has 1 wire attached to it and the bolt to the door pillar that secures the switch is the ground. When the door is open, the switch grounds the wire and the dome light illuminates.
The switches will eventually fail after 23 years of the driver's door opening and closing, so I wouldn't be too upset about it.
It looks like the rear door switches are still available new (84231-60020) for about $20. They can be used in all 4 positions.
 
I had some similar issues years ago and it turned out to be a broken wire, in the harness to the rear lift gate. This is a fairly common problem - after the gate is opened and closed for 25 years, the wires can fatigue and break. You might do some checking there if replacing the switches doesn't do it.
 
I did this recently trying to find out why my interior led lights were flickering while I was driving..... it didn't solve my issue but it might help yours.
If the lights flicker/doors unlock when making a sharp turn or hitting bumps, you can cut "U" shaped spacers out of a plastic bottle or similar to space the switch slightly off the door pillar. Fixed.
 
If the lights flicker/doors unlock when making a sharp turn or hitting bumps, you can cut "U" shaped spacers out of a plastic bottle or similar to space the switch slightly off the door pillar. Fixed.

Not sure I'm following what you are saying. My LED lights that are about 4 years old I got from PFran will flicker if the lights are set to "door" and I go over bumps. I assumed it was the door switch but after cleaning the the only thing I've noticed are they immediately come on when you open the door and they seem a bit brighter. Unfortunately as soon as I dri e and hit a bump they will flicker on and off again depending on the road. I just assumed they were going bad.
 
Not sure I'm following what you are saying. My LED lights that are about 4 years old I got from PFran will flicker if the lights are set to "door" and I go over bumps. I assumed it was the door switch but after cleaning the the only thing I've noticed are they immediately come on when you open the door and they seem a bit brighter. Unfortunately as soon as I dri e and hit a bump they will flicker on and off again depending on the road. I just assumed they were going bad.
You are following exactly what I'm saying.
The reason the dome lights illuminate when you hit a bump is because the courtesy switches are making intermittent contact internally with the door closed. If you add thin spacers behind the switch, it moves the switch outward towards the door.
Now when the door is closed, the switch button is pushed in slightly more than it was before.
 
@jonheld 🤔🤔🤔 I thought stretching the internal spring would do this but maybe I do need a spacer.... would you know where the rear hatch one is? I looked but couldn't find one on the top gate... that's the o ly one I didn't mess with.
 
@jonheld 🤔🤔🤔 I thought stretching the internal spring would do this but maybe I do need a spacer.... would you know where the rear hatch one is? I looked but couldn't find one on the top gate... that's the o ly one I didn't mess with.
Stretching the internal spring adds tension to the button, but will do nothing else. The object of the game is push the button in juuuust a bit more when the door is closed to prevent intermittent contact.

The rear hatch switch is in the latch mechanism inside the upper hatch panel. It is also a simple switch to ground.
 
I took my old one out and cleaned it up. No change. Replaced it no change. All doors but the front drivers door make the door ajar light come on and the dome light come on. Going to check the alarm wires and see if any are damaged. I’m fighting a drivers side door lock issue as well. Can’t complain. Had truck for over 20:years without issues.
Tom
 
I would try removing the wire from the door switch and manually grounding it to a known good ground point.
If that doesn't illuminate any interior lights, then you need to look into the harness. There are several splice points as well as a diode in line with each of the front door switches. They look like 2 connectors with plugs in them. They live on the driver's side behind the dash near a grommet that feeds through the firewall.
Another problem could be the ignition key cylinder light relay. That's the guy that lights up the bulb around the ignition. He lives behind the passenger side kick panel.
 
Stretching the internal spring adds tension to the button, but will do nothing else. The object of the game is push the button in juuuust a bit more when the door is closed to prevent intermittent contact.

The rear hatch switch is in the latch mechanism inside the upper hatch panel. It is also a simple switch to ground.

Added some spacers to the rear doors and I think that fixed it. I really appreciate the help @jonheld
 
Grounded and still not working. Got my door lock issue fixed. Going to concentrate on the door ajar, dome light issue now. Guess I am going to have to trace the wiring in the door jam and look for damage.
 
Grounded and still not working. Got my door lock issue fixed. Going to concentrate on the door ajar, dome light issue now. Guess I am going to have to trace the wiring in the door jam and look for damage.
Or,
You could swap the 2 diodes for the front doors and see if the problem follows.
You could disconnect the ignition key cylinder light relay and see if that alleviates the issue.
 
Any pics of these diodes? I am not sure what happened first or if it all happened at once. The headlights started to stay on after I turned off the ignition and exited the vehicle. The door ajar light stopped coming on when I opened the door and the dome light stopped coming on when I opened the drivers side front door. I tested, cleaned and then replaced front door switch just in case I did not properly clean the old door switch.
Thanks
Tom
 
D8 and D9 are 2 pin grey connectors.
IIRC, the way Toyota does this is the diode is in the mating half of the 2 connectors. So what you should see is what appears to be 2 connectors going nowhere. If you look closely, each of those 2 connectors should have a mating connector with a diode attached. It should be simple to swap diodes from one to the other as they are the same type of connector.
 
I also spaced my switch out to make better contact with the door. Hard left turns and bumps would unlock my doors and turn my lights on. :p
 
New observation. When I was outside tonight and heading away from the LX I reset the alarm and noticed that my drivers side front lights do not blink either. The passenger side front lights blink twice when I unlock and once when I lock. So, I have no ignition key light, no lights on drivers side blink when setting alarm or unlocking vehicle and my door adjacent light does not come on when I open the drivers side door. Both rear lights do blink when I arm (lock) and disarm (unlock) the alarm/door. The drivers side courtesy light n the door comes on when the passenger side door is opened.
 
Back on this. Took a break, fixed the door lock issue. My lights do not turn off when I remove key and open door. The ignition does not light up. I just ordered all diodes and have found 1 in wring so far. Does any one know what the rating is on the d8 and d9 diode. I’m hoping if I locate them I can id them by their ratings. Will a bad ignition key light relay cause these issues? I am afraid that I am going to find all the diodes and not know which are d8 and d9. I thought there were only two. I found a schematic and there are like 7.
 

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