Got my truck back from the shop after installing new headlights for me and as always there is a list of things that came back no longer working. One thing I haven't figured out is why none of my interior lights or even running board lights come on anymore.

All of my interior dome lights and running board lights used to come on when I would unlock the doors, or open a door, etc. They now never come on at all. The only way I can get my dome overhead dome lights to come on is to hit each light's individual switch. The in dash switch beside the headlight switch will not turn on my interior lights but it will still dim all of the lights on my dash.

I had twice previously had a problem with all of my interior lights remaining on while I was driving. Again, only after having my truck in the shop. The lights would eventually go off after driving a few minutes but the problem quit after awhile each time.

I figure my in dash switch is still working since it still articulates the dimness of my gauges. I had been told by the shop there must have been a door switch keeping the light on but I don't remember if my door ajar light was still on. It is not on now while driving.

Any ideas? In Alaska its dark all winter, lights are necessary. I hope to fix it asap.

Thanks,
Matt

 

No luck having any interior dome lights working again. Today I installed my new ARB compressor to replace the one that locked up. I'm sick of always working in the mud while its raining or snowing with coverage and no heat. My tools are rusting. Got stuck last night on some ice that took almost 15 minutes to drive out of and really wanted my lockers working again.

I finished the installation and ran into a problem. Nothing happened when I flipped my switches. I also noticed that with my headlights on, the ARB switches were no longer lit up so I'm assuming they now have no power going to them. Very strange. I'm wondering what connections I can find and where I might start looking. Could it be the dome light switch? Any ideas?

 

Same problem still occurring.

 

Man, that sucks having strange electrical issues after a shop has been working on the truck.

All I can suggest is to check fuses and possibly related relays..... I'd also take it back to the shop that did the work and get them to trouble shoot it as they obviosly caused it playing with your electrical system.

 

Good suggestions by Ken. Also, did they have the dash off at all? Perhaps some the harnesses to the headlight switch and the dimmer may not be completely or properly seated in the housings. Cheap things to check and easy to do.

 

 

I studied my instruction manual for my lockers, particularly the wiring schematic. I noticed a plug that I could not find on my harness. Looked at it again today and sure enough, the shop had actually cut my ARB harness. I found the wires that run through the firewall and spliced them to my harness. Got power.

I tested the locker and my steering was very heavy. Finally figured out I had the air lines backwards and got the front and rear lockers working correctly and tested them on a couple giant snowbanks. Lights on the switches are working but it wasn't dark enough to check the dimmer function.

Still no interior or running board lights, such a pain, especially when passengers are climbing in and out. To my knowledge the dash was not removed while it was in the shop. It would be a pain to do so with all of the ***** and switches so I think I would know if it had been removed. I did pull the light switch panel out and checked that everything i plugged in, and it all seemed tight. I have yet to find time to check wires with a test light. Is there perhaps a fuse for compartment lighting?

 

I replaced my headlight and dimmer switch with a brand new unit from rockauto.com. I also had to rewire and finish installing quite a bit for the HID headlights. I mounted a pair of Lightforce spotlights and have 100% constant duty solenoids ensuring all of the wiring is safe and powerful Unfortunately, there was no change with my interior lights. The new headlight switch looks out of place being so new and clean. I've tested all of the wiring on the harness going into the switch and it all seems to be working properly.

The dimmer still works on all of the dash illumination. The remaining problem is that none of my interior dome lights come on automatically as they used to when opening doors or inserting the key. The only way to turn on the dome lights is to activate each light switch individually. The running boards do not come on ever.

Anyone have any more ideas on how to get my interior lights working again? I've found no bad fuses and have replaced some just to be sure under the dash and under the hood. Does anyone have a good wiring schematic of what activates the interior lights automatically that they can post? I think it goes back to the GEM but I don't know of any other electrical issues related to that. I don't even know where the GEM is located. Can anyone help me with that? Perhaps can figure out which wire should be getting power and if power is going in and out of the GEM as it should as another diagnostic step. I just soldered my overhead display and that fixed that problem and as I understand the GEM involves other electronics I expect would also be affected if it were defective. I'm really hoping to get this fixed soon. Days have finally gotten shorter so we actually have dark nights now here in Alaska.

Thoughts?
Thanks,
Matt

 

Hey Matt. I feel your pain. With such a large vehicle you need those lights.

I'm looking at the interior light diagram for the X. Your interior light realy is located in the central junction box. Both the interior lights and the running board lights can be powered by this relay and that relay is controlled by the GEM. The reason why the interior lights will come on manually is because there are actually 2 separate systems to power these lights. One is constant hot (manual) and one controlled by the GEM. The running board lights are controlled by the GEM (through the relay) only. The constant hot wires going to the lights are Light Green/Yellow and the relay controlled wires are Black/Light Blue.

OK. So since the relay is controlled by the GEM only I would remove the realy and hook up a meter or a test light to the plug it goes into. Check the pins in a condition that would have the lights OFF (all doors closed key out of ignition). Note which pins are hot and cold. Then perform the same test in a condition that would have the lights ON (open door). If there is a change in the hot/cold pin configuartion that would point to a bad realy. If the hot/cold configuration doesn't change there might be an issue with the GEM or possibly the battery saver relay.

Since it just came from the shop I would bet you have something unplugged. Check the wiring going into the interior lamp relay and battery saver relay first.

I'm not sure if this link will work of not. If not sign up with autozone.com and you can find it there.

| Repair Guides | Interior Lighting (2000) | Courtesy Lamps | AutoZone.com


I hope this helps.

Judd

 

I had the opposite problem. None of the interior or the courtesy lights would go off. This was not related to any door ajar switch. I installed a switch on the black/light blue wire coming off the back of one of the connectors on the instrument cluster. I don't remember the connector number, but there is only one wire of that color. My point is it could be a bad or corroded connector at this point. All of the interior light logic goes through this circuit.

 

Earlier this winter when I got the truck back from the same shop the interior lights would not turn off. It was dark all winter and I rarely drove far enough that the timer would shut them off. Very hard to see out when it was like that. I recall the mechanic sprayed some sort of rust preventative into the driver's door latch. I've sprayed WD-40 in there with no change. I've only read of this causing the lights to stay on, not off. Should I suspect a door switch? Will I find this relay under the dash?

 

I don't see how a door switch could be causing the problem. The realy is in the fuse panel under the steering column. The interior lamp relay is relay number 1 and the battery saver relay is number 2.

 

I tried swapping those two relays to try to verify if that is the problem. When I put the #2 relay in the top spot and the #1 in the second spot I had no more power windows and still no interior lights. I checked the power from the terminals and noticed they are from a top wire on the right hand side for in the top spot and on the bottom right hand side for the second. Both also have power on the far left terminal. Are the two relays supposed to be different? Do the power locations sound correct for the top terminals?

 

Are you sure you swapped the correct relays? There should be a total of five. 2 little ones on top and 3 larger ones on the bottom arranged vertically.

Check to see if the part numbers are the same on both relays. Some relays have a diagram on them also. The wiring diagram shows them to both be resistor type relays.

What is strange is that the #4 (one touch power window relay) and #5 (accessory delay relay) have to do with the power windows. I can't find how they tie to the 1 and 2 relays......thats why I ask if you're pulling the right ones.

 

That sounds strange. I only swapped the top two small relays inside and tried swapping almost everything under the hood. Sure enough it was one of the smaller relays under the dash that kept the windows from working. There was only one direction each relay would face. I'll have to pull them out again to look for diagrams. I didn't try swapping any of the larger relays under the dash. Those relays are very hard to extract.