Interior lights stopped working and now tail lights as well

[Temeku]

I have a 1987 Honda Accord LX-i. About three weeks ago, the interior lights (dome light, door lights except the front passenger door for some reason) would act up - intermittently just not working. Now they haven't worked at all in a couple of weeks.

Then, earlier tonight, I drive the car down the block to the gas station and I hear a very audible *click* - then suddenly all of my instrument panel and dash lights all shut off at once. Looked in the reflection of a store window to see my tail lights had gone out as well (although my brake and reverse lights still work). All the gauges and headlights still work. Now I've had this problem happen in my old '84 Accord, turned out to be a bad column switch (which wasn't easy to find a functioning replacement for, nor was the job fun). I'm hoping that isn't the case here and it could simply be something else, so before I go on the prowl for a replacement column switch, any other suggestions? And is it related to the above interior lights failure or are these two separate problems?

[Temeku]

Hoping for a response please...

[DanJDT]

You checked all your fuses? Grounds? Can you take apart the switch and inspect for faults? I know Ive gotten away with cleaning and freshening up contacts in hard to find switches before.

[Temeku]

Just to clear up, it turned out to be a fuse under the dash that I had overlooked. Well, at least for the tail lights.

The interior dome light and door lights (except for one) still don't work, although I believe the door jamb switches are responsible for the latter (I tested them). The dome light just doesn't want to work at all no matter what.

[Temeku]

Door jamb switches are fine, oddly enough. They all work only one one door (front passenger), as I found when swapping them around.

No idea what to do next.

[Temeku]

I used a test light to confirm that three of the four door jamb switches are not receiving power, while the front-passenger one is. Wiring diagrams from repairguide.autozone.com and online PDFs don't contain any information about fuse #13 (Interior Lights) or the interior wiring at all.

I suppose now I need to trace the door jamb switch wires back to where they all come together, which is likely where I'll find the source of my problem. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they meet. I can only see the wires go up the inside of the pillars towards the ceiling/roof.

[Oldblueaccord]

I used a test light to confirm that three of the four door jamb switches are not receiving power, while the front-passenger one is. Wiring diagrams from repairguide.autozone.com and online PDFs don't contain any information about fuse #13 (Interior Lights) or the interior wiring at all.

I suppose now I need to trace the door jamb switch wires back to where they all come together, which is likely where I'll find the source of my problem. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they meet. I can only see the wires go up the inside of the pillars towards the ceiling/roof.

Did you download the manual in Snooze signature the wiring diagrams should be in there.

[Temeku]

Thank you Oldblueaccord. Turns out I only had the "Supplement" PDFs which did not contain the full information, but Snooze's signature had the full manuals in them.



The area I highlighted in yellow is where I suspect the problem to be. The two under-hood fuses in the upper-right both work fine, as does one of the door jamb switches (front-passenger). Everything else that does not work I circled in red. The safety indicator also does not show when any of the doors/trunk are ajar, I forgot to mark that. Now I still have to actually find where in the car these wires all meet.

[Oldblueaccord]

Thank you Oldblueaccord. Turns out I only had the "Supplement" PDFs which did not contain the full information, but Snooze's signature had the full manuals in them.



The area I highlighted in yellow is where I suspect the problem to be. The two under-hood fuses in the upper-right both work fine, as does one of the door jamb switches (front-passenger). Everything else that does not work I circled in red. The safety indicator also does not show when any of the doors/trunk are ajar, I forgot to mark that. Now I still have to actually find where in the car these wires all meet.

I think my understanding is the door jamb switches all sink to ground meaning they complete the ground of the circuit when there made. The picture above seems to indicated that but I dont see he ground symbol.

There is in the back on the manual drawings of the wire routing and connector numbers.

Just on a whim I would pull the dome light down and see if the wires are ok there. Other wise i suspect the wires going thru one of the door/hinge area is pinched or bad.

[Dr_Snooz]

All those little switches are going to ground to the metal where they are mounted. If they didn't, you'd have 3 million little ground wires attached to the battery negative terminal.

It's not a bad idea to look at all your switches and grounds. Pull them out, clean them up, tweak them as necessary to ensure good contact and grease them with dielectric grease to prevent corrosion. It's getting time to do that with my dome light again. Having said that, the switches/grounds don't usually go out suddenly, all at the same time. And they cause all manner of irritation, flickering, dimness, etc. before they give up entirely.

For your issue, I highly recommend using the Electrical Troubleshooting Manual from my sig collection. It will tell you where to locate all the connectors, harnesses, etc. in the car. It also has great explanations of how every circuit works. I'd say look for a damaged, wet or corroded connector somewhere. The ETM will help you find it quickly.

[conozo]

The dome light not working has been talked about before and a fairly common issue is a wire splice gone bad in the wiring harness near the front footwell. I think it's on the passenger side but search the forum to see if you can find the threads for more information on it.

[Temeku]

Thank you all for your help. Dr Snooz, your ETM guide was extremely helpful in locating what I believe is the source of my interior light problems as I found today:



C304 is what I was looking for, and here is what I found:



Is this corrosion? Next step?

[conozo]

That looks normal, its dielectric grease on the connector so it doesn't corrode.

Disconnect it and see if you are getting voltage on that wire at least to the plug.

[Temeku]

Thought I was onto something, turns out I was wrong again. Oh well. I'll check for voltage tomorrow.

[Temeku]

Just noticed the 15A fuse for Interior Lights (under the hood) is blown. It wasn't when I checked it a month ago.