interior lights

[projectheaven]

Hello again,

The lights under my dash board stay on even when i close my doors.I believe this is a contributing factor to my battery constantly dieing.I think the lights are suppose to go to the middle console of the car.The color of the wires are orange,white,and grey and run from under the dash.

Can anybody help me and tell me how can i at least turn them off for the time being.

Thank you

[Lady72nRob71]

I take it that your courtesy light switch on the headlight switch is turned off.

First, try pushing in each of the door switches one at a time. Sometimes the door may not push them in enough to open the switch.

If that don't work, the headlight switch could be bad or there is a short in the white wire to ground.
Orange is hot 12V, white is "to ground" via switches, and grey is the dimmable dash light feed (not used for the courtest circuit.
To turn the courtesy lights on, the white wire is to be shorted to ground.

This could also be caused by bad door switches. YOu might have to pop the white wire off of each switch to narrow down the odds.

If the console was ever pulled and reinstalled, it is possible someone got a wire pinched and shorted to ground. Sometimes it takes a while for the insulation to finally get cut through.

As a quick tempo fix, pull the clock, lighter, and courtesy fuse.

[rocketraider]

Pull the courtesy light fuse. You'll probably lose the clock, remaining dome lamps and lighter at the same time.

[Allan R]

I agree with Rob.
You never said in your post whether the courtesy lights will go off if you press the door switch in. It might be out of adjustment only on one door. Get a friend to help push the other one in while you check your side. You need to check them both at the same time to know for sure. If the lights go off, you know it's the adjustment of the door switch.

Had the same problem on a Ninety Eight after it came out of the body shop. Whoever worked on the car removed the door switches and reinstalled them to far "in" on the A pillar. This bypassed the normal courtesy light timer and cancel circuit built into the keyed start feature for that model year.
Adjusting the door switches is simple. Undo the retaining nut, and unscrew the switch a 1/2 turn at a time, checking to see if the light goes off when you close the doors. When you're done, remember to snug down the locking nut.

If it's not a door switch, follow Rob's suggestions. He's got basically the same car as you and knows a lot about it. If you pull the fuse like what's been suggested, monitor the battery voltage/amp to see if it makes a difference. If it does, you've got a start on tracking the problem. If it doesn't you've probably got a parasitic drain somewhere else. (I hate electrical problems too)