Dome light always on, park lights and dash lights temperamental.

[SasQuatch9585]

Sorry if this question is answered elsewhere. I didn’t find it.

I’ve got three lighting issues that all point to the headlight switch. The thing is, I’ve replaced that switch with two separate new switches and nothing has changed.

I just got a ‘92 Ranger 2.3, 2WD, 5-speed manual. The dome light is always on. The cargo light will not come on. The park lights and dash lights will only come on if I hold the headlight switch in just the right position between fully out, and partially out. While they’re on the dimmer for the dash lights seems to work perfectly.

All of these lights run through the main headlight switch, so that’s why I thought it was the issue, but there’s no way all three switches are all defective in exactly the same way.

So I’m left asking myself just WTF? Help!

 

[bigruss]

Slam each door hard and see if that turns the light off, my 97's passenger door switch doesn't open the circuit unless it's slammed almost stupidly hard

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[SasQuatch9585]

Not the switches.

I've investigated the switches and found that they're not the problem. The one on the on the passenger side is probably bad but when I remove it from the system nothing changes.

 

[sgtsandman]

This might help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egIGBzO065U

 

[Uncle Gump]

This may seem to simple... but the headlight switch does have two positions. The park and dash lights do come on in a position between fully out and fully in... as you said "partially out". Can you feel the headlight switch hitting the park lamp position?

The dome lamps have constant ground. Power comes in though the door jamb switches. Did you have both door jamb switches disconnected at the same time? Perhaps they are both bad? I would try to disconnect both at the same time.

Did you check the cargo lamp bulb? It has a constant ground and power comes directly from the headlamp switch.

 

[ussmarshal]

Roger that and Amen brother,

 

[SasQuatch9585]

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The video above is informative, but not related to my issue, apparently. They seem to know what they’re doing, though.

The other day, after further thought, I considered the idea of attempting to rig a bypass and install my own damned switch for the park/dash lights and say to hell with the dome light.

To probe the system I simply used a jumper wire from point to point on the back of the headlight switch and I found with two wires I could activate the park/dash lights and the dome light. If I do it right, I can still control the brightness of the dash lights with the dimmer in the factory switch.

At first, I was resolved to simply rig the system as planned, but after thinking further I realized...the dome light isn’t always on anymore. It’s always off. So I thought, maybe messing with the back of that switch connector tweaked something and it’s that connector that is creating all my trouble. It’s only $13 to find out, right?

An hour of careful cutting, soldering and taping later and I have exactly zero change in the problem. At this point, unless someone else has a better idea, I think it’s time to surrender and just rig it.