Well. I put my earlier dash lights not working project on the shelf until today. I was going to start working on that this afternoon after I ran some errands.

Going down the road today, my dome light and the 2 map lights in the overhead console all of a sudden just came on and I can't turn them off via the headlamp switch (brand new btw) or by pressing the map lights. They just came on outta nowhere.

I pulled the 20 amp fuse cartridge in the PDC to save my battery, but no radio, no power mirror control and Lord knows what else won't work w/o that fuse but, that's the least of my worries right now.

Any ideas on where to start looking for this "new" problem? I'm wondering if this is tied in with the dash lights blowing fuses. Thanks for any and all help in advance.

 

Pull the switch out in the door jamb and are if they go out, I know mine was in bad shape.

 

X2, the door jamb momentary switch is probably broken.

 

Thanks guys, been kinda tied up and haven't had a chance to reply.

I was also thinking the door jamb switch, but it kills the "key-in the ignition" buzzer when I close the door so I figured it was working correctly. Hope I'm wrong and that's the problem. I'll get out in the garage in a bit for more troubleshooting. Hotter than 9 hunnert hells at the moment out there.

 

I took the dash apart looking for burnt/melted connections, found none. I even looked at the notorious splice.....again, found nothing there either. I checked the bulkhead connection, looked fine. I unplugged the door jamb switches and the lights stayed on.

There's a nylon bar running the length of the dash with a huge bundle of wires taped to it, I didn't unwrap that bundle, nor could I get to it.

After 5 hours of this, I'd had enough and buttoned everything back up only to find my tach quit working and my speedometer seems to read a bit slower. Any advice to get those back to normal? Please?

Here's some pics of the adventure....

The blue 20 amp fuse cartridge runs the interior lights, radio, power mirrors, etc. I have to pull that to keep my battery from dying.



Connections at the back of the fuse panel looked good. Should I start unwrapping everything after that?



Behind the cluster. Found nothing out of whack there either.



Nothing out of sorts behind the radio.



Going to do a search on trying to get my tach back.

Should I take it to somebody? Is it going to cost me a fortune? Should I cut my losses and sell this thing? It runs great, but nothing works.

 

Got my tach working, but still can't find the source of the dash lights problem or the reason the dome, map and courtesy lights are coming on w/o the switch.

 

Im going to throw something in here... I pulled my wire harness off the wire wall to find water and a broken connection in there. Could be a possibility. Personally I wouldn't take the wrap off the wires till you check everything else related to the problem. You might dig up more problems.

Have you had a chance to read and understand all the wiring schematics? They are my best friend when I have electrical issues... that and a multi meter (aka volt meter)

 

Per the service manual, the reading lights can get their ground from two circuits (pre-1996), one of which is the same as the dome light. (And, since the reading lights and the dome light are always receiving voltage, but not always receiving ground, your fault is in the ground path).

Try the following: disconnect the wires from both the drivers side and passenger side door jamb switches (there may be two connectors on the passenger side). When disconnected, cover the ends of the wires with tape, so you know for sure it will not accidentally make a ground.
Then, electrically disconnect the headlight switch.
With these preparations, you have eliminated all the factory ground-paths for the dome light (the reading lights have the second possible ground path, but since you said the reading lights AND dome light are on, we will not include that.)
If the dome/reading lights still illuminate, you have a short-to-ground issue.
If the dome/reading lights don't illuminate, just start undoing each step until the lights illuminate, and you've found your problem. (Since you've already tried the door jamb switches [but do it again, good troubleshooting requires it], I wouldn't be surprised if the headlight switch is bad, try fiddling around with moving the **** left or right [twisting it] to see if that helps)