Mongo

I'm sure this will bake your noodle too as it has mine...


I am currently attempting to diagnose an intermittent interior light issue on my car and need a little bit of help here.

A little bit of background: This car had a Clifford Alarm installed back in 2001 that has automatic locks and delayed lighting (or courtesy lighting). The interior lights would not come on when the door was opened to the best of my knowledge even at the time of purchase. After the alarm was installed, the lights inside the car would only come on if the unlock/deactivation button was pressed on the alarm. HOWEVER, when opening the hatch, the lights would come on in the entire cabin of the car, door illumination lights and all. The lights would stay on for approximately 15 seconds as part of the delayed light feature.


As of last night, no lights come on in the car no matter which door opened, including the hatch. Hitting the Unlock/Deactivation button though on the keys will turn the lights on in the car using the 15 second delayed feature stated above.

My thoughts are:

1) Because the car has sat out in the rain and there is water in the rear hatch, something has shorted because of the leakage under the carpet. There are wires running to the hatch release and various other harnesses in the back. I found 2 of these harnesses exposed to water (but not completely soaked and saturated.)

2) There may have been a malfunction with the alarm brain and somehow water has gotten into it causing this issue. All other functions of the alarm work perfectly though.

3) This could be an issue with interior light relay XXI p/n: 928 618 225 01. I don't understand how this would be an issue though since the lights work when the alarm deactivation button on the keychain is pressed. If the relay failed, wouldn't the lights not come on at all?



Thoughts and recommendations welcome. I'm tired of banging my knee not seeing crap at night when I get out of the car after the 15 second delay turns the lights off and the door is wide open.

Mongo

Okay, I take it I'm the only one that has had this issue before, hence no responses?

SharkSkin

Check the fuse? The add-on may be bypassing the fuse, which is why that's the only way it works. Some detail as to how the add-on is wired would help.

Alan

Your hatch tip switch has failed - its located under the hatch receiver and can be replaced seperately...

I don't quite get why this is a big deal though - since the primary function of your lights is what doesn't work - shouldn't you be focussed there first? I suspect that your relay is fried - probably none of the original functionality works and the hatch only worked because it is connected to the alarm directly... In this case the alarm has a seperate interior light relay in parallel to the stock one.

See if the door tip switch inputs to the interior light relay actuall operate (short to ground whenever a door is open).

Alan

Mongo

That is where I am starting. The primary light function.

Alan

OK - but it sounded like you were only asking why the hatch stopped operating the lights...

You need to check the state of the inputs from the door pin switches to the interior light relay - what model year is this? without that I can only tell you that you need to look at pin T on the relay socket and see if it is grounded (use ohmmeter) when either door is open?

You will also need to check to see if the interior light relay was bypassed when the alarm was installed. Do you have any documentation on the alarm - it would normally have the door pin switches wired to it as alarm sources and therefore should be able to operate the interior lights from there also.

Check if the interior lights come on when you connect Pin 31L on the interior light relay socket to ground.

Alan

Mongo

Year is a 1987. The same people that installed the alarm are now out business (Circuit ****ty).

Randy V

Add yer car info to your sig, ya noob!