putting the finishing touch's on a full blown resto on my 87 formula and everything was going good until it got to the interior. I know the dome lights worked before I took the car apart and I know they worked when I put the motor in the car. Now that Im putting the interior in the car the dome lights do not come on, checked all the bulbs and the fuse's, every thing looks good. put new door lock switch's on and tested them and nothing, put the old ones back on and nothing. checked to see if i had power to the actuator and it seems there is nothing ( pretty sure I did it right ). Also the radio worked when I took the car apart but there was no display, when I hooked up the radio it sounds like something is grounded and there is no music and changing the channels does nothing. does this sound like it is all related or do I have several gremlins ?

 

Sounds like all caused by one problem.

Replace the CTSY (courtesy light) fuse. Replace, not "check".

 

Many times when people do a complete restoration they paint and coat everything to make it pretty and forget to properly bond the grounds (strip off the paint or corrosion). Go back and check all your grounds, there are a lot of them, then verify each component for proper conductivity. You may find things begin to work again.

 

I chased a similar problem after wiring up digital cruise in my Z28...make sure you didn't pull a pin/wire out of the connector on the firewall on the inside. If memory serves, it is a heavier gauge red wire that feeds this circuit.

This of course is after checking the other things suggested above.

 

I'll give those things a shot.

 

checked the grounds that i know I unhooked and they all seem fine, most of them were in the engine compartment. when I took the car apart I left the dash harness in the car so those grounds should be ok, also checked the firewall connector block wires and they seem ok. I found the door lock relay behind the driver kick panel and its getting power to it and if im testing it right I dont see power coming out of it. Is this the possible culprit ? Does anyone know how to check the relay ? also I only found one source that reproduces the relay ( ricks camaros ) but it does not look right, anyone bought one of these relays from rick's with any luck or know anywhere else to get one ? thanks for your help

 

Door lock relay has nothing to do with the radio or the dome lights as far as I know.

 

probably right but if i can just get the door locks to work i can put my door panels on and then I can figure out the other two problems

 

 

Thanks sofakingdom, NINA, and the rest of you. checked the ctsy fuse and hell it was not even there. not sure how it got pulled out but now everything works great. Thanks again guys.