Dome light stays on

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moosecholak

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I have a 1987 Chevy silverado (R10) and the dome light gets a little dimmer when I close the door (on either side) but won't go out. Is there a relay or something?
 

Hoodbj

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The dome light works off of a switch in your door jamb. When the door is open the switch completes the circuit. The wire through the switch is a ground. You may have a bare spot in the ground wire that is grounding out somewhere or it could be a bad switch allowing a small amount of grounding. You could unhook the wire from the switch and see if the light goes out, if so it's your switch, if not you are probably grounding out somewhere within the wire. You might also make sure your interior light is not turned on through the headlight knob, if you twist it counterclockwise too far it will turn the interior lights on also.
 

flyboy1100

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not to completely hijack, but my dome light doesn't work at all, and the switch in the drivers door for sure seems to be stuck. how do i "unstuck" it, just pry?
 

Skweegle89

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not to completely hijack, but my dome light doesn't work at all, and the switch in the drivers door for sure seems to be stuck. how do i "unstuck" it, just pry?

You can pry it loose, but I bet you a dollar to a donut that your spring is shot and you need a new courtesy switch. Both of mine are shot I just haven't got to replacing them yet. I would go ahead and do them both while your at it.
 

flyboy1100

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You can pry it loose, but I bet you a dollar to a donut that your spring is shot and you need a new courtesy switch. Both of mine are shot I just haven't got to replacing them yet. I would go ahead and do them both while your at it.

will try it, i couldn't pry it with just my fingers. maybe I will hit it with PB blaster or tri flow first
 

Skweegle89

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will try it, i couldn't pry it with just my fingers. maybe I will hit it with PB blaster or tri flow first

Just put a shop rag over it so you don't muff it up and get on it with a pair of pliers gently and see if you can pull it back out.
 

Greybeard

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O'reilly's has a choice from about $5 to $10. The last time I bought a set they were about $2.00 apiece. But that was about 7-8 years ago maybe.
 
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flyboy1100

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got a new switch (they are 7.99/each now at oreillys) went to remove the old ones and no wires came with :(

how do i get the wires back out?
 

chengny

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Try fishing around in the pillar with a piece of hooked wire. See if you can grab them (the drivers side has two white ground leads - only one on the RH side) and get them up so that you can see them in back of the hole. Then use a small pair of needle nose pliers and pull them out of the hole.

IDK - that's what I would try first. Otherwise you will be coming in from under the dash.
 

flyboy1100

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I pulled that plastic trim, without cutting a hole there is no access from under the dash.

Only 1 wire on passenger side?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
 

chengny

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Look way, way up - almost up to the dash speaker. You should see a white wire (ground for dome/courtesy lights) and a tan wire (ground for "key is in the ignition" buzzer). They will pass through a rubber grommet that snaps into a hole in the sheet steel.

The RH side only has the ground for lighting (white) - no ground for key in ignition.
 

flyboy1100

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Ahh, that makes sense now.

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chengny

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