Interior Lighting Issue-'94 850

IG-88A · Post by **IG-88A** » 22 May 2014, 12:26

Hello, all. I'm new here and have been driving a N/A 855 for about two years now. I recently (within the last couple of weeks) picked up a '94 Turbo sedan, and have been digging around trying to solve some of its issues. while sitting in it last night, perusing shop manuals, i noticed the passenger side footwell lamp would occasionally give a little pulsing flicker. I noticed the other day that the switch on the rear passenger grab handle is goofy, and you have to mess with it to get the light to stay on.I was wondering if this switch could possibly be the cause of the flickering of the footwell lamp, and the overall dimness of that lamp as well? I checked the driver side footwell lamp, and its considerably brighter and non-flickery. I checked it out on the 855 and it doesn't have this issue. Any ideas? I managed to track down a parasitic draw last weekend from the factory head unit by using a test light, and subsequently fixed my battery drain by pulling the #7 fuse, but now this is bugging me, although I'm not seeing any short term drain from it, nor am i noticing any measurable draw from the test light. If anyone has any ideas on how to track down the cause of this 'one side only' interior light issue, I'd certainly appreciate it. Thank you. And thanks for having me.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 22 May 2014, 13:01

I don't think the rear reading light issue and the footwell light flickering is directly related. I would be inclined to tackle them as individual problems rather than a system problem. They both do run off of fuse 15 but so does a bunch of other stuff.

For the footwell It could be as simple as corrosion on the lamp contacts. Pull the bulb and clean up the connector. Without seeing what the reading light is doing it is hard to say what its issue is but the switches are fairly simple. I've had one on the front overhead console that had a piece of plastic break on the switch so I picked up another one at a pick-n-pull lot. The contacts and the switch rocker are fully exposed if you remove the bezel so it is usually pretty easy to see what is going on.

...Lee

IG-88A · Post by **IG-88A** » 22 May 2014, 13:53

Thanks, Lee. I have a bad habit of overthinking things sometimes. There are usually multitudes of 850s at the local yards. But recently, there's been a shortage. Of course I should have just pulled both offending pieces off the wagon and plugged them into the sedan last night. Could've potentially saved myself a post. Thanks again.

Post by **dosbricks** » 22 May 2014, 19:25

I had a rear grab handle light switch fail many years ago. Taking it apart revealed that there was a small plastic "post" molded on the back of the rocker which actuates the contacts. It had broken, so I center drilled it and inserted a tiny finish nail as a splint with some super glue and it's still functioning fine. Recently the one on the other side gave way, so I plan to try the same fix on it. At any rate, the switch is very simple so the problem will likely be evident as soon as you take it apart.

Post by **burnout8488** » 22 May 2014, 19:47

From what I've found, the footwell lamps are controlled by the huge door handle/lock actuator mechanism inside the front doors. There's a pile of microswitches inside that control the function of the red lamp on the door itself, and the footwell lamp.

IG-88A · Post by **IG-88A** » 22 May 2014, 20:09

Interesting. Maybe I wasn't overthinking things. Checked bulbs. Both 5w. Checked voltage at connectors. Driver side reads 12.1, passenger reads just over 9. Any hunches on how to solve this? Maybe unrelated, but while fiddling with it tonight, I noticed that when I either latch or unlatch either passenger side door, I'll hear a delayed two click sound, like a relay or something clicking. I can't pinpoint it, but its definitely from the rear on that same side. Tried this experiment on the wagon and got nothing. Thanks for the replies so far. Went by the junkyard after work and grabbed a handle so I wouldn't need to tinker with the switch. If it would only stop raining so I could do my pcv and oil return line and stop driving myself nuts with little bugs.

Maybe this dim bulb and clicking sound have something to do with a malfunction of the aforementioned microswitches.