----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Strickland" <jwstrick426@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Imperial Mail List" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 7:40 PM
Subject: IML: '60 Imperial Dome Light stays on
Hi Joe,
Thanks for your answer, I found it very informative!
But I have to point out that the interior dome light that is mounted to
the headliner is
activated by the two swiches that are controlled by the two REAR doors.
I have a four door hardtop you see?
So the two switches of the front doors don't do anything when it comes to
switch the dome light on
or off. Those two switches are controlling the map light.
When I wiggle around with the wiring harness of the front passenger door,
it affected the dome light!
I was able to get it out, but when I wiggled the wiring again the lite
came on again and stayed on until now (however to protect the battery
from running flat I have removed the bulb). So this weekend I will have a
look at the wiring of the front passenger door to see if a hot wire is
grounded as Paul Wentink suggested.
Allthough I have no doubts about Pauls knowledge when it comes to car and
1960 Imps in particular, it is very strange that everything in the rear
door is still working then. The windowmotor is running in both directions
and the power lock doorswitch is OK too, and that is not what one expects
if a hot wire is grounded..
Looks like I have a puzzle on my hand this coming weekend!
Robert
Robert;
The most likely cause of the problem is the door switch associated with
that passenger door. The way the circuit works is that there is voltage
always present at the lamp and lamp socket. When a door is opened, the
switch at the door grounds the lamp and causes it to light up. These
switches tend to get flaky with age and wear. The two front door
switches both receive more use that either of the rear doors.
In order for the dome lamp to come on due to another cause the wire
strands of the ground side wire of the lamp would have to be exposed
and also touch another wire which would also have to have exposed wire
strands. I don't think it would be too likely that two wires would have
exposed wire strands directly next to each other to provide a short
circuit path.
The door switch grounding wire does not enter the door as part of any
wires going to the window lifts or door locks. The wire gets grounded
by a switch when the door is opened. The switch is mounted on the
kickpanel part of the body or the center pillar area of the body which
faces rearward toward the front face of the door being opened. It
appears as a small metal button or pin with a rounded head. When the
door is opened the switch pin pops rearward and the rounded head can be
clearly seen. If you push the pin back in by hand it should cause the
dome lamp to go off. If it doesn't the switch is defective unless there
is a short somewhere in the kickpanel area or in the center pillar area
if a rear door is involved.
I hope this helps.
Joe Strickland
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