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Tell me what I did wrong

My Prozac

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
51
Location
Harrisburg, NC
Corvette
93 40th Ruby Red Convert & 95 White Convert
I have a 93 convertible and I can not get the interior lights to come on when the doors are opened.
I have had the car for a month now and the second day I had it I turned the autolock key fob off it was getting on my nervers locking and blowing the horn, but since then I have notice that the interior lights do not come on when either door is opened, the radio will shut off when a door is opened and the key is off but no interior lights, I do know they did work when I bought the car because that is something I checked thanks to this web site before buying the car. I have checked all the fuses and was told that if the radio goes off when the door is opened then the switches are good. I can turn the lights on with the switch on the headlights. I have interior lights in the console but no place else. Did I turn them off by turning off the auto lock? Or am I not checking the right fuse?
 
Interior lights

Perhaps I'm crazy, but I think my '95 has a sensor somewhere that knows if it's dark outside. If the car is in the garage with the garage door down or on a dark day, the interior lights come on with the open door or when the PKE unlocks the car. If the car is in the bright sun, no interior lights.
Is this what your '93 is doing?
Where's the sensor? Perhaps the same photocell that dims the dash lights according to ambient light when the parking or head lamps are on?
Try it in the dark and in bright light.
 
No mine will not work any time. The previous owner had unhooked the hood lights while he was charging the battery I foud that and hooked them back up, and I hooked up the defroster for the hard top thinking that maybe they would be on the same circuit. Maybe I am just crazy:s
 
IP fuse block #38 - L.C.D.
Courtesy lamp relay.
Ambient light sensor in DIC.
Door ajar switches (you've already eliminated).
CCM.

Do your cluster, IP lights dim at night and brighten in the day? You can hold your finger over the sensor during the daytime and the cluster and IP lights should dim or shine a light on it at night and they should brighten.
 
have you checked the light bulbs above the kick panel
 
jmccloud said:
Perhaps I'm crazy, but I think my '95 has a sensor somewhere that knows if it's dark outside. If the car is in the garage with the garage door down or on a dark day, the interior lights come on with the open door or when the PKE unlocks the car. If the car is in the bright sun, no interior lights.

Jmccloud, there is a solar sensor on the dash, in the center right next to the windshield. In the owners manual it is called " solar sensor" and says that this gizmo will automatically reduce internal temp setting of the car by 5Fº if internal temp of the car is increased by sunlight... Does not make much sense to me as an engineer. Why would the system care if the temp is raised by sunlight or some other source??? I was wondering if it also did the interior lights on/off when the doors are open in different ambient light conditions?
 
When you turn the interior lights on by using the Head Light switch, you bypass the Courtesy Lamp Relay.

The CCM (Central Control Module) uses the Courtesy Lamp Relay to turn the interior lights on when either door is open.

The relay is located below the right hand side of the instrument panel.

You need to remove the carpeted panel below the right hand side of the dash. (Passenger side foot well area).

Lay on your back and look under the dash. You'll see 5 relays. Might have to move some wires to get a good look.

From the passenger side door towards the center console
Fog Lamp, Courtesy Lamp ----- Fuel Pump, Horn, Rear Defogger.

Swap the Fog Lamp Relay and the Courtesy Lamp relay and see if that cures your problem.

The relays are on sockets and are black in color about 2" in
x 2 inches. The relays are all the same.
 
SSTibet said:
Jmccloud, there is a solar sensor on the dash, in the center right next to the windshield. In the owners manual it is called " solar sensor" and says that this gizmo will automatically reduce internal temp setting of the car by 5Fº if internal temp of the car is increased by sunlight... Does not make much sense to me as an engineer. Why would the system care if the temp is raised by sunlight or some other source??? I was wondering if it also did the interior lights on/off when the doors are open in different ambient light conditions?

The light sensor in the top center of the dash is for the auto climate control. It does, as you already stated, sense the amount of sunlight but not for the lights. The A/C compensates for the increased solar radiation that is entering the vehicle which would otherwise raise the inside vehicle temps if the A/C didn't compensate for it.
The light sensor for the lights is located in the driver control panal.

vettepilot
 
It says in the 95 Owner's Manual "When any door or hatch is opened, the interior lamps will go on (unless it's bright outside)". So there must be a sensor somewhere measuring the ambient light. Is the sensor in the "Driver Information Center" (where the SES, Airbag, etc caution ligths are) or at the "Instrument Cluster" (where the tachometer, digital speed indicator, temp dial gages are)???
 
SSTibet said:
... Is the sensor in the "Driver Information Center" (where the SES, Airbag, etc caution ligths are) or at the "Instrument Cluster" (where the tachometer, digital speed indicator, temp dial gages are)???

dic.jpg
 
I have noticed once in a great while the speedo light will flicker, but I have only cought this out of the coner of my eye. I have covered the sensor with my finger but nothing happens to the lights.
 
KOPBET, great assistance buddy. Thanks for the picture. Now it is all very clear.

I reviewed the owner's manual after reading your post. There is no mention about this sensor in the manual....

Thanks again,

Selim
 
My Prozac said:
I have noticed once in a great while the speedo light will flicker, but I have only cought this out of the coner of my eye. I have covered the sensor with my finger but nothing happens to the lights.

What were the conditions when you covered it, daylight or dark?

Again, if it is daylight and the car is outside, then covering the sensor should cause the IP lights to DIM (turn them on first of course). This will happen in incremental steps and not all at once, so you need to hold it covered for a thirty seconds or so. If it is dark out or the car is in a dimly lit garage then shining an external light source into the sensor will cause the opposite effect (assuming the IP lights were dimmed to start with).

If this does not happen then you have found a problem. Then you just have to figure out if it is the sensor or something related to it.
 
SSTibet said:
KOPBET, great assistance buddy. Thanks for the picture. Now it is all very clear.

I reviewed the owner's manual after reading your post. There is no mention about this sensor in the manual....

Thanks again,

Selim

My pleasure! :beer
 

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