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Dome Lights Don't Respond to Open Door

37K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Pnambic 
#1 ·
Hi there,

New member. Just bought a 99 Plymouth Grand Voyager and there are a few small issues I'd like to try and fix. I guess I should make separate threads for each...

First issue at hand, when you open the doors, the dome lights don't turn on.
- The front lights come on if you push them, they just don't repond to the door.
- If the key is in the ignition, and the door is open, the chime dings, and the "door is ajar" light is on, so the door sensor appears to be working...
- My uncle, the prior owner who bought the van new, told me that a few years ago the van suddenly wouldn't start. He had it towed to his mechanic who disgnosed the problem as being in his "security system". The mechanic reportedly ripped it out and the lights never worked since. My uncle said that due to the times that the van was driven (during the day), they didn't even notice the issue until sometome later and he never bothered taking it up with the mechanic.

Any thoughts on where a control module or something might be located that might be causing this trouble? I have to strap in an infant and its not easy doing so at night when its pitch black in the van. I already pinched the poor kid's fingers in the clasp once...:(

Thanks!
 
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#2 ·
Dont beat yourself up over pinchin the baby.. Weve all done it. I remember on my DEI alarm I installed many moons ago, the alarm was wired into the dome light, so when a door was opened the signal would activate the alarm. You cut the wire and passed it through the alarm controller and as an added bonus it would activate the dome light when you disarmed the alarm.

I would take off the kick panel, and the lower drivers side instrument panel and look for wires that are no longer connected. Using a multimeter, you can then test the wire to see if the door switch causes the circuit to open and close.

A haynes or Chiltons manual has the diagrams in the back so you can trace the wire by color.

Good luck!
 
#5 ·
I get no lights at all when I open a door. I can get the front ones to work by pressing them. The middle and rear ones don't come on by pressing do they?

When I looked under the kick panel, I did see two green wires (one with an orange stripe and one with a red stripe) hanging out of right plug at the BCM, but when I tore into it, they were remnants of whatever "security" had been installed. They were just T'd into other wires. There are a pair of wires that appear to be coming from the driver's door direction. Appear to be a white and a black. But since the door ajar and chime work, I figured the door was hooked up OK...

Still looking for a Haynes...
 
#8 ·
This is a known issue with these vans.

Located to the right of the headlight control dial is a thumb-wheel toggle switch that controls the operation of the interior lights. Normal operation has the switch set to the SECOND detent from the top of the switch, (the second dot above the dimmer area.) With this setting, all the interior lights, including liftgate and door-mounted ones will illuminate when any of the vehicle's doors are opened, or the remote keyless entry is toggled with the UNLOCK function.

If the switch is put to the top most setting, that turns the interior lights on in one fell-swoop without having to turn them all on manually. Speaking of which, the lights mounted in the center of the ceiling ARE NOT manually controllable. However, interior lights located above both sliding doors and 3rd row vent windows (if so equipped) will illuminate manually by pressing on them.

The ISSUE with these lights NOT coming on when doors are opened has to do with the thumb wheel switch itself. The two lights on either side of the overhead trip computer in my 1996 stopped coming on years ago, though all the other lights still do. For a while, I found if I jiggled the switch a bit, I could get the front lights to turn on when the door is open, but not so much anymore.
 
#9 ·
Hey, I hate posts that never explain the fix, so I should probably add my solution, right?

My wife wanted a remote starter, so I went to Advance Auto and grabbed a clearance bin special for I kid you not - $16 (regular price $69). Someone had bought it and then couldn't find any place to install it for him, so he took it back. Designtech model number 23927. Their instructions and wire diagrams from their website were spot on and the install went perfectly smooth. And while I had the knee plate removed and all the wires hanging out, low and behold, I found that a wire had been cut and left. When I connected it, the dome lights worked. So I patched it up nice and neat and no more dark minivan at night.

So in my case, the mechanic probably literally yanked out the old "security" system and disconnected the wire.

Thanks for all the helpful ideas and posts!
 
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