NA interior lights

suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:24 pm

My interior lights work fine when I switch them on. However, they stay on in the middle setting, whereas I'd assume at at this setting they're suppoed to switch on and off dpending on whether the doors are open or not. Any idea how easy this is to fix?

RD5T3R · Post by **RD5T3R** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:53 pm

I think the norm is to be off, on and switchable - in that order on the 3 position switch so they are doing what they are supposed to do!

petercristina · Post by **petercristina** » Sat May 05, 2007 2:36 pm

My switch has been faulty, and sometimes the lights wouldn't turn on at all. I took off the light and cleaned the contacts which fixed the problem Also check your switches next to door hinges to see if they are working.

suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Sat May 05, 2007 5:43 pm

thanks everyone. As pointed out, it just seemed like the connections in the door needed a really good clean. They seem to be working now ... let's hope it lasts.

suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Mon May 07, 2007 5:00 pm

... well, they worked for a day, and have stopped again. I gather it's the switches by the door? (The lights themselves work fine when I switch them to the "on" position, it's just the lights on/door open - lights off/door closed thing which doesn't work properly, and they stay on when the doors are shut.) I've taken them apart and given them a good clean, and they seem to work intermittantly if I give them a good jiggle.

So ... before I try to go off and buy some new door switches, anything else I should check on the offchance?

Any infor for a newbie appreciated

petercristina · Post by **petercristina** » Mon May 07, 2007 6:04 pm

It was the switch inside which was faulty for me.

suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Mon May 07, 2007 6:22 pm

wouldn't the fact that I got it working, and then it stopped again, mean it was more likely to be the door swich I was fiddling with? (This is all new to me.)

petercristina · Post by **petercristina** » Mon May 07, 2007 7:51 pm

(I'm not an expert either)
All I can say is that my switch had a loose connection.After cleaning the switch and bulb contacts it all came right....

On 5/7/07, suburban_ennui <electrical@mx5forum.co.nz (electrical@mx5forum.co.nz)> wrote:

wouldn't the fact that I got it working, and then it stopped again, mean it was more likely to be the door swich I was fiddling with? (This is all new to me.)

Dez · Post by **Dez** » Mon May 07, 2007 10:36 pm

Haad a similar problem to mine and found the contacts in the light housing
switch were loose and makining intermittent contact. A clean & a slight
tweaking bend of the metal bits in the appropriate place sorted it out. Still
not perfect but a workable solution.
Dez

suburban_ennui wrote:

wouldn't the fact that I got it working, and then it stopped again,
mean it was more likely to be the door swich I was fiddling with?
(This is all new to me.)

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Tue May 08, 2007 8:46 am

I've had this problem on other cars. Sometimes cleaning the switch contacts and making sure the switch is well earthed to the body solved the problem. In another case I had to buy replacement switches.

suburban_ennui wrote:

wouldn't the fact that I got it working, and then it stopped again, mean it was more likely to be the door swich I was fiddling with? (This is all new to me.)

Dave Reynolds Phone: (64) (3) 358 1029
Senior Technical Author Fax: (64) (3) 359 4632
Tait Electronics Ltd Email: dave.reynolds@tait.co.nz (dave.reynolds@tait.co.nz)
PO Box 1645
Christchurch
New Zealand

Post by **simple** » Tue May 08, 2007 9:40 am

On Mon, May 07, 2007 at 12:00:17AM -0500, suburban_ennui wrote:

... and they stay on when the doors are shut.

My guess for today, either faulty switch in the light assembly, or a
shorted wire somewhere (IIRC, the door switches turn on the light by
connecting to ground, so if there is a short anywhere that touches the
metalwork, the light will come on).

Things to try:

- If the light assembly has a connector on it (I don't recall if they do
or not), then try unplugging one of them (eg. drivers side) and see if
the fault persists with the other side. If no fault found then try
plugging in drivers side and unplugging passenger side.

- Try disconnecting the door switches. Often these sorts of switches
have a connector at the back that just pulls out. Disconnect it and
wrap the end of the wire in a plastic bag to stop it shorting on
anything. I have a feeling that access to the switch is from the
outside of the bodywork only, so you might need to wrap the connector in
insulation tape and poke it back into the hole (with the end of the tape
coming out the hole so you can pull it back out later. Make sure you
don't lose the end of the tape! (faulty door switches would not be my
first guess for 'staying on', but it's possible)

Karl.

[Posted via external email]

Post by **zorruno** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:02 pm

on 7/05/2007 6:22 p.m. suburban_ennui wrote:

wouldn't the fact that I got it working, and then it stopped again,
mean it was more likely to be the door swich I was fiddling with?

on 8/05/2007 9:45 a.m. simple wrote:

My guess for today, either faulty switch in the light assembly, or a
shorted wire somewhere

It has been a while since I looked at one of those switches, but aren't
they semi-sealed? i.e. aren't the contacts enclosed inside? I found the
pic attached on the net, but it not very clear how sealed they are. It
is not the external contacts that will be a problem, but the internal ones.

If so, I'd recommend squirting down into the switch with as much contact
cleaner (failing that, wd40/crc) as you can whilst pushing the switch on
and off. Preferably do it with the switch removed from the car. Or
even soak the whole switch in contact cleaner/wd40 or alcohol (white
spirits) & shake it around in the solution.

Ignore the arrow on the pic, it came from a car alarm site.

Post by **simple** » Tue May 08, 2007 3:57 pm

On Mon, May 07, 2007 at 08:05:09PM -0500, zorruno wrote:

It has been a while since I looked at one of those switches, but aren't
they semi-sealed? i.e. aren't the contacts enclosed inside?

That's a giggle, Z-boy! 'Switch' is almost too grand a term.

On my trusty mx5, the door switches are very basic. The main shaft has
a contact on the back (part of where the cable attaches) and this
touches a ground ring (artistically coloured yellow in my picture) when
pressure is released from the pin. The ground contact gets its ground
via the mounting screw.

The switch can be disconnected from the loom just by pulling the contact
off the back. (you probably want to be holding the switch pin in while
you do this, so things don't go flying around)

The switch in the light assembly is more fancy - it has a sliding
contact and everything! In the photo, the sliding contact is the brass
bit with a Phillips screw in the middle of it. If you want to clean the
contacts, undo that screw and polish up the metalwork with some brasso -
make it all nice and shiny and clean. Don't use a cleaner that leaves
any sort of protective clearcoat!

Before reassembling the switch, you might want to bend the sliding
contact a little if it needs it, to increase pressure.

The whole light assembly is removable - if you pull out the cable enough
(about 10cm) you'll find a connector, probably wrapped in foam to stop
it rattling.

Karl.

[Posted via external email]

suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:43 pm

well, as a semi-definitive answer, I bought two new switches from Ross at MX5 Mart ($20 inc. GST, P&P etc.) and put them in, and lights seem to be working a charm.

Thanks to everyone for hints and tips.

WRW · Post by **WRW** » Fri May 11, 2007 4:38 pm

I don't even know if mine works anymore

I've had them turned off ever since I bought my car (4 years plus) as they didn't exactly light up the interior in any way that could be deemed useful.

More like looking for what I dropped by candle light

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