I can't get the courtesy lights to come on. Fuses are working. The test light turns on and shows power to the under dash bulbs. Dome light will not turn on but if I manually hit the map switch on the dome light, that light will turn on. I can't turn them on with the interior switch on the headlite switch but that rheostat will cause the dash lights to go up or down. I'm at a loss. Is it in the headlite switch after all? Having the doors open also does not turn them on. Open to suggestions.

 

There is power to the lamps all the time, its the ground side that's switched through the door jamb, headlight, and map light. All the switches are hooked in parallel so any of them can operate the lights.

 

So any tips on how to diagnose which is the cause?

 

You have to chase all the grounds. Look at the electrical diagram, your chasing white wires.

 

Im on the dumb side. How do i check a ground? Do i put a test light on a hot wire and touch the ground to see if it lights? Reading schematics isnt my strongpoint in terms of understanding them fully other than i can look for a colored wire to chase it down but i got an F in physics.

 

Pull the lens off the dome light. One terminal will be +12V, the other will be ground. Check for +12V with a voltmeter. With the door open, use an ohmmeter to check for zero resistance on the other terminal. Fix the side that doesn't work properly.

 

Joe, if he checks for ground on the other side of the dome light and there is an open neg circuit, the ohm meter needle will peg because 12v will flow thru the light without removing the bulb. Also if the meter is selected to volts he will read 12v on both sides of the bulb. Also depending on where the ground circuit is open you can back feed through the other bulbs.

If someone can post a wiring diagram we can walk you through it.

 

Here is the diagram. I got a meter but literally tell me where to set the dial as there are several settings in each section and again, I have no true working knowledge of what they mean. If one testing method needs to be on a certain selection and rechecking by another method needs to be somewhere else, tell me. And I guess what is a good reading and what is a bad reading for diagnosing. Thanks

 

You said in your first post you have 12v at all the courtesy lamps, correct? I assuming you do because the reading lights work when you switch them on. Those lights get their ground directly from the dedicated switches.

Remove the drivers kick panel and see if you have access to the white wire on the back of the door jamb switch. ground that wire to the chassis and see if the courtesy lights come on? If not run a jumper wire directly from ground to the white wire of the drivers side lamp socket white wire connection. Do all three lights come on?

 

Kind of succes. Got the dome light working now but not the under dash lights. They still turn the test light on for power but don't operate like the dome. Now the dome works off the headlite switch and door switches. I'll keep working at it this week.

 

Now were getting somewhere. There should be 2 white wires coming off the LH door switch. One comes from the RH door switch and the other goes to/through the C209 body connector and then to a splice somewhere under the dash. Within that splice is the connection the 2 under dash lamps and the wire from the headlight courtesy switch.

 

I'll state the obvious: It's not uncommon to have multiple bulbs burned out in these old buggies. Check for corroded sockets too...