"Jason Bleazard" <dml@bleazard.net> wrote:
: On Tue, April 11, 2006 10:56 am, Dave Buerk said:
:>
:> I am having a problem with my interior light not working on my 1993 Dakota.
:> I check the bulb & the fuse, both were fine. Any ideas on what I should
:> check next? Is this a common problem with Dakotas?
: Does it work if you turn the headlight switch? I had a problem at one time
: with the switches in the doors getting stuck, so the light never came on when
: the doors were opened. A little WD-40 cleared it right up.
: Other than that, it sounds like you're going to be tracing wires looking for a
: break in the circuit.
Yep, what he said. Use the headlight switch to turn on the dome
light. If the dome light doesn't work, you've got some other issues,
but if it does, chances are its just the plungers. They do have a tendancy
to gum up or corrode; you might have to pull them out and clean them, but
probably hitting them with some WD-40 and maybe some air, etc. should
clean them up. If you can get to the contact surface, a little dielectric
grease in there wouldn't hurt. Usually all the plunger does is to ground
the wire for the light; the light gets +12v all the time, and the door
plunger grounds the other side of the bulb to the chassis when the door is
opened.
Anyhoo, if you turn the headlight switch on and the dome light doesn't
come on, I would next open up the dome light and apply 12v and ground
to the appropriate terminals directly. If it doesn't come on, you might
have some corrosion issues or something in the light itself (assuming
the bulb really is good of course), but if it does come on, then its
time to play "trace that wire" which is always fun. ;-) Test the
+12v wire at the light, and if its got 12v on it then chances are the
problem is with the ground side, if not, then its the power feed which
is the problem... Narrowing it down that way, at least you can limit
your trace to just one particular wire.
Just a few ideas there, I hope that helps - good luck with it!
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger --- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| 67 Dodge Coronet, 70 Plymouth Barracuda, 76 Peugeot TSA |
| 78 Dodge B100, 90 Dodge Dakota Convertible, 92 Dodge Ram 4x4 |
| 96 Dodge Dakota, 96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, 96 Kolb FireFly |
| 99 Jeep Cherokee 4x4, 01 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD |
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