Gjbacci

my interior light is not getting power. The ground wires appear fine because if I run a hot to the light and use existing grounds it works. Fuse is good and other lights on the circuit (glove box light) are working.

I looked at the wiring diagram for the 96 targa/cabrio it does not show a relay. I searched the forums and saw talk about a relay for a power delay. But I can't find one.

Can anyone suggest troubleshooting.

mpruden

Do you have the infrared monitoring option in your targa?

Gjbacci

Don't know if I have the infrared option. How do I tell? If I do what is the implication to a fix?

mpruden

It is option M520 "interior monitoring" and will sense movement in the cabin and trigger the alarm. I know many targas where highly optioned. The reason I ask is because the dome light and it's associated wiring differs from non-520 cars with this option.

Also, what year is your car?
Edit - never mind. I see you clearly put the year in the title of the thread. I need more coffee.

See pic below from one of JDHertz11's TTs for an example of option M520.

quacktoduck

can anyone with a targa show me how the wires connect. cant get mine to work since i bought a new light

mpruden

My targa has the M520 option and there's just a simple plug that attaches to the sensor and light assembly. Happy to take a pic if that's what you're after.

Does your car have the M520 option?

FlyingDutchman

I have a similar issue, the light works when I switch it but not when the door opens?

mpruden

The type of light matters here. What light do you have, 520 or not? There are two options, and the wiring is slightly different between the two options.

I'm happy to help troubleshoot since my car works, but can't without knowing what path to take on the EWD.

Grapeape

I had this problem and found that with the light toggle in the "door open - light on" position contact was not being made. I bent the metal tabs slightly and that worked for me.

quacktoduck

i have the normal light without the 520 option

mpruden

For those without 520, the wiring looks really simple, based on the '96 wiring diagram.

There should be 3 wires going to the light:

#1 direct + from battery (through fuse 11)
#2 ground
#3 goes to the alarm unit

I can only guess that there is a switch on the light that will either:
1) Ground #1 to #2 if you want to manually activate the light at any time
2) Ground #1 to #3 if you want the car to control the light (door opening/closing)
3) Do not ground #1 at all, if you want to force the light off.

I'm with Grapeape, the switch is malfunctioning. To confirm, you could test all of this stuff with a multimeter in about 2 minutes.

To discover wire #1, test all for 12v
Then find #2, with doors closed, check for continuity to ground
The last one is #3. Verify continuity to ground when a door is opened.

Those tests would confirm that the wiring and alarm unit are working as expected, leaving only the switch as the problem.

73eTarga

Look at the tag on the inside of the frunk lid, or on the first page of your service manual. It will list "520", among the other option and other spec codes. I'll attach a pic of one of those tags on my brother's 993TT. I know this is an old post, but it was highly ranked for this subject and was directed here to find out more about this option on his car. You need to be careful when interpreting some of these codes because the "6" codes look a lot like "8"s. Stutcars has a good searchable list that says what they are here: https://www.stuttcars.com/technical/...des/993-96-98/