Interior lights not working

[oscarowner]

Sort of stumped here. I have a 1984 1.9 Westy and my driver side "dome" light all of a sudden stopped working as well as the over counter "camp" light in the back interior. I have checked door switch, dome light, and camp light contacts and all looks good. The fuse panel also looks ok. I think it is the fuse 8.

Anyone have any thoughts? Luckily I have some great stick up LED battery lights for camping and interior so not the end of the world, but just frustrating.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[VicVan]

What do you mean when you say "checked"?
Door contacts - unscrew, disassemble, scrub, dielectric grease, assemble
dome light - same + do you have 12v at the poles ? Is the ground connection good?
Light bulbs - do they work when wired directly to 12V?
Fuse - Do you have +12V at the fuse poles?
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[oscarowner]

Thanks VicVan, the grease is a good idea as well as power at the poles of the fuse.

[jayinduluth]

crazy timing, all my interior lights and my lighter stopped working yesterday. fuse #8 was blown, replaced fuse, all good.
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85 Westy with 91 2.1L

[Ahwahnee]

Since you have an 84 you likely have the ceramic fuses - those can fail w/o blowing as the contacts become corroded or otherwise do not conduct well - so it is best not to rely on visual inspection when checking fuses.

Also - if you have an auxiliary battery installed by a PO you may want to see how it figures into this as interior lights are often moved to the aux when it is set up (at least that's what I did).

[reverend24]

84 Westy. Having the same issue after shorting the 12v cigarette outlet in the dash. Drivers side dome light and camp light not working. Replaced a blown 30A fuse at the second battery and recovered everything except the mentioned lighting. I'm fairly certain it's a common ground for these lights as the drivers side dome light still turns on with the open door switch ground. Where is the common constant ground for these lights located????

[Squidfish]

Sometimes the map light shorts itself on the dash surround I've noticed.
_________________
1985.5 - Vanagon Westfalia Weekender Wolfsburg Edition - LH8U - "Penny"
- 2.6i 5-Cylinder 10v (2004)

[sjbartnik]

[reverend24]

Thanks for the reply.
All fuses are tested and are functioning including the stock white ceramic #8. I replaced it with a new one to be sure. Everything on the circuit is working except the two lights mentioned above. My radio and two 12v outlets are on the same circuit but grounded independently. That led me to believe the lights share a common ground. My inclination is the ground tree under the dash and at the drivers left knee. I'm hoping to avoid searching for it as I'm sure someone has had problems here in the past. Any info is appreciated!!

[sjbartnik]

The dome light has two ground points depending on what mode you have it in. If it's set to "door" mode, the ground is at the door contact switch in the door jamb. If it's in always on mode, it should have a local ground.

Pull the dome light assembly out of its hole in the roof (carefully and try not to let the red wire touch ground or it'll blow the fuse again) and you will see the power & ground wires. Should be two ground wires, one that runs down to the door contact switch and another that runs...somewhere else (not sure where) for the always-on mode.

While you have the light pulled out you can also test for 12v on the red wire to see if you have a power supply problem or a ground problem.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[erichjelm]

Under the dash on the driver's side, there are ground connections. They look like castle crenulations with about six male spade connections coming up from each set. I had to redo a few of mine because the curly arm on the female connector had snapped from weakening with age.

[jlrftype7]

[reverend24]

Solved!

It was a common ground at the ground tree under the dash as described by erichjelm in the above post.
I replaced all the ground connections while I was in the dash to avoid any future problems.

Thanks for all the replies!

[Icebox500]

Old topic new question about hot wire.

My dome light worked, now it doesn’t. My fuses are good and verified with a tester.

I would like to trace the red wire down to the fuse panel but it’s a bit of a hot mess. Does anyone have any clear direction on where it comes out of the pillar or another way to find it? I am hoping it is damaged/disconnected and I can replace or repair it.

Thanks

[skills@eurocarsplus]

that red wire comes out of the A pillar on the front edge. so where you're antenna passes thru into the cabin there is a hole right in that area.

Total assache to see it. you can grope around like a teenager till you find the hole if you take the cluster out
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[Icebox500]

Perfect, that’s just the response I needed. Thanks!

[Icebox500]

Also fighting with a dead dome light… Wanted to verify my understanding.

Red wire: should have power 100% of the time
Power comes from fuse #3 (87 Westy)
Fuses behind driver’s seat have no impact

I don’t have any power at the red wire at the dome light nor do I have a blown fuse. If what I’ve said above is correct, I’ll need to chase down that problem.

Thank you.
_________________
87 Westy 2WD “Van Geaux”
2.2 Rebuilt WB
AZ Transaxle + Peloquin Manual Transmission
GW lift springs, solar, Burley front disc, etc...

New Orleans, LA (previously CO, WA, and CA)

Past
87, 90 Westys
64, 65 splittys + various air cooled

[crazyvwvanman]

It is very common for the dome light power source to have been moved over to an auxiliary battery.
If your van has an aux battery it may be at fault, or there may be a blown fuse at the aux battery.

The typical GoWsty aux bat install involves what I regard as mostly needless butchering of wires on the back of the fuse panel and if that was done then there may be a subsequent wiring issue in that hard to get to location.

Mark

[Icebox500]

Cool. That was the next thing I was going to do was try to trace that and apply house battery power.

Thanks!
_________________
87 Westy 2WD “Van Geaux”
2.2 Rebuilt WB
AZ Transaxle + Peloquin Manual Transmission
GW lift springs, solar, Burley front disc, etc...

New Orleans, LA (previously CO, WA, and CA)

Past
87, 90 Westys
64, 65 splittys + various air cooled