courtesy light

[arnulfo de l.a.]

whats the deal with the courtesy light on the rear of the console on the 65 rivi's? there's no way to turn it off. no matter what position you put the switch in it stays on.i took the light off and found that the switch does not break contact no matter what position jts in.seems like a design flaw.anyone else have this problem?is there a remedy that still allows use of the switch?

arnulfo

roa#11682

[RivNut]

Arnuflo,

Check the wiring on the back of your door jamb switch. The lamp has 12V going directly to it. The door jamb switch creates a break in the 'ground' wire. If the wire on the back of the jamb switch is touching the body or the switch is bad, the light will stay on. There are three wires coming off the back of the switch - one goes to the sail panel lights, one goes to the courtesy light above the glove box and the side console lights, and one goes to the rear courtesy light in the console; they're all ground wires, no 12V goes to the switch. The switch housing makes contact with the body and when the door is opened, the switch is closed and the circuit is completed. The reason the 12V goes directly to the lamp is so that the switch below the lamp can also activate it by completing a ground.

Ed

[Guest Gee_Rydes]

Are the lights connected to the Courtesy light switch above the radio? I don't remember if that switch is only for the console lights or if it also triggers the sail panel lights.

[Jim Cannon]

Courtesy lights can be a pain to trouble shoot on these cars. There are 3 separate courtesy light systems that get turned on and off by different switches. The lights themselves always have 12 volts supplied to them. The various switches provide the GROUND for the bulbs. The switches do not interrupt the power flowing to the bulb(s).

The lights in each system and how they are turned on separately from the door jam switches are as follows:

System 1 - Map light above glove box and lights on side of center console. Turned on by the Courtesy Light switch on the underside of dash.

System 2 - Rear "sail panel" lights. Turned on by rotating headlight knob fully counter-clockwise. Headlights do not need to be on to activate these lights (even though headlight switch is used to turn them on).

System 3 - Light at rear of center console. Turned on by switch below the light on the end of the console.

The door switches turn all 3 light systems on. There are 3 separate wires connected to each door switch because there are 3 courtesy light systems that each get a ground at the switch. So as Ed mentioned, a good place to look when a light stays on is at the wires leading to these switches. If one of the wires is touching the body in any way and providing a ground, the lights in that system will stay on.

In fact, any wire leading from each system to the door jam switches that accidentally gets grounded will turn the light on and you can not get it off. A screw can cut through the insulation in a wire and ground the wire out (keeping the light on).

I hope this helps you figure it out.

[Guest Gee_Rydes]

Jim,

That was awesome information.

I appreciate the knowledge you and Ed shared.

[Turbinator]

On 5/26/2008 at 4:32 PM, Jim Cannon said:

Courtesy lights can be a pain to trouble shoot on these cars. There are 3 separate courtesy light systems that get turned on and off by different switches. The lights themselves always have 12 volts supplied to them. The various switches provide the GROUND for the bulbs. The switches do not interrupt the power flowing to the bulb(s).

The lights in each system and how they are turned on separately from the door jam switches are as follows:

System 1 - Map light above glove box and lights on side of center console. Turned on by the Courtesy Light switch on the underside of dash.

System 2 - Rear "sail panel" lights. Turned on by rotating headlight knob fully counter-clockwise. Headlights do not need to be on to activate these lights (even though headlight switch is used to turn them on).

System 3 - Light at rear of center console. Turned on by switch below the light on the end of the console.

The door switches turn all 3 light systems on. There are 3 separate wires connected to each door switch because there are 3 courtesy light systems that each get a ground at the switch. So as Ed mentioned, a good place to look when a light stays on is at the wires leading to these switches. If one of the wires is touching the body in any way and providing a ground, the lights in that system will stay on.

In fact, any wire leading from each system to the door jam switches that accidentally gets grounded will turn the light on and you can not get it off. A screw can cut through the insulation in a wire and ground the wire out (keeping the light on).

I hope this helps you figure it out.

Jim, Turbinator here July 2020 8:15 pm. I search the forum because I can’t get my sail lights to go out . A number of hours and yoga positions to check fuse block. Something kept nagging me..... it’s a switch somewhere. I get up. Go to the carriage house and turn the sail lights off at the head light switch. Problem solved. Oh, it wad your explanation that clued me to the head light switch.Turbinator

[Zimm63]

Timely topic for me.  Next on the list right after I pull the heater box, deal with any issues I find and replace the lower diaphragms.  

 

 

 

[Jim Cannon]

19 hours ago, Turbinator said:

Jim, Turbinator here July 2020 8:15 pm. I search the forum because I can’t get my sail lights to go out . A number of hours and yoga positions to check fuse block. Something kept nagging me..... it’s a switch somewhere. I get up. Go to the carriage house and turn the sail lights off at the head light switch. Problem solved. Oh, it wad your explanation that clued me to the head light switch.Turbinator

 

So glad I could help.

 

Wow, this post was originally made 12 years ago!  How time flies!

 

I'm glad you could find this in the archives.  My knowledge will live on long after I am gone.

 

😎

[Turbinator]

28 minutes ago, Jim Cannon said:

 

So glad I could help.

 

Wow, this post was originally made 12 years ago!  How time flies!

 

I'm glad you could find this in the archives.  My knowledge will live on long after I am gone.

 

😎

Jim, I suppose you are 100% correct. We learn from our mistakes and learn from others. You guys on the forum have saved my bacon a number of times.

Turbinator

[Turbinator]

4 hours ago, Zimm63 said:

Timely topic for me.  Next on the list right after I pull the heater box, deal with any issues I find and replace the lower diaphragms.  

 

 

 

Zimm, if the #3 and # 4 diaphrams are not working there is no direct replacement. You ll have to put on a single dual port diaphram to substitute for the 3 and 4 that don’t work. Some guys say they are easy to fix. Had I known that, I wished I sent mine to them to rebuild. I tried to rebuild them twice with no luck.

The heater box removal is tedious. Be ready to practice patience.