Shark_Week

i searched around and did not find the answer i needed. i just got my car back from the body shop and my overhead and door lights are acting strange. with the car unlocked, if i open the drivers door no lights will illuminate. if i use the key in any door the lights come on normally then after 20-30 seconds the go off. i can turn each light on and off manually. any ideas what went wrong

WallyP

Each interior light includes a three-way switch - OFF, ON, and AUTO.

There is always power to one end of the bulb.
OFF disconnects the ground side of the bulb so that it will not come on at all.
ON connects the ground side of the bulb to ground so that the bulb is on all the time.
AUTO connects the ground side of the bulb to the brown/white wire that connects to the door and hatch switches and to the relay timer so that the bulb comes on when a door or the hatch is opened, connecting the brown/white wire to ground. The locking system also connects to the relay timer so that a ground pulse is applied when the system is unlocked.

Sounds as if the brown/white wire is not being grounded by the driver's door switch.

Shark_Week

thanks for the detailed info Walley. gonna go figure out how to get to the switch

Landseer

11 mm deep socket, 1/4 inch drive
A little dremel wirebrush action generally will fix em.

Sometimes the wire is loose.
This one had to be snipped off, cleaned and reassembled, then resoldered at the car.
The threads in the body sometimes are corroded too.


When these switches are clean and operational it improves lighting, locking and alarm.
There is a third one deep in the base of the lower hatch reciever.
Remember that hatch release motor, nearby, has strength to take a finger off.
That motor, btw, is same as the locking motor in doors.

Tails

Martin,
+1 on Wally's and Chris's instructions.

In addition, seeing that you just got the car back from the body shop, check out all electrical connection to lights etc by referencing the electrical drawings, most especially where the guy at the body shop disconnected the wiring.

In addition be very careful that the the positive connection for the cabin lights do not earth out on the body when they are installed. It is a good idea to put some insulation tape over the body aperture adjacent to the positive connection prior to installation.

Tails 1990 928S4 Auto

Mrmerlin

to go a bit farther with the lights,
first disconnect the battery,
then remove each light and heatshrink all of the leads
not just the power wires
inspect every light esp the roof lights any that look melted should be replaced,
Also consider rebulbing with LED bulbs they are plug and play and wont get hot Nicole sells them.
Inspect the harness that goes to the roof and over the mirror if the wires look melted then you may have already had a grounding event its time to inspect the harness back to the CE panel.
look for a melted wire harness that runs along the side of the pass seat along the floor under the amp.
the roof harness can sometimes get cut in the roof or at the rear quarter speaker from its attaching screws.
If you choose to leave the incandescant bulbs in the lights then leave them in the off position.
any time you take your car in for work turn off the lights so an opened door wont melt the housings

Shark_Week

very well. thanks to all for the great info. will get into it later and report back any findings

Landseer

+1 on what Stan said, also.

I've seen a few ceiling harnesses that are melted.

The way the ceiling lights are designed causes the user to press the fixture towards the body. I've seen the headliner cave a bit and some of the fixtures sink deeper. Bad design.

Shark_Week

for future reference, the drivers door switch was the culprit. the wiring was loose. seucured wiring and all is well again. ops check ok