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1999 CrewCab Interior Dome Lights Question

739 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  kcjengr 
#1 ·
Hello All,

First time diesel and Ford owner here.
About two weeks ago I purchases a bone stock '99 F350 XLT DRW CrewCab FlatBed and have been loving it.
The truck had 301k on it when I got it, and I've already added about another 4k with only minor issues (heater hose blew off in the middle of nowhere, and some wiring problems).

I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions as I get her set up as I want, but have a very simple question right now.

Can the interior dome lights be set to come on automatically when I open a door?
I have searched but can not find any definitive answer to that, but from what I've read in other posts they should.
The door ajar light on the dash works as it should, so I don't think its an issue with the switches in the door latches.
When I turn the dome lights on manually with the switch at each light they come on.
if they are supposed to come on automatically, is there a relay or something I should check?

Thanks,
Kurt
 
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#2 ·
That's a strange one. There is a relay in the under dash fuse box, but if it was bad they wouldn't work with either the door switches or the main light switch. But the fact that you say there's a switch on them individually is strange, because that's not shown on the wiring diagram, and there's no switch on my dome light. Is it possible that someone has changed them out and wired them to be hot to that individual switch? The relay is normally activated thru the GEM by either the door switches or the headlight switch, providing a ground to the relay to close it and turn the lights on.
Has someone possibly rewired them instead of replacing a relay that may have become stuck closed?
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the quick response, and happy new year!

So I took the lens off the dome lights, and realized that the lights on my truck have two "map lights" on the left and right, with a third door light in the middle for general cab lighting. So when I fumble in the dark I am turning on the map lights, not the center mounted door light. I'm not used to a vehicle with this sort of luxury!

I tired to track down the relay you mentioned. Looks like it should be R1 in the upper left of the fuse box, but there was no relay in that position. I bought one and plugged it in, but alas, the cab stayed dark. I confirmed that the door ajar light was working correctly. I can't feel or hear the relay close when I open the door... So now I wonder if I have a bad ground, since you mention the GEM provides a ground to actuate the relay.

Thanks for your help, it's pushing me in the right direction.
 
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