Ok ive been wondering this for a while. what is the purpose of the little light under the center heater vents on the Camaros??? When ive read through old sales brochures and stuff it never metions this light and I wouldnt know it was there except that I read a post about it a few years back. The thing isnt bright enough to serve any real purpose so whats the deal with it?? Ive heard its a map light but its in a really dumb spot for that. Is it just a weird 3rd gen anomolly or what?

 

i dont really remember its been over 2 years since i had my iroc-z, maybe it was there to shine light on the heater / ac controls maybe, not too sure though.. any pics?

 

Well your guess on the purpose of that light is as good as mine and I don't know. Original owner of 87 IROC and ever noticed it.

 

I'd like to know when the light first showed up, myself.

Here's what I know. 85-89 Firebirds have a light under the accessory switches. It puts out orange light on the radio/hvac/ashtray. 90-92 Firebirds have a provision and some have the light under the accessory switches. The light is red and is completely self contained. Cars that don't have the light also don't have the plug-in for it.

My 87 Iroc has a removable panel and a lense under the center a/c vents. There is no bulb, no socket, and no wiring harness.

My 91 RS has a yellow self contained light, in the same location. It doesn't put out enough light to be worth the trouble.

On the later Firebirds with the small always on light in the rear view mirror, the accessory light is pointless, probably why most of the 90-92 Firebirds I've seen don't have it. I've got one I might wire into the 91 V6 Firebird just for fun some day.

 

I've been told that the light under the dash/vents is supposed to be an ashtray courtesy light, although it really doesn't shine any light on the ashtray. I've also found that this light is part of the interior courtesy light package, which also includes the "foot well" courtesy lights.

my 87 SC has the courtesy lights in both locations
my Mom's 92 RS does not have either courtesy lights
my Bro's 84 Berlie has the lights in both locations

In my car I took the little plate off the light & drilled a slightly bigger hole in the plastic & viola! it serves the purpose it was intended

 

I always wondered why they didnt make the hole bigger or add a more powerfu light or something. I guess they didnt want to make it too distracting or whatever. Either way that light doesnt do jack in stock form. I wont go to the trouble to modify it, but its always fun to know why engineers did what they did.