So, as I took out my headliner the other day, I have no dome light installed now.... Anyway, I have to drive the car with much of the interior missing, as i'm recovering the liner.
I noticed my cd player wasn't working. I threw in the dome light and it didn't work. Turns out the courtesy fuse was blown, replaced it, still nothing on that circuit works....
According to helm, I could check ground G200 I think it was if more than one part of that circuit isn't working, however the dome light is grounded through the doors as well, and should work anyway....

Any idea's what I should check? I have the helm manual, but i'm a little confused as to where to look for some things, like "behind the I/P, above column", gets me in the right area, but I don't know which plug i'd be looking for.....
My cd player is now out, so I can easily see wiring behind that as well...
Thanks -J

 

Ground circuit "G200" is a screw or bolt located near the fuse block. There should be two wires going to it and it grounds to the dash framework.

 

hmm, ok, i'll try and find that and check it for ground....I'll take the panel that hides the fuse block off to find it...

 

Any hints perhaps? I can't find a ground with two wires going into it, only one...And it's good...
Any particular wires I should look for, or check?
fuse panel


I'm going to go check S203, apparently by removing the speedo cluster (above steering column it said...)

 

If you're looking at the Helm manual, they've got illustrations for the locations of all the grounds. Look at the "Page-Figure" columns in the "Component Location" tables.

 

yea, but S203 is a view from above the brake booster for example, looking into the car, seeing through the body, which, is impossible for me to do....
Well, after taking out the cluster, there is a plate behind it, so I can't see anything, i'll be taking off the dash pad now too...

 

I'm drawing a blank. Most of the car is not gutted, I can't see S203, or if I can, I certainly can't reach it.
Any ideas?

 

Stupid question, but the new fuse didn't blow immediately, did it?

 

Sonix,
You won't see S203 unless you open every wire bundle and remove the tape from them. S203 is a splice connecting a bundle of wires to one wire. Look under your dash near the steering column and you will see a small bolt or screw going into the metal frame for the dash supports. That will be G200. If you have the Helms manual like mine, go to page 8A-65 figure 1. Down at the bottom of that picture you will see the words (printed circuit) and next to that you will see the words G200 with an arrow pointing to a bolt that screws into the frame at the left side of the steering column.

 

no, the fuse is good. Yea, I found G200, it's good. I pulled a fuse and stuck in a blade connector crimped to a wire, then clamped my voltage light to the wire, then started probing (it'll light up for ground rather than power, duh).
Anyway, that's my testing method shoed G200 good, ground.
I checked both sides of my dome light, nothing. After I closed the door however, both sides were ground... both sides?
So I figured perhaps the "power", hot at all times, in the courtesy circuit is now ground (shorted somewhere), I checked the wire that goes into the cd player, hot at all times, is now ground.
However, the courtesy fuse is powered.

Now, with that knowledge, what could have happened, or what could I check?
thanks for the help so far guys.

 

You won't get power to the courtesy light unless you open the door or turn them on with the dimmer switch.

 

Right, but doing one of those things gave GROUND to the courtesy light, both sides of the bulb housing. Rather than a power on one side, ground on the other (which would make it turn on right?) I got both sides being ground. When the courtesy light is "off" ie, doors closed, switch off, both sides give no signal whatsoever.

 

What reading do you get with one of the doors open?

 

Both sides go to ground. I've got one end of my voltage light hooked to cont. power, and i'm probing with the spike. So when I spike a ground (body, bolt, whatever), it'll light up. When the dome light should be off, I can probe it, and get nothing. When I open a door however, (drivers), I get ground, and my light lights up.... Both sides of the dome light however....???
I imagine one side goes ground as the door opens, which is good, but somehow my courtesy circuit is providing ground rather than power....??? I'm completely stumped.
I checked the wire going to the horn, since it's only one wire, I assumed when you honk, that'll go to 12V, and it's grounded through bolts... The wire is grounded, and doesn't change with anything....
I've also got a multimeter if that helps.

Any ideas?

 

I'm so incredibly angry right now I could kill something. I think I have to go do that.
I fixed it. It's so stupid I need some time to kill something.


And to double check that it works

 

And now that you have gone and killed something (preferably a cold beer or a fifth of Ole Jack Black), what was the problem?

 

a fifth of ol' jack black?? what on earth...?

Well, I decided, against all logic, i'd swap fuses around, even though it was hot on both sides of the CTSY fuse, (this is being probed while in it's place). I had replaced it before when it was blown right?

I replaced it with one from the pile. The pile I had aquired from years of junkyard searching.
You can now see where this is going?
I pulled it out, swapped it with the one next to it, and this time, I was lying on my back, since most of my interior was gone, and I could see the dome light as I did this.

It worked. I put the original fuse back in, and lo-and-behold, it works until I push it all the way in, then it shuts off....?

Anyway, shoulda known, a whole circuit dies, simply replace the fuse, don't check it, replace it.

I've now drilled this fuse to be worn as battle winning souvenir. Tradition ya know.

 

Ole Jack Black is a bottle of Jack Daniels Black Label, wear your souvenir in good health.