95 850 sedan interior lights stay on

Post by **erikv11** » 29 May 2015, 08:18

I haven't done any troubleshooting on this yet, just pulled fuse 15 until I have some time with the car like this weekend or even next week.

When the doors are closed the interior lights stay on when the switch is in the "doors only" position. If I move the switch to the "off" position then everything shuts off except the red lights on both rear doors (in the dark you can see that they are still on). This happens whether the car is on or off, locked or not. The doors all lock properly with the remote.

I'm assuming the first thing to check is the lock microswitches, but does that really make sense for something that leaves on both rear door lights only? How might I check them to pinpoint a bad one, by pulling the door panels and eyeballing or is there something I can do by clicking the latches shut manually or something?

Maybe I will also swap out the top console switch with my other 850, that's easy enough to do.

Oh, the front footwell lights are behaving properly so I am hopeful that rules out the two front doors. Trunk light is behaving, too.

Ideas or recommended steps?

Post by **scot850** » 29 May 2015, 15:13

I can't recall now if the 850's all had the old style plunger switch on the doors that actuate with a spring, so when the door opens it pops out and makes a circuit.

If it does have them, (half way up the door pillars at the hinge on the A/B pillars). Try pulling them out and check one hasn't stuck on or shorted out.

Neil.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 29 May 2015, 17:35

It is one of the microswitches, the trick is to figure out which one. I was able to fix one on my daughter's S70 by gluing a thin plastic shim onto the cam surface that actuates the switch on the lock assembly. It wasn't elegant but it saved me the price of a latch assembly. I tried to source just the microswitches and struck out.

...Lee

Post by **erikv11** » 30 May 2015, 11:43

So yesterday the car started chiming while driving down the road, I think that means I should start with the microswitch in the driver's door? Still haven't looked at it, may be a few days yet ...

Post by **erikv11** » 31 May 2015, 23:10

Fixed it today, Lee was right. Thanks Lee!

I have all four door latches from my my 96 parts car, so I started by swapping in the driver's door latch. It didn't fix anything, plus it made the auto-lock misbehave due to the fact that the 96 and 95 have different central locking mechanisms. I later swapped the original driver's door latch back in.

To figure out which latch has the bad microswitch, you can pull each door panel one at a time, unplugging the main connector under the panel that gives power to the door latch. When you find the bad one, unplugging the latch will eliminate the "I think the doors are open" signal that was going to the interior lights and chime.

In my case, it was passenger side rear door that was bad. So I swapped in the passenger rear latch from my 96 wagon, and it works like a champ in the sedan. I didn't try to hunt down the bad microswitch, no time for that but I will hang on to it in case I need one later.

Swapping the rear door latch was a bit of a pain because of the plastic window guide getting in the way. If you unhook that from where it screws into the door side jamb, you can force the latch piece out and then back in.