Door Lights

[dmcscott2002]

Hey everyone,

Heres my first Tech advice post so let me know if descriptions/names of parts are wrong ect. Been watching you lot natter for a good few years now so hopefully ive picked up the basics

I know the door lights have a tendency to seep power from the battery and are often disconnected or modified to work better. When I bought my car I knew there were various problems with the electrics. Having done abit of research I discovered that most of them fed back to the same circuit (interior,door,luggage compt. lights ect).

Initially I thought that the problem lay in a cut wire on the drivers side (one of two feeding the door light switch), However on reconnecting the wire there was no progress, I then re-disconnected it. Traced the circuit back to fuse 12 in the fuse box - it was empty! I put a new 10amp fuse in place and BINGO! all the lights came on apart from the drivers door. I tried the cut wire once again and the drivers door worked apart from an old bulb. (all of which i plan to replace with LEDs at some point)

Whilst looking over various bits and bobs for about 10mins, the lights went out! The fuse had blown.

So.. Questions...

1. Has anyone ever heard about cutting a door light wire to aid this problem? or did the original owner just get so sick of the fuse going or power seeping out that he cut the wire (seems abit harsh - theres a plug right next to it :? )

2. When I had the lights on (10mins tops) the drivers door was left disconnected - could this break in the circuit have caused the fuse to blow?

3. I also seem to have a promlem with the door ajar light coming on, I think because of a faulty switch. Could this have anything to do with it?

4. How come theres a switch for the light and one for the door on the drivers side but only one on the passengers side?

Any light on the subject would be great!

Cheers!

[NickT]

I once saw a car that kept blowing the fuse. One of the door lights had a wire loose internally that was on occasional shorting out to the door body.

NickT.

[Pilot25dmc]

The reason there is two switches on the drivers side is that there is a relay that when you open the door is charged with enough power to keep the interior lights on for 30 seconds once you close the drivers door, just like a modern car. The top switch is for the relay and the bottom is the normal door adjar/door lights switch. The relay your are looking for is the small white one in the relay board.

The problem with your door adjar light coming on could be because you have no striker plate on your door or the little rubber end cap has fallen off the switch and it is not being pushed far enough in to switch off the door lights. If the end cap has fallen off stick a plastic wheel air valve cover on the end, does the job rightly.

For the price you can buy 501 LED bulbs for now you have to be daft not to put them in the doors. Remember that 8 LED's take up the same power as 1 1/2 of the original bulbs!!

As for your fuses blowing I have no idea, you may have a bad connection somewhere in the fuse box or one of your bulbs is causing the problem.

[Pilot25dmc]

I only have one switch on my drivers door and it seems to work both the door lights and the buzzer, I have looked under the dash and the wiring is there for the second switch but I have only one hole in the body instead of two.

I take it that the power for the door lights and the buzzer are on the same wire and the white "relay" is on the second??

[dmcscott2002]

Sorted! I didnt even plan on doing any work on the D today but just thought I'd have a quick look at the light fixings. Took them out and found a screw(same as the ones that hold the latch mechanism in to the door) just rolling about inside! So took that out to start with, then discovered that the bulb on the middle of the drivers door was touch sensitive and basicly just repositioned it until the light came on! Reconnected the circuit and all seems to be good, fuse hasnt blown in about half an hour of being on so should be fine I think. at least for the time being anyway.

Now, LED'S! Any recomendations as to where to buy?

Cheers!

[Daniel Shane]

www.ultraleds.com

Get coloured ones is my advice, Red and Amber. I'll Have a look for the part number of the ones I used to sell

Dan

[Daniel Shane]

All from ultraleds.com :-

U5016A2(501) Amber 6 Leds or there newer U5016A (501) Amber 6 Leds Super Bright. You need 4 of these and the normal ones are about a pound each and the newer ones are 3 pounds each

U5016R (501) Red 6 Super Bright Leds (New Brighter Ver). You need 2 Of these are 3 pounds each.

There are good ones on there for the Dashboard Lighting. I'll see if I can locate them

Dan

[dmcscott2002]

Thanks alot, I'll deffinatly be getting myself some of them asap. Thats a really good site for buying them. Wnder if it would be possible to fit the whole rear light cluster with LED replacements :?:

Cheers!

[Daniel Shane]

Yes you can. They have all the bulbs on that site.

Dan

[dmcscott2002]

Just bought them from that site, thanks alot Dan. I'll keep you posted on how the re-fit goes!

Cheers!

[bozzzydmc]

http://www.orgsites.com/tx/bozzzydmc/_pgg8.php3

bought mine off US ebay :-


http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... category0=

[Daniel Shane]

Dash Illumination LED's are :-

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/u5016c501-wh ... p-554.html

Not Cheep but if anyone saw my old D's dash they are bright and crisp and give the car a more modern feel.

Dan

[dmcscott2002]

Just put the door ones in, looking very nice indeed. took me ages to get the old bulbs out though - butter fingers. Give it a few months and I'll probably get the rear lights done ad Instument cluster in the long run.
Cheers for all the help!

[dmcscott2002]

Result!

Love having Interior Lights now! The forward light if a bit touch and go but all in all, tis much better

[Jonny Jones]

Pretty lights