No working interior lights?

[itscody]

for some reason when i bought my 02 explorer the interior lights did not work. I checked all the fuses under the dash and they all looked good, The guy said it was probaly a fue or wire, But the fuses arnt the problem. So what else could be the problem, Because no interior lights work when i try to switch them on?

 

[itscody]

i guess no body knows?

 

[waskly]

did you check fuses under the hood?

 

[itscody]

No. I was not aware there was fuses under the Hood for interior lights. Gonna check those now.

 

[waskly]

the are controlled by the gem module, fuse 2 17 under the dash should have power on it to power the gem in the car for interior lights...

also on the passenger side, under the dash is a square plug with a 10mm bolt in it. make sure that bolt is tight....

 

[itscody]

the fuses under the dash r good. And the 10mm on the plug is tight.

 

[waskly]

my guess would be a short in the head liner. not alot but a few exs lose headliner lights from the glued harness to the headliner coming lose and rubbing through.

you can check the connector in the a pillar if power is going up. off the top of my head i think its a black wire with red trace.

i dont have an evtm infont of me. but im pretty sure thats the wire.

 

[itscody]

Okay I will check n see if its getting power to them. When I get home.

 

[itscody]

Okay looks like power is not getting to the plug? So how do i figure out which wire is the hot wire? And il jus run a new wire n see if that works?

 

[F15E_WSO]

the are controlled by the gem module, fuse 2 17 under the dash should have power on it to power the gem in the car for interior lights...

also on the passenger side, under the dash is a square plug with a 10mm bolt in it. make sure that bolt is tight....

Dang you DO know lots of stuff....how are you at picking Mega-millions numbers? We're at 290M$$

 

[waskly]

Dang you DO know lots of stuff....how are you at picking Mega-millions numbers? We're at 290M$$

i use quick pick. still not winning

 

[itscody]

LOL. So do you happen to know the hot wire for the lights. ?

 

[F15E_WSO]

i use quick pick. still not winning

Ditto, and same on the winning part too. If you see me with a new 2011 explorer on Thursday you'll know I won!

 

[itscody]

So any1 know the hot wire color for the interior lights at the plug?

 

[itscody]

I guess noone knows.

 

[F15E_WSO]

itscody,
seems no one can provide what I call teh "paper" answer from a schematic or diagram. The other solution is one of those "test light" probes from any auto store, not a bad thing to own. Will give you the hot wire in no time. Most annoying thing is finding a good ground to attach it to as there is so much plastic and painted surfaces in cars now.

 

[itscody]

See i have a test light and the problem is none of the 4 wires are hot. So what i was going to do is run a new hot wire but i need to know which color was orginally the hot ware so i can put the new one in its place?

 

[F15E_WSO]

See i have a test light and the problem is none of the 4 wires are hot. So what i was going to do is run a new hot wire but i need to know which color was orginally the hot ware so i can put the new one in its place?

Ok, that is a different problem. Ok, the lights come on when you:*
1) open the door(s)
2) turn on dome lamps with switches
3) turn on interior lights by driving the console brightness knob to full bright past the detent

*what I recall sitting here at my desk.

Seems one of the switches in 1-3 above could be failing thereby killing your whole circuit therefore you have NO hot wire at all. Did you check the three switches within the circuit(s)? You say your fuzes are good.

 

[itscody]

No lights do not work at all.
And yes fuses are good.

 

[F15E_WSO]

Still stumped....

No lights do not work at all.
And yes fuses are good.

OK, played with my '02 when I got home last night, by turning the cluster rheostat full down past the detent you can in fact turn off all interior lights even when you open the door(s) but with the rheostat full off you can still turn on map/dome lights with the little button at the lights. Also if your dimmer was fulll dim or off your instrument cluster would be dark with the headlights on.

Here is one I had in a mustang years ago, the fault was in the power "behind" the fuse box. In other words the fuse was good but there was no actual power coming into that fuse or component of the fuse box. I had to remove the fuse box from it's mount, turn it around (difficult as most wiring harnesses are very short) and re-attach the wire to the box.

I would get your lite tester or voltmeter and ensure that your fuse for that section is in fact hot. Your fuse could be "good" because there is no power to burn it up. Re-reading what you replied to waskly I'm not sure if you visually checked only the fuse or the contacts for power?

I would go as far "upstream" in this process as possible to see where you have power. Ensure there is power in the slot at the fuse box.

Good luck, electrical failures are tough, there's no fluids or traces of the problem generally.