Since I got the car the dome light and map lights on my 85 haven't worked. I replaced both bulbs and inspected the wiring, fuses and ground points I've read about on here and other forums and everything seems to be OK, I also sanded a few places to clean up corrosion.

I found that the dome light will light up only when the following 3 things are done at the same time, the headlights are on, the switch is in door only and the map light is switched on, although the map light still isn't working at all. If the switch is turned to ON or if the map light is switched off then the dome light goes out. I also noticed even with all doors closed the light stays on in door mode.

I wasn't sure if the headlights had to be on for the domelight to function on these cars or if it shouldn't matter whether they are on or not. I did notice the prongs the dome light bulb presses into were broken off their rivets so I attempted to solder both back on again but it didn't make any difference once back in the car.

Any advice is very appreciated.

 

1st, check fuses. Always. 2nd, seems strange that you're getting the light to come on when the headlights are on. But wiring can be weird. I ended up rewiring the entire light assembly so the ground wires all linked together by wire rather than by the weird post connection if that makes sense. I wish I had a picture to explain. But anyways, after I rewired I was pretty disheartened by the lights still not working. Put it back together and forgot about it for awhile. Came back about 6 months later and thought to myself, maybe I should just check the fuses. Lone behold, a blown 15 amp fuse. New fuse, badda bing badda boom, dome lights work now. Well, sorta. Still have to take the door switches out and see whats going on there. Some reason, the switches don't always work. Corrosion maybe? Idk. But maybe this post reply can help you get somewhere. I'll try to get a picture of how I wired it when I get the time.

 

Sounds like a grounding issue to me.

 

I used the trick found in this thread and the dome light now works. Drilled out the 2 rivets with a 3/32 drill bit and used 2 #4-3/8 screws to hold the bulb clips in place. The map light now works and the dome light now comes on in the on position even without the headlights being on, I'm not sure why the headlights had to be on for it to light up before.

The dome light doesn't come on in door mode with either door open, I'm wondering if it's an issue with the cpu, my Brother resoldered some of the cpu pins for me but they might need more work. The headlight on warning and key reminder warning doesn't work either.

 

that's actually a really good idea. Time to go back to the drawing board on my set-up. I still need to get pictures of mine. As for the door switch, I found that the actual switches in the doors are very finicky. Might want to take it out and check for corrosion.

 

Thanks!, sanding off the corrosion on both door sensors did the trick for the dome light. Eventually I need to figure out why the key and headlight reminder warning isn't working with the doors open.