notaguru

'83 US spec, auto trans, 68k miles

All fuses seem ok
All relays seem ok (swapped to check)
Door switches appear to be mechanically ok.
No visibly damaged wire bundles.

WORKING
Instrument lighting, incl dimmer
Red door lights
Gear selector indicator
Wipers and washers
Air conditioning, heater
Radio
Headlights, parking lights, driving lights, turn signals
Cigar lighter

NOT WORKING
Overhead light
Side door lights
Rear compartment lights

This has probably been solved many times, but I have not found the solution.

???

crushingday

This link may be helpful, but I am not an expert https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...s-problem.html Put a multi meter on a light and see if it's getting power.

notaguru

No voltage appears within the light assemblies. Tomorrow I'll start checking grounds.

Hopefully someone will recognize the issue and provide a solution.

ltoolio

Recheck your wires going to the the internal lights. It's not uncommon for them to get mixed up due the fact that they've got three wires going to them.

Also - what's the state of the door pins? I had some issues with mine which were preventing my internal lights from activating properly.

I can find some posts in the AM that reference the wiring if you don't locate them.

James Bailey

The interior lights have constant power...the door and hatch are switched grounds. Because of the constant power the hot lead often hits the body as people mess with the lights and shorts out.....so trace your power starting with the fuse.

Wisconsin Joe

Keep in mind that the wiring to the interior lights is a bit counterintuitive.

The red is constant hot. There should be 12 volts going to the light assemblies at all times.
The solid brown is constant ground. These two are what allow you to turn the light on any time you want it.

The brown/white stripe is switched ground. It's the one that goes through the door & hatch switches to turn the lights on when the door is open.

And as a very obvious question, what position are the lights in right now? There's always on, switched on and always off. Personally, I run the lights in the doors switched on, the ones in the hatch turned off.

If they are all turned off, then it will be very dark inside.

notaguru

Solved!
Someone in the last 33 years had snipped a wire.

Let there be lights!

crushingday

Whoa that's bright!! Glad you figured it out

notaguru

Wish I could take the credit.
The problem was solved by someone still young enough to know everything.

...my car goes when it's supposed to, and the lights come on when the door opens. Wow!