Just joined the Forum this morning. I've got an '88 F150 XLT Lariat 4x4. I bought it used a few years ago. It has the "optional" light package that includes an interior dome light with two map lights, one on each side, each with a switch right next to the light. The map lights have never worked since I've owned it. I never tried changing the bulbs until this morning. So this morning I took the bulbs out; they looked fine. Bought new ones, just to be sure. Put everything back together, and...still no map lights.

The map lights are on the same fuse as the dome light (which DOES work), so I figure power is getting to the switches; the switches must have failed, right? But isn't it weird that neither one works? If one worked but not the other, I'd think it was a switch, but the fact that neither one works makes me think, somehow, the power isn't making it to the switches.

Anyone out there had experience with this?

Jim

 

i have had the some prob on my 88 and 94. I hope someone has a good reply to fix this!!

clipper

 

Try taking the fixture out & testing for power to the mount screw that carries current to the map light connector. This circuit should be hot @ all times. It is circuit #54 and is light green with a yellow tracer. Your dome light is fed from the same fuse, but by way of the headlight and door switches through circuit #53, which is black with a light blue tracer. Sometimes the screw fails to make proper contact with the metal inside the snap-in plastic mount. If that is the problem you may need to find a replacement one to splice into the line. It is possible, though not likely, that both map light switches have gone bad.

Replacement units can usually be found in salvage yards. Keep in mind that the newer style plastic housing units found in the 97 & up trucks can be used as well, but be sure to get one that has the fluting on the inside of the lense for the dome lamps. the fluting directs the light beam downward so it shines in the right place for reading and not up onto the ceiling & into the visor.

dn.

 

Crewcabdad,

This is great. Thanks very much.

Jim

 

I so hate that dome light, I just yanked mine out and replaced it with a chrysler minivan overhead console. When the map lights are on (in my crewcab) I couldn't see through the rear view mirror at night. My wife likes to read on long trips.

Anyway, there are two wires... one is always hot for the map lights, and one is only hot whenn the door is open, and the dome light enclosure is grounded via a large screw.

In fact, both wires are on plastic fittings that snap into the roof of the truck, and screws that go through the housing complete the circuit. The screw holes might be worn, use larger screws.

A quick test with a voltmeter will tell you if the wires are bringing electricity or not. THey are on the same fuse, but you have two wires run up there, one might be broken along the way.

How I attached the wires from the overhead console was to insert eye-rings onto the console wires, crimp, then screw them into those plastic wire-screw-thingys.

If you need a new unit, its totally a junkyard item, most pickups have them, just in different places depending if its a reg, extended or crewcab.

 

This may be a dumb question...but how did you mount the console? I understand how you wired it; it's the mechanical mounting I don't get.

Thanks for your help.

Jim

 

The wiring actually was more complex than I thought it was going to be... but thats because chrysler uses a diode array they don't put in the overhead console you see, they bury it in a side panel somewhere. Also, I have in/out temp, compass and a trip computer that wouldn't work until I leeched a chrysler transmission EATX control module, than shove that puppy in as well on the firewall.

Thats assuming someone wants MPG, dist to empty, blah blah. I debated skipping it actually, but I the parts were cheap so...

Mechanically mounting it was the easy part. To mount the front, I simply put flat bar stock above the trim piece that covers the windshield gasket across the top - its about 1/8" thick tops, maybe 3/32". Was something I had lying around. Anyway, I drilled and tapped two holes, size #10, then drilled #12 holes in the trim piece so the screws would go through easily to the bar stock I attached above using sheet metal screws that I countersunk.

Drilled two holes in the plastic overhead console, viola, front is attached.

The rear was more complicated, but I "got lucky" in that the chrysler console was longer than the distance from the windshield to the original dome light (I have a crewcab), so after poking around the headliner with a flashlight, I found two holes towards the outer edges of the dome light support bracket, a piece of c-channel that was welded in there by ford. I tapped those holes for #10 machine screws, drilled to corresponding holes in the back of the overhead console, used 2.5" long #10 machine screws that had a nice wide head on them, zipped them in, all done.

Then I painted the screwheads black to match the black plastic of the chrysler console. Barely noticable.

The chrysler overhead consoles actually snap in at the back using a metal bracket, which I unfortunately didn't remember to take when I junkyarded the console. I left it on the dashboard of the minivan. Darnit! Thats okay, it all worked out in the end. Just required finding my tap and die set.

 

BTW, an additional wiring note is that the 93 caravan overhead console I used is designed to light up when you open the doors.... with a pin switch to ground.

Ford on the other hand uses pin switches that give the dome light +12V to light up, so if you wire the chrysler console in "as-is" you'll blow fuses immediately. You have to reverse some of the wiring between the silly compass/car computer/temp display and the light switches that turn on the map switches.

I can explain this in excrutiating detail if you wish...

 

Well okay...the green wire with the yellow trace is NOT HOT when it gets to the dome; that was predictable. The question is, what to do now? I'd like to check it at the connector (harness...whatever) where it passes through the front wall of the cab (that makes sense, right) But #53 is right in the middle of that harness. I have zero experience with this stuff...in order to check for continuity, do I remove that connector, or what?

Thanks,
Jim

 

Jim:

The leg of the #53 circuit that goes through the firewall feeds your engine compartment light. There will be a splice (or several) inside the wiring harness. These seldom go bad, but it is a possiblity. More likely you have a loose contact in a connector or a break in the green/yellow wire on its way up to the light fixture. If you cannot locate & fix the problem any other way you might just splice in a new wire from a known good point in the harness & run it under the carpet & door sill & up the "B" pillar to the fixture.

Frederic makes a valid point in his earlier post regarding the screws failing to make contact with the wire inside the plastic snap-ins. That also sounds like a neat custom job he did with the Mopar console. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to not just fix a problem, but make your truck even better! Such an upgrade might be easier than just trying to fix what you now have.

dn.

 

Did you try turning on your head lights and then your map light?
I had my truck for about two months and thought my map lights didn't work until my son was playing aroud and figured it out for me.

 

I'm with electric...my map lights don't work unless my parking lights or headlights are on.

I've got shop manuals lying all over the place (and yeah, most are for sale), but I'm incredibly lazy.

Pat

 

Thanks again for the advice guys. Yeah, even when the headlights are on the map lights don't work. I also tried turning on the dome light to see if that made a difference. It didn't.

As for the screw not making contact, I took out the fixture and worked hard at trying to make contact with my voltmeter. I'm sure I succeeded at touching the metal, but still no par (as my father-in-law would say, meaning 'power').

Now that I've got a better idea of how that wire runs, I'll take another shot at finding the break. At home with a sick kid today so I should have some time.

As for the new console--great idea, but I'll still need an always-hot wire up there, right? So either way I'll have to fix this problem.

Thanks again...

Jim