How to Fix Interior Light Issues on Your Car
A modern-day car may have five or six individual lights within the passenger compartment, designed to make it a lot easier for the driver and passenger to get in or out, or to get information. These lights can be critical if you are driving at night or may certainly make it a lot harder to enjoy the ride in any case. If you have found that one or more of these lights is no longer operational, where should you start as you seek a fix?
Fuse Check
All the interior lights in your vehicle are likely to be contained within one electrical circuit. Consequently, if they have all failed at the same time, then the first place to look is the fuse box. This is typically located in or around the footwell, but could also be under the bonnet on the bulkhead. Usually, the fuses will be well marked, and you will be able to remove or test the component. It is unusual, however, for a fuse to simply to blow, and you may have a problem elsewhere. For example, you may have a short circuit, and one or more of the internal wires may have been damaged.
Short-Circuit
Sometimes, wires are run through moving parts of the car, such as the sun visor or the door itself. You may find that one of these wires has become bent or otherwise damaged and this may be causing a short circuit. If you cannot find something obvious, however, then you may have to call in a vehicle electrician instead.
Blown Bulb
If you are dealing with an issue with one light and not the others, then you may simply have a failed bulb. To check this, you need to remove the cover and look for anything obvious. If you have a test light, then you can remove the bulb and connect the light to the terminal on one end and to ground on the other. If you have a feed, then you will simply replace the bulb but otherwise, hand the problem over to the electrician.
Timing Issues
Some individual lights may be more complicated than others, and this is especially the case for those interior vanity lights. These may be designed to come on when the door is opened but to remain on for a handful of seconds, even when the door is closed. In this case, the timer module may have short-circuited, and you may have to replace the entire component in order to fix the problem.
Expert Help
in the meantime, if you're somebody who doesn't know your capacitor from your circuit breaker, ask an auto electrical worker for their assistance.
Share