Interior Hatch Light Doesn't Work

[idopps]

Hey guys, I do not know if you have had this problem, but my interior light in the hatch does not work. The light is new. The connectors and wires are good. Also, the light under my hood is doing the same thing. Please help!Thanks!

[Mrmerlin]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by idopps:
Hi Bro first the light in the hatch has a 3 position switch off in the center on when the hatch is open and on when the hatch is closed, fist remove the light from the panel and see if your getting 12 volts, if not then check the fuses.
The hach light is turned on from the right hand hatch strut , if you look there is a lil piece of metal that slide on the strut piston when the hatch is opened, this is the ground for the system, if you have replaced the hatch struts then you might have the wrong ones in there, the one for the left is not the same as the one for the right.
The left hatch strut has plastic ball ends to isolate the wire that is on that side this is for the rear window defroster, it also is grounded by the right shock.
The hatch and the front interior light should also come on when either door is opened, so you might have a problem with one of these door swiches, all the switches do is provide a ground for the light system
Now for the light under the hood this light will only come on when the parking/headlights switch is turned on.....Stan

[idopps]

Hey, There is no voltage to the lights. The fuses look ok, but I can not get that dang relay off to check it out. Also, my hood light stays off, even with the headlights on. Any more ideas? Thanks!

[diannone]

clean your ground connections, mine was the same problem.

[phoenix_iii]

I hate to sound retarded but here goes.

Interior light works. Worked when I bought the car and a door was opened.

I replaced the hatch struts with ebay struts that seem decent. Interior rearview mirror light is on all the time unless in the off position

Disconnect the rear right hatch strut, system works as designed, light is on when doors are open, off when door is closed.


So did I put the wrong replacement hatch strut on each side? Maybe, EXCEPT that my defroster for the rear glass DOES work. Would it work if the left and right were reversed? It worked in it's current config, meaning that the interior light is on all the time (wire hooked up) unless interior light is in the off position.

Please tell me 'Yes dummy, if you swapped rear hatch struts, defroster would still work but interior light would always be on', then I am good to go, and will swap them right away. It's just hard to get an assistant otherwise I would just pop and swap and test.

Thank you Pelicans. =)

[jcommin]

I have the same problem. The 'switch' is in the hatch struts. My light switch has 3 positions:

Off
Manual on
on/off with the doors and hatch

My manual on works. My manual off works. My light stays on in the door/hatch mode. My door switches work. If I jiggle my hatch, I can get the light to go off. It is my struts. Got new ones on order.

[aj951]

Go figure this. Mine works in on/off with doors/hatch position but doesn't with manual on position? Only thing I can figure is bad switch in manual on position.

[phoenix_iii]

Originally Posted by aj951

Go figure this. Mine works in on/off with doors/hatch position but doesn't with manual on position? Only thing I can figure is bad switch in manual on position.

That would be a good guess, easy repair. Still would like an input on my post. =)

[jcommin]

After reading all of this, I switched my struts. Guess what! Now my center light works wit the door opening / closoing, but my hatch light doesn't work at all. This is looney.

No time to debug this. I got caught in the ice, snow, sleet storm yesterday and I was glad just to get home in one piece. If I have time, I will dive into to this.

[phoenix_iii]

I can plainly see I have the METAL ball on the right side, need to swap mine and see what happens. =)

[jcommin]

Had time to look at this. The center light and hatch light now go on/off when I open doors. When I lift my hatch, no light comes on. This did before. My rear defogger still doesn't work.

There is a clear difference between the RH and LH strut and it makes a difference where you put them. I'm still waiting for the new ones to arrive.