Help plz I really want my dome light to work!

[Chrisblazzer89]

OK I have an 88 and my dome lights don't work not the front nore rear. The light under the dash on the passenger side works when the passenger door is open but thats all. There is also no pin switch thing in the door jam on the driver side but there is on the pass side. Could the pin thing be the problem?

 

[obijuan]

i just hit mine really hard to get it to work. also when mine didnt work i realized i had wired up the dome light to the driver rear speaker.... i know i know. but the push button pin thing may have fallen in and and was always on and then the PO may have unplugged it or something or the light just burned out. i would check behind the kick panel to see if its even there.

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

How do i get behind the kick panel???

I also put new bulbs in and nothing nothing at all

 

[obijuan]

theres a few screws iirc right around there at the corners. then there will be a little hole where you can feed your fingers through to get at the switch.

 

[dyeager535]

Sounds like your switch for the drivers side is MIA, and it's likely you also have a wiring problem if the rear lights don't come on with the drivers door.

I don't know the exact path for the dome light wiring, but IIRC, it's always a white wire, and an orange wire.

You *might* disassemble the cab dome light housing, as that's easy to do, and the wiring at the light is pretty flimsy.

Take the connector panel off the topper (drivers side B pillar section) and make sure the connector is still intact there, or you won't get anything to the back light.

 

[Metrodps]

theres a few screws iirc right around there at the corners. then there will be a little hole where you can feed your fingers through to get at the switch.

On the older ones (1974 & 1979) I had you could do this but I haven't found a way in on my 1987 the wires feed in up by the ground area behind dash.

 

[onetonbb74]

dome lights work on a switched ground. The Orange is the hot wire thats always hooked up to all the dome lights. The White wire is the swithched wire that goes to ground. All you have to do is connect all the grounds to each other on there own circut incorporating the door switches all to the same circut. That same wire will then plug into the light switch on the bottom of the switch which is the switch for the ground when the doors are closed. If any of the push switches in the door jam are rusted, they tend to not work and would need to be replaced. Pm me if your stuck.

 

[dyeager535]

There is a rubber grommet the wires pass through, you have to pull the grommet before you can even stick your fngers back there. But it's so far away I don't think you can get close to the back of the switch.

Hopefully the switch is still connected to the wires, (sorry poster, out of luck there on the drivers side it sounds like) so you remove the switch and pull the wires out enough to deal with it from that end. Otherwise you get to figure out how to route the wires from that big hole in the kick panel area out that small hole the switch sits in.

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

HEy ok no hole but i used a hook made out of a coat hanger to get the wires are these them?

 

[MuddinManny]

HEy ok no hole but i used a hook made out of a coat hanger to get the wires are these them?

Yup! That be them!

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

Ok i now have the wires whats next?

I touched them to each other and noting

 

[MuddinManny]

Ok i now have the wires whats next?

I touched them to each other and noting

The hole is where the pin switch goes. PM me your addy and I'll send you a new pin switch. I have a few. You'll have to clean that hole area up so that the pin switch can make contact to ground. Curious though what that second wire is. The first one with the connector is for the pin switch.

Manny

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

The hole is where the pin switch goes. PM me your addy and I'll send you a new pin switch. I have a few. You'll have to clean that hole area up so that the pin switch can make contact to ground. Curious though what that second wire is. The first one with the connector is for the pin switch.

Manny

PM sent

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

Ok can some on draw up a cheap diagram so i can figur out how it works.

Would not having the wire to the hard top hooked up bother the light on the pillar/dome?

 

[Metrodps]

Yes and it looks like yours did the same as mine rusted or broke off switch. Buy another one and it should be ok.

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

SO if i hook up the hard top wires it would help?

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

Ok so i went out and unscrewed the light housings front and rear they both look good and all wires connected. pulled the bulbs all good aswell. here are some pics of the bulbs



So hopefully its just the swicth.

BTW the passenger side switch works fine and lights up the light under the dash is that wierd that one works and the other doesnt

 

[Metrodps]

OK so no one else has asked this yet! DO they work when you rotate the headlight switch? Do you have another light you can put them into test on another rig?

 

[Chrisblazzer89]

well my friend has a k5 that i could probly use to see if the bulbs work.

NO they do not turn on when the headlight swicth its turned only the light under the passenger dash does.

BTW is there sopposed to be a light under the driver side dash?

 

[Metrodps]

NO just to the left of the glove box under dash. If the only one coming on is it. I would say bad bulbs. Check them in any older chevy dome light like that. If they do not light bad bulbs. They are cheap and easy get at the parts stores.