Where does the dome light wiring run?

[Blue85]

My under-dash light works fine with the doors and the dash switch. However, the rear and overhead lights do not. The orange wire is hot, but the white wire is not supplying a ground. Anybody know a likely location for the white to be broken? I see that the wires come out of the side panel near the hardtop connector and run along the outside of the cab towards the dome light. Do they run underneath the drivers door sill to get there?

 

[K5_Fla]

yes, I believe so

 

[Blue85]

Where does the "dome" white wire tie in with the "under-dash" white wire?

 

[British Slave]

At the door jamb switch on the drivers side. It's not uncommon for the terminal to break off. You can take the switch out and see where it's broke. Then if you are lucky you can fish the broken wire out with a piece of wire with a hook on the end.

 

[Blue85]

I assumed that switch was fine since the under-dash light works with the door. Do the two white wires tie together there?

 

[British Slave]

Yes.

 

[British Slave]

Notice there are two terminals on the switch.

 

[Irish1941]

Just went through this on my '89 2 days ago.
May sound dumb but does the horn & lighter work?
The dome and rear top light ties into the cigarette lighter and horn circuit as well but different circuit from the door pin. That's why the floor light works.
Never even dawned on me to check those first.
Turns out the lighter had grounded out and popped the fuse, killing the lights, the horn & lighter. All those run through the same 20A horn circuit.

 

[MrSchaeferPants]

Notice there are two terminals on the switch.

Just be careful removing it. When mine was siezed and rusted it spun the whole thing, twisting my wires.

 

[British Slave]

Yeah, it will twist the wires. When installing, turn the wires counter clockwise four or five turns and it won't twist when you screw the switch in.

 

[K5_Fla]

good point above... check every single fuse first...

 

[Blue85]

I had checked every fuse before posting. It always seemed weird to me that there were two different fuses for the overhead and lower lights. When one blows, the "other stuff" on one circuit acts as a ground path while the white wire serves as a common between your interior lights. So you get this constant dim glow - the bulbs are now in series.

Of course the 2nd pin on the door switch is used to make noise when you leave the key in the ignition.

The white splice I was looking for is actually right above the fuse block - wrapped with tape and a sticker. It was fine. The wire runs from there under the carpet along the DS door sill. Behind the set belt attachment, it goes behind the side panel, where both the orange and white are spliced for dome + hard top lights. The bad section was very near where the driver seat belt attaches. I bypassed that part and now all the dome lights work again.