Questions and Answers

Dodge Neon Dome And Courtesy Lights Q. Just got this car this week, it was a reasonable price and a nice little car, great gas mileage! Just a couple small annoyances that I'm not sure about since I haven't found a repair manual at any local parts stores yet, so I ordered one online but I'm hoping that the problem is common to this model and you might have some insight on it.

The dome light and any other courtesy lights that it may have will not come on when you open the doors, I have tried opening all four of them. I wasn't sure if the rears had courtesy light switches but it was at night and too dark to check. I spent some time playing around with it today and the dome light will come on if you turn it on using the headlight switch, I was hoping it was just the bulb but no such luck.

I know that the door switches are usually just grounding the circuit, but I think that its odd that all of the switches could be bad at once. Also, I noticed that the drivers side has two switches, I would assume that one is the dome light and the other is the warning buzzer that comes on when you leave your keys in the ignition or leave the headlights on.

I checked and the warning is not coming on either for the headlights being left on, so that would make at least three switches bad, two on the drivers and the one on the passengers. Forgot to check the rear doors for switches before it got too dark outside to work on it further.

So the question is, are the two circuits totally unrelated since they both have their own switch on the drivers door, and also is this a common failure? The first thing that I thought of was bulbs and fuses, but since it does come on with the headlight switch turned all the way it must be something else. Could it be one bad connection somewhere or??

• 1995 Dodge Neon
• 2.0 liter 4cylinder
• Automatic transmission
• 144,300 miles
• Fuel Injected
• A/C

Thanks,
Scott
Tyler, MN

PS: Thanks for the help on the 1994 Dodge Caravan Wubba Wubba Wubba!! I finally found someone who knew what you were talking about in your answer and they checked the tires and wheels carefully and it turned out to be a ply separation in one of the front wheels. Although the balancing machine shows it was fine.

A. The dome lamp receives power from the 10 amp micro fuse located in the Power Distribution Center (PDC) on the M1 circuit. This circuit is HOT at all times. The ground path for the lamp is provided in two different ways.

One way is through the door ajar switches. Circuit M2 connects to all the door ajar switches from the dome lamp. The switches are case-grounded to the body. When a door is opened, the plunger in the switch closes, completing a path to ground.

The second ground path is through the headlamp switch. Circuit M2 is spliced in with the door ajar switches. When the operator turns the headlamp switch to the dome lamp ON position, a ground path is provided through the switch on the Z1 circuit. This ground terminates at the instrument panel left center support.

The time delay relay is used to allow a time-ON function for the ignition switch lamp. Power for the relay is received on the M1 circuit from the 10 amp fuse located in the Power Distribution Center (PDC ).

When a door is opened, or the headlamp switch is moved to the dome lamp position, a ground path is provided for the relay on the M2 circuit. This energizes the relay, closing the contacts. When the relay contacts are closed, power is provided through the relay to the M50 circuit.

The M50 circuit supplies current to the ignition switch lamp in the steering column. Ground for the lamp is provided on the Z3 circuit. This circuit splices with the glove box lamp, the ash receiver lamp, and the PRNDL lamp. The Z3 circuit terminates at the instrument panel left center support.

So, I would check the time delay relay since it supplies power to the circuit. Also, check for a good ground at the instrument panel left center support.