No interior lights

[sk94gs]

Here's my dilemma: the interior lights don't come on when I open the doors, but they do work when I turn them on manually by pressing the buttons next to them. And the buttons at the bottom of the door aren't stuck, so that's not the problem. I recently had my car into the shop to get some body work done on the driver's side, which included replacing the power mirror. Is it possible they didn't wire something correctly? Any other suggestions? I'm stumped.

[-=deathtrap-mx3=-]

hmmmmm, i'm gonna just throw this out there b/c its the obvious: have you turned the dial to doors. the dial turns to 2 postitions. one keeps them off when you open the door and one turns them on. there might be a relay or something that controls the auto turn on that could we bad. look on the online shop manual for the electrical system details on the dome lights.

[mmonid]

The problem is in the door switches. I had the same problem a little while ago, so I took the switch out. It is a very simple system. Take out the phillips screw holding everything in. Pull the switch out, and disconnect the wire. With a little help, everything should fall apart. Take sandpaper to anything that is metal until it is shiny. Put the switch back together, and stick it back in the door. Now mine did not work right away, but only after a few days, it turns on every time I open the door. A little oil on the moving parts won't hurt either. I hope that this will be of some help.

[mmonid]

Another thing... leave your lights on and open the door. Does the chime come on? If yes, then the problem is not with the switch.

[Elmo95]

I have the same problem. Now this is a two person job.... You need an electrical tester (ya know the one with the two prongs that you can test circuits with and see if its a complete circuit or not) Unscrew the screw holding the button in on the outside of the car.... put one of the prongs in where the wire connects to the button, and put the other on the wire in the dome light assembly. Then get one person to check the tester and the other person to push the button in and let it go. If the circuit is not complete, then you have a faulty wire from the button to the dome light assembly. Disconnect the wire from the assembly and the button and pull the new wire through. Connect the two ends back up and your set to go (assuming your button isn't the problem). You'll need to experiment with the tester to make sure you have the right wire in the dome light assembly, or use the online manual for the wiring diagram. Good Luck!

[5spd_GS]

yep i have this exact same problem.. no chim or interior lights when i open the doors, but when i open the hatch it all works... <P>i dont know much about the electrical system of the interior lights, so you guys are saying that i should check the little door switches??

[mmonid]

Yeah... as I said before, get rid of all of the corrosion on the contacts. BTW, the hatch is a different switch, and is more out of the way of road salt and water. The fix took me about 20 minutes per door. Good luck!