interior lights stay on?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Hi!

After spending 2 days tearing apart my trim to run all the wires for my new sound system, I was finally ready to drive my car off.

Besides not starting (unrelated-- probably dirty battery lead), I had one other little issue. My interior door lights won't turn off! Nor the lights under the front foot wells.

I at first thought it was just on a longer delay, so I took a shower, came back... still on. Must've been on 25 minutes.

Please, in advising me, don't overlook anything simple and stupid. I've tried pushing the autolamp button all the way in and all the way to the left (that turns off the headlights), unless there's a center position, and all the way in keeps the interior lights on? Checking that as soon as I've finished this post....

I had to really grunt to force the power cable in through the firewall, for the amplifier. My worst fear: would nicking any of that bundle of wires that's in the top far corner (closest to the driver when you open the hood), cause the lights to stay ON?

I had to unplug and replug some enigmatic electrical connection in the back storage compartment, opposite the spare tire compartment. Related...?

I plugged in one of the two dimmer lights on the radio harness, but haven't yet connected the radio-- both dimmer wires terminate in nothing. Shouldn't do anything?

I've had to mess around with a lot of the car, running RCA cables to the amp, speakers wires back, AI net to the back of the car and to the front again, amp turn on wire, a fat power cable and then a ground back to the battery... I could have pushed something out of place, if you can give me any hints?


thanks!
-Bernard

[BerniniCaCO3]

Btw: I've been reading that a door latch switch can sometimes do this. I'll try the easy WD-40 method also, but I don't believe in coincidence: the fact that they stay on, the first time I've plugged the battery back in after messing with the dash to do all this wiring, means it's probably something there that' I've done, and not that the door latch switch has decided to get stock now of all times

[tim marks]

and this could be bringing your battery down, causing a starting issue for sure. there is a chance you may have stripped the coating off of a wire causing it to short to ground or something. without seeing what you have it is hard to say. one thing i would try is to remove and unplug the switch in the door jamb for the interior lights. if they stay on still, you have eliminated that from the equation.

[Steve'87]

I've tried pushing the autolamp button all the way in and all the way to the left (that turns off the headlights), unless there's a center position, and all the way in keeps the interior lights on? Checking that as soon as I've finished this post....

I could be mis-reading this, but turning the headlight knob all the way left (CCW) does turn on the interior lights.

[BerniniCaCO3]

darn, not so easy as the headlamp switch (there's no function on it controlling interior lights: in all the way, off, middle: automatic, pulled out all the way, high beam.

Is there some dimmer switch I just never knew about?

How do I disconnect the door switch btw? I'll try that next. Hopefully, it does not involve taking off all the door trim? (having done three window motors, I'm tired of it!!)

[BerniniCaCO3]

wait, does it? I'll turn it a little to the right then; thought I tried it, but maybe I didn't. Haven't touched the headlamp knob in months, not until I had to take the dash trim off.

[Steve'87]

The knob itself, the part you pull out, if you turn it all the way left it turns on the interior lights, turning it right dims the instrument cluster. Could've easily been turned left when you were messing with the dash?

[Steve'87]

darn, not so easy as the headlamp switch (there's no function on it controlling interior lights: in all the way, off, middle: automatic, pulled out all the way, high beam.

Is there some dimmer switch I just never knew about?

How do I disconnect the door switch btw? I'll try that next. Hopefully, it does not involve taking off all the door trim? (having done three window motors, I'm tired of it!!)

What car are we talking about?

[BerniniCaCO3]

a 1990 grand marquis wagon.

Just did another test; turned it to the right until there was a solid click (i.e., timed automatic lights). Locked the doors-- in case unlocked had anything to do with it. Stayed on at least 5min, before I pulled the battery again (no reason to drain it further).

Yes, I could easily have turned it all the way to the left before; in fact I'm sure I did.
Would the fact that I haven't yet restarted the car, since doing all this work, have anything to do with it? Does it "reboot" the computer? (just fishing in the dark), or similarly, could the fact that I've unsuccessfully tried to start it --could just be the oxidized positive lead since I trimmed it-- make the computer confused?

[Steve'87]

a 1990 grand marquis wagon.

Just did another test; turned it to the right until there was a solid click (i.e., timed automatic lights). Locked the doors-- in case unlocked had anything to do with it. Stayed on at least 5min, before I pulled the battery again (no reason to drain it further).

Yes, I could easily have turned it all the way to the left before; in fact I'm sure I did.
Would the fact that I haven't yet restarted the car, since doing all this work, have anything to do with it? Does it "reboot" the computer? (just fishing in the dark), or similarly, could the fact that I've unsuccessfully tried to start it --could just be the oxidized positive lead since I trimmed it-- make the computer confused?

No, it's just a timer module that controls that, it should have nothing to do with when the car was started. You must have a wire that's chaffed, or a bad door switch, or...? On my car, if you lift the outside door handle, the lights will come on until they time out, which is about 6-7 seconds. Or if you hold up on the handle, they stay on until it's released. Just a shot in the dark, and I don't know if they still did that in 90, but are your door handles messed up by any chance?

[BerniniCaCO3]

on my car, the lights come on when I reconnect the battery: even if all doors are shut.
Yeah, definitely something wrong....

Which fuse should I pull in the meantime? I suspect I won't have time to figure this out today.
Does the same fuse control anything else more important than simply interior lights?

The only thing I can think of: the two front doors have, in the back corner, a switch that indicates if the car is locked. When you unlock the doors, it moves back, when you lock them, it shifts forward, IIRC.
Well, after doing my window motors, I accidentally tucked the control for the side mirrors into the door panel. I took apart the door a second time a week ago, pulled it out, reassembled it, and suddenly: the front door would stay locked! I could only open it from the inside.

Took the door apart two days ago, a third time, (while doing the car audio too), and discovered the metal rod that's connected to that switch I mentioned above. Reconnected the rod on the driver side, then redid the same thing on the passenger side (I'd completely overlooked this rod when I did both window motors).

Could that have done anything with the door switch?

What does the door switch look like, and can I disconnect it from the outside of the door (without pulling apart the door trim), to make sure that's not it?

Like I said: any of the wires that pass through the giant cluster that's up behind the parking brake pedal and into the engine compartment, I could have chaffed forcing the amplifier cables through. Anything else, much less likely.

[1990LTD]

on my car, the lights come on when I reconnect the battery: even if all doors are shut.
Yeah, definitely something wrong....

Which fuse should I pull in the meantime? I suspect I won't have time to figure this out today.
Does the same fuse control anything else more important than simply interior lights?

The only thing I can think of: the two front doors have, in the back corner, a switch that indicates if the car is locked. When you unlock the doors, it moves back, when you lock them, it shifts forward, IIRC.
Well, after doing my window motors, I accidentally tucked the control for the side mirrors into the door panel. I took apart the door a second time a week ago, pulled it out, reassembled it, and suddenly: the front door would stay locked! I could only open it from the inside.

Took the door apart two days ago, a third time, (while doing the car audio too), and discovered the metal rod that's connected to that switch I mentioned above. Reconnected the rod on the driver side, then redid the same thing on the passenger side (I'd completely overlooked this rod when I did both window motors).

Could that have done anything with the door switch?

What does the door switch look like, and can I disconnect it from the outside of the door (without pulling apart the door trim), to make sure that's not it?

Like I said: any of the wires that pass through the giant cluster that's up behind the parking brake pedal and into the engine compartment, I could have chaffed forcing the amplifier cables through. Anything else, much less likely.

The same fuse controls your interior stuff - radio, clock, power to the windows, so you'll lose any memory settings from those like the date and your EQ etc. I want to say it's fuse #8, 15amp, but I could be WAY wrong and you should check your manual.

[BerniniCaCO3]

found the fuse... but yeah, sounds like I need to fix this quirk, not just live with it.
It was the second fuse up from the bottom left, 15amp (just started pulling everything )

[1990LTD]

pull out your door jamb switches one by one, make sure you have a grip on the wiring harness though because they're BASTARDS to pull back out. if it's a faulty switch (i had mine keep the interior lights on), the lights will stay off.

[BerniniCaCO3]

anyone know a good crown vic electrician in the Baltimore area?
I was doing more reading... need to consult my car-specific electrical manual, but according to someone else's forum post, the door switches work by GROUNDING the current, so if I nicked anything forcing the amp power lines through the firewall, it would have grounded it (and turned the lights permanently off), not the other way around.

Also, I was comforted when I called the car audio store where I got some of the equipment, and they said they'd never had this issue. So hopefully it isn't anything to do with the wiring, and is just a coincidence that a door switch has gotten stuck. Or related to the work I did on my driver side door....