Interior Lights not turning off on 93 Cutlass convertible

[Afubar]

I've had this problem for a while, pulled the fuse but that also kills the electric button for the door locks and the dash lights. Since I rarely drive at night this rarely is an issue. I figured it was a bad plunger in the door, placed that today, replaced fuse to check, nope, not fixed.

 

So any of you fine gentlemen have an idea?

 

Please be kind, I'm female, old, and seems like I'm getting blonder all the time. LOL

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Kaye

[Afubar]

"placed that today," Should have been "replaced"

 

See, definitely blond (or is that Alzheimer's)

[Schurkey]

Interior light switch turned all the way "on"?

[Galaxie500XL]

I had that happen to my '95 Cutlass convertible....turned out there was a blue wire (I think) down at the driver's side kick panel, near the door opening that had insulation rubbed off, allowing it to ground against the floorpan.

 

I'd bet you'll find the same thing if you pull the driver's side kick panel out, and check the bundle of wiring that passes around the transition to the floor.

[Afubar]

Interior light switch turned all the way "on"?

Nope, even after I pulled the light bulbs out of the rearview mirror, the battery would still run down.

[Afubar]

I had that happen to my '95 Cutlass convertible....turned out there was a blue wire (I think) down at the driver's side kick panel, near the door opening that had insulation rubbed off, allowing it to ground against the floorpan.

 

I'd bet you'll find the same thing if you pull the driver's side kick panel out, and check the bundle of wiring that passes around the transition to the floor.

 

Thanks, will check that out. At least it's a start of where else to check.

[j_mezz]

Are all of your interior lights staying on, or just the dome?  The switches in the dome light always break, and they seem to fail in all sorts of creative ways.  Do both switches click when you press them?

[Afubar]

Actually, only the lights at the bottom of the rearview mirror stays on. I'll put the fuse back in and test out the dome lights today.

 

I did try to check out the wires running along the drivers door, no luck finding any problems yet.

 

Thanks for the ideas.

[Afubar]

Okay, just went out and checked the lights on the roll bar, nothing, no lights, no click on either switch. So can the switches still be obtained or how do I fix them?

 

Thanks again for all the help, you guys are fantastic!!

[Afubar]

I received the switches and bulbs, installed them, they work but also stay on.

 

I do have another question. A guy who professes to be an auto mechanic (the jury is still out on this) claims that the problem is the Body Control Module. I have looked and looked in my service manual for where this item is located and not finding anything. Have also done web searches, no dice. So I come to you guys, the experts. Any ideas?

 

 

I have replaced the drivers side door switch and have the passenger side switch on order.

 

Still looking. Thanks guys.

 

Kaye

[Imp558]

the control for that light is the white wire that makes it down along one of the pillars. that wire has to be chafed and grounding. Dan was on the right track

[Nas Escobar]

I'm with Imp67 on this. You have to inspect the wiring for the lights. We don't have a BCM. 93 has a basic ECM for the engine.

[Afubar]

Thanks guys,

 

I kinda thought he was full of it. Did replace the passenger side door switch, no difference. With your help will continue to try to get to the bottom of this.

 

Thanks again

Kaye

[Imp558]

Imp67

???

[oldmangrimes]

I've had this problem a few times on my 95 convertible.   I was getting a lot of leaks and water was getting into the rear passenger footwell.   So I removed the rear carpet because it was getting moldy.   That caused the wiring bundle in the rear passenger footwell, near the side wall, to be exposed.    On my car, the wiring harness had some extra length so it was coiled at the factory at that point to use up the excess slack.   The coil in the wire had slipped out of the plastic cable guide and down into the rear passenger footwell.    When that wiring harness would get wet (sometimes it was even partially submerged in the puddle of water) something would short and cause the interior lights to stay on.    Once I dried it out, the lights would go back to turning off and on with the switches like normal.     Probably the exposed wiring had some insulation damage due to the kids stepping on it.

 

 After this happened a few times, I wrapped the wires with more tape to protect them, and re-routed the wiring higher up under the rear passenger interior panel so it stayed dry and away from being stepped on.   Although the leaks continued for the next couple years (until I finally replaced my top this month, yay!), I didn't have the interior light problem anymore.    I don't know exactly which wire was the problem, but it's been 2 years and over 20k miles since it last happened so I'm considering it "fixed" for me.   I doubt you're having the same combination of root causes (leaks, moldy carpet removal, and kids feet) but it might be worth checking in that area of the passenger footwell near the wall.   You could peel back the carpet from the rear edge of the passenger door sill to get to the wiring and maybe you'll get lucky and find something.    

[Afubar]

Thanks oldmangrimes. I too had some leaking problems prior to the new top. Also had some leaking on the drivers side due to the top seals. I've since corrected most of them. I've often wondered if water hadn't caused the problem. Will continue to try and check out the wires. My service manual states to check out circuit 156. Any ideas on how to do that?

[Afubar]

Here's an update on this problem.

 

When I developed a new problem with the car, (power seat not working) decided to break down and take the car to a GM dealership. Seat problem was a broken wire under the floor mat.

 

Well it took 5 weeks and 1500 bucks but the light problem was due to wires in the dash that were pinched together. The interior dimmer switch also had to be replaced. Seems the dimmer switch wire and the interior light wire were pinched together somehow which caused the switch to go bad and bleed over to the interior lights and not allowing them to go off as they are supposed to.

 

So now we know. The dealership was very glad I had the shop manuals.

 

Thanks guys for all the suggestions even though my problem wasn't one that was addressed you were able to rule out things it could have been. I truly appreciate it.

 

Kaye