The courtesy (or map) lights have never worked since I bought my car. It’s disconcerting not to have the light come on when the door is open, like having the light burn out in the refrigerator. It can also be hard to find the right key in the dark.
The former owner was working on this issue shortly before he sold the car to me. I don’t know how far he got, but I did know that the door activated switches were bad. I replaced both, as well as some faulty wiring on the passenger side door jamb.
Still no lights. Dang.
There was a trickle of voltage at the light sockets, but not enough to illuminate the bulb, so I pulled the overhead console out to trace the wiring. Power feeds into a small switch you can use to turn the lights on manually. The wiring looked fine, so it appears that the switch has failed. I’m not sure yet if I can get a stock replacement, or if I will need to just bypass it.
While behind the dash, I found a collection of loose vacuum lines–supposed to be connected to the power door locks. I reconnected them, plugging a vacuum leak I didn’t know I had and potentially fixing the lock system.
I recommend everyone remove their Flairbird dash. If you like puzzles and chasing down mysteries, this is the “Where’s Waldo” part of the car!