stolarzj

My interior lights never come on when the door is open. The door switches are working, if the key is in the ignition, the beeper will go off when the door is opened. The roof light comes on if I move it to either position, whether the door is open or not. Any thoughts? Same for the hatch light..

stolarzj

Ok, just made an observation. I found the position for the lights to come on when the door is open. I set it there, the light comes on, I closed the door, and the light got slightly dimmer, but didn't go off...

bart1

I had a very similar problem and mine was apparently a bad switch at the rear hatch shock. Take the wires off back there one at a time and see what happens. I still didn't get mine working when the hatch opens, but that isn't a biggie to me. Especially after I broke a timing belt.

-Bart

stolarzj

Don't suppose you remember where it is located? I just went looking around back there and didn't find anything wires other then tail lights and the release motor. I know there has to be one back there.

bart1

The connecters are on the ends of the shocks that hold the gate up.

-Bart

stolarzj

Is that what those are? I thought they were for the defroster. My car didn't come with shocks, so the extension wires from the end of the shock are missing, so it is not hooked up.

AndyK

Sure it's not as simple as getting a new door switch? They are like $4 from Sunsetimports.com, etc. And, easy to replace.

stolarzj

I pulled the wires off the end of the shocks and the interior like is working now.. Thanks.. Now I just have to figure out how to wire in my defroster. And why those wires are causing that problem.

stolarzj

Door switches are fine, something to do with the wires plugged into the shocks. The wires at the top of the shocks that plugs into the defroster are not plugged in, since they are missing.

stolarzj

Ok, someone answer this one. I am completely confused now. All shocks have the wire plugged in at the bottom, and the top is now plugged into the defroster. Unpluged the right shock from the bottom and interior lights operates normal (IE: open door an light goes on, close it goes off). Here is where it gets strange. If I bypass the shock, run a wire from the bottom of the shock wire to the defroster, I get the same result. But if I clip a test light (12 volt in line test probe) to the defroster lead, and the probe into the wire at the bottom of the shock, the probe lights up and the lights work properly. So to recap, a wire jumpering the bottom shock wire to the defroster dosen't fix it, but a in line test light jumpering the wire fixes it.. Help me, my brain is starting to hurt....

bart1

I thought they were defroster wires, too. Hasn't quite been cold enough here to see if my defroster works with that wire undone. Your hatch doesn't turn on the interior lights though, does it?

-Bart

bart1

Just saw your other post. Maybe it needs some resistance (i.e. the light bulb) to operate properly. You might try going to radio shack and getting a small resistor and placing in line with the jumper wire. I am not sure what is messed up in the car to cause this not to work.

-Bart

stolarzj

OK, good thought. The first resistor I put in got really hot really quick. Been to long since college, so I seem to have lost the art of reading the color codes to relate to the resistance value. The second one was a .1 resistor, and that one worked like the test light, and is only mildly warm. But opening the hatch dosen't effect the lights, so that sensor apparently isn't working. I have have 12 volts constant at the right bottom lead, seems strange. I think I will try pulling the fuse for the rear defroster..

Any 944 Electrical geniuses out there?

stolarzj

The 12 volt constant is not from the defroster, pulled the fuse and I still got power there..

By the way, if you pull the fuse for the Defroster/Heated Mirrors, the fuse check thing in the fuse box no longer works...

SoCal Driver

The gas springs for the rear hatch are rights and lefts. The one on the drivers side does not have the contact strip in the shaft socket to ground it to the ball stud on the car. The passenger side has this contact strip and the covered contact for the rear cargo hatch light.

The hatch defroster is the wire on the drivers side. It uses the non-grounded gas spring as a circuit to the heating grid.

The defroster grid is grounded through the passenger side gas spring.

The body of the pass side gas spring opens the contacts on the covered switch on the end of the shaft when closed. Opening the hatch lets the contact ground out against the grounded gas spring shaft. This completes the circuit to the rear cargo light if the switch on the cargo light is in the correct possistion.

Whew. So me thinks you have the gas springs on the wrong side or two of the same.