Door lights

chrisw2811 · Post by **chrisw2811** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 17:27

Having a general tinker with the car, I noticed that neither red light in the door seemed to operate when the door was opened. The bulbs looked OK, so I rotated the switch buttons in their mounts a bit to try to clean up any corrosion and Bingo! both lights worked. Unfortunately neither of them turns off when I close the doors - D'oh

. I have tightened the circular bezel to pull each switch out as far as possible so that the button is fully depressed when the door is shut, but still no joy. Does anyone know where to source replacement switches? I have had a search of the website but didn't come across another reference to them. Thanks, Chris

Skeggy · Post by **Skeggy** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 17:48

Does the light go off if you push the plunger in with your finger?

If not then take the switch out and clean the contact areas up - worked for me.

chrisw2811 · Post by **chrisw2811** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 22:13

Hi Steve, nope, they stay on whatever. I'll take them out and clean them up to see if that fixes them. The right hand side switch seems easily accessible. Can you reach the left hand switch with the glove box still in place, or does it have to come out? Cheers, Chris

Tanz · Post by **Tanz** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 22:25

My drivers door light would only sometimes go out which caused problems with the alarm. I adjusted the switch so the plunger was out as far as possible but still no good. The problem is the disc of black plastic which is stuck to the padding in the door and pushes the switch in. Over the years it has got pushed deeper into the door and no longer pushes the swithch in far enough. To prove this I stuck a few layers of insulation tape over the disc to build it up and the switch worked fine. Maybe If I glue a bit of plastic to the disc - say a plasic counter or other disc that will fix it.

chrisw2811 · Post by **chrisw2811** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 22:28

Hi Tanz, thanks for this. After cleaning up the contacts I will experiment with packing up the disc. Cheers, Chris

Skeggy · Post by **Skeggy** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 23:19

Hi Chris,

I only did the drivers side, from memory it wasn't that difficult to remove.

If you can't turn them off by pushing in the plunger by hand I'd guess it's a switch problem. But I could be wrong.

Rojo · Post by **Rojo** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 20:07

Hi, Chris.
Hope I'm not stating the obvious, but have you left the door closed for a long enough period to allow the lights to go out? Mine appear to be be linked to the time delay of the interior light. Takes about 35secs. for them to extinguish.
Regards, Roger

amarshall · Post by **amarshall** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 22:40

Rojo wrote:Hi, Chris.
Hope I'm not stating the obvious, but have you left the door closed for a long enough period to allow the lights to go out? Mine appear to be be linked to the time delay of the interior light. Takes about 35secs. for them to extinguish.
Regards, Roger

DING! Give that man a coconut - there is a courtesy light delay unit in the relay bank. It's the big yellow one usually. Remove it and the switches should work immediately. Leave it and the delay is anything from 10 seconds to about 40 depending on the condition of the unit. Anything less than 10 seconds probably means that the delay unit has just about had it.

chrisw2811 · Post by **chrisw2811** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 08:44

Hi Rojo, yes I did wonder about a delay timer. Mine is a 1985/86SE with no courtesy light delay and the door lights were still on five minutes later, so I took the bulbs out until I get around to fixing the switches. Thanks, Chris

Rojo · Post by **Rojo** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 19:57

Hi, Chris,
According to the parts manual there should be a delay relay for the interior lamp. On models prior to 1986 it is shown fitted to the pedal box alongside the flasher unit. Hope this helps. Regards, Roger.

chrisw2811 · Post by **chrisw2811** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 22:46

Hi Roger. I had a root around in there tonight and removed and replaced the relay. I took the driver's side door switch apart, drilling out the copper rivets. The switch has a little pin that rides in the plunger with the ends sitting inside the contacts, which are slotted so that the pin only makes contact at the top of its travel. The pin was pitted and corroded, and I think my twisting had distorted the pin so that there was a short in the switch. I straightened the pin, cleaned up the contacts and put the switch back together with lockwire to hold it in one piece. The passenger side switch worked OK as it was and the door lights seem to work fine now, with a 15 second delay after closing the door. Thanks very much for your help. Chris

ivanslotusexcel · Post by **ivanslotusexcel** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 04:42

[quote="chrisw2811"]Having a general tinker with the car, I noticed that neither red light in the door seemed to operate when the door was opened. The bulbs looked OK, so I rotated the switch buttons in their mounts a bit to try to clean up any corrosion and Bingo! both lights worked. Unfortunately neither of them turns off when I close the doors - D'oh :oops: . I have tightened the circular bezel to pull each switch out as far as possible so that the button is fully depressed when the door is shut, but still no joy. Does anyone know where to source replacement switches? I have had a search of the website but didn't come across another reference to them. Thanks, Chris[/quote]

CHECK THIS - REF DOOR LIGHT OPERATION
Reason door lights remain on after closing is probably that these lights share a 'timer relay' with the interior cabin light. Stay with the vehicle for a couple of minutes, door recently closed - the timer relay should kick-in and extinguish them (& the interior light, if that is switch set (on the unit) to operate with door operations). The relay is located with others for the headlamps etc., under and to left of the steering wheel column. My relay was water damaged in a car wash & caused the same symptoms.

dpr59 · Post by **dpr59** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 09:19

My drivers side door light is out, passanger side works.

Makes mental note after reading thread......Leave then alone for the time being.

Redlotus · Post by **Redlotus** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 23:21

Are both doors supposed to be linked to the delay only when i close the drivers door its light goes out immediately with the passenger and interior light staying on for 20 seconds or so. Is this normal?

chrisw2811 · Post by **chrisw2811** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 09:22

Hi Simon, both door lights should have the same delay. Sounds like closing the door is jolting the bulb in the holder (breaking electrical contact) or the wiring on the driver's side is different.

The Lotus Grand Tourers

Door lights

Door lights

Re: Door lights