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Thu Jun 05, 2008 2:15 pm

I've been having some electrical issues with my glove box light. I don't use it much, but when I do it always blows a fuse. I had the problem checked out and everything seemed to be O.K. Then the other day after a long drive I touched the metal shield that covers the light assembly and it was really hot. Almost burning hot. I turned off the car and removed the shield and found this...

I'm assuming the loose brown wire is a ground. I'm also assuming that this wire was in contact with the shield which made it get hot.

By now I'm sure you have figured out that I am truly an electrical wizard. :oops:

Can anyone tell me where and what this wire connects to? I know I could just attach it to a nearby sheet metal screw, but I want to hook it up correctly and can't see where it attaches to.

Thanks,
Slim

Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:28 pm

Looks like it needs to go into the screw on the right, on the bottom pic the screw that holds the wire down, looks like it has backed out. If you look at the wire on the left that is hooked up you can see the set screw holding it down. Try putting the loose wire end into the hole and tighten the screw down. It looks like that is the ground side of the light, you can see the screw is mounted to the mounting plate, which would be the ground. good luck Anthony

Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:16 pm

Yes, that was my first thought too, but the way the light was wired the brown wire was way too short to reach the right hand screw. I took the whole thing apart to really check it out. After checking out the bottom side I saw that the screw on the right was, in fact, where the ground wire connects to. Apparently the PO had wired the light incorrectly with both wires going up into the hot side. I had to strip off some of the hard protective sleeve that encloses the wires and then was able to connect the brown wire to the ground screw. I reassembled it, turned the key and... nothing.

I checked the bulb and then checked the fuses. Everything checked out OK. I took everything apart again and double checked the connections. Red wire to hot and brown wire to ground. As I was taking out the bulb again the glass cracked. I'll replace the bulb tomorrow, and check it again. I thought for sure that would have worked.

Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:51 am

Fun 181 wrote: turned the key and... nothing.

The light doesn't work with the key, the bulb shield rotates and when it is fully open (not partially, fully) the current flows. I don't remember if the main light switch has to be on, but I don't think so.

Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:54 am

77kafer wrote: the bulb shield rotates

I just took another look at your pictures, and realized that you don't have the bulb shield/switch assembly pictured. Do you have that part?

Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:51 am

Yes, I have the entire assembly. I should have mentioned that after I turned the key, I rotated the inner shield to turn the light on. I had the whole assembly together and rotated the inner shield all the way back and forth several times with the power on. No dice.

The contacts all look clean. I'll double check them. And, like you said, I don't think that the main headlights have to be on for the glove box light to work either. I'll check that too though.

I won't be able to get down to the auto parts store for another bulb until tomorrow. I'll post the results.

Thanks for the feedback guys!
Slim

Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:45 pm

I may be wrong about this (when I rebuilt my car I took the light out and never replaced it) but I think your glove box light is mistakenly mounted left-to-right. The opening that the light comes through is supposed to point down into the box. That would explain why the ground seems too short. If you removed the light, flipped it, and reinstalled it, the lug for the ground wire would be on the left, and the ground wire would reach it.

Maybe someone who has theirs installed can verify . . .

Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:10 am

Glad that you have got it figured out or "wired". Take it easy