Interior light problems

[charger440]

Today I experienced a strange problem with the interior lights in the mirror. An intermittent buzzing sound came fro the dash (a relay?), and the interior light would not come off, regardless of the position of the mirror map light switches, even with the doors closed. After playing with the ignition switch on and off, I was finally able to get the interior lights to turn off, but only if I had the mirror switches in the on position (depressed) and left the keys in the ignition. When removing the key the lights would come back on. Therefore I left the key in the ignition in the off position. However when I opened the door to get out the lights came back on and would not turn off when closing the door. The only way to keep these lights off was to stay outside the car with the window open and play with the ignition switch from the outside of the car with my arm through the window, until the interior light came off, and then leave the keys in the ignition.

This also seems to impact the dash light dimmer switch wich now works only intermittently.

Anyone had similar experience, or any idea what is causing this?

 

[MAD IN NC]

I can only give one piece of advice - charge the battery! the car goes psycho without a really charged battery. There are 000's of post on this site about that due to the Optima being dscharged and there is a different way to charge it compared to a standard lead/ Acid unit.....


I'm glad you got your car and welcome to the forum:cheers but from what I know of the deal you got (and how much time the gal sat) , check the battery first before doing anything

 

[charger440]

Thanks for the info. The battery was recently replaced by the dealer under warranty. (The car had been sitting in storage.)

With a new battery, fully charged, it must be something else.

 

[fjpikul]

Charger, the car is equipped with "theater lighting." When you pull the key out of ignition, the light come on and stay on for a couple minutes. Same when you get out of car and they stay on for about a minute. Check your owners manual. As for buzz and dimmer problem, no clue. The mirror lights are not dimmed by the dimmer switch, only the dash panel.

 

[paul b]

Give your ground wires the once over, couldn't hurt.

 

[charger440]

Thanks for the feedback. (The problem is not related to the time delay of the interior light, it will just stay on permanently).

 

[fjpikul]

Well then , sounds like your time delay relay is out!