Just today my rear view reading lights won't turn on while driving. They will turn on if the door is opened. Once closed, they still will not turn on. Have Passport 8500 hooked into rear view wiring. Passport will only come on when door is open and shuts off when door is closed. I am baffled! I have wasted hours trying to figure out what is going on. It has always worked. The battery was dead when I tried to start today. Put on trickle and all OK. This light and radar started acting up after this charge. Does anyone know what could be going on? Thanks for all of your help.

 

If you can't get it figured out, try PM'ing forum member Bill Curlee - he is very knowledgeable about electronic problems in the C5.

 

my 03 is doing that same exact thing...when your doors are closed try opening your glove box and see If that powers them on ? if I open my glove box the map lights turn on

 

I would say that somehow, you have lost the ground normally used by this circuit. When you open the doors, you are involving an inter-related circuit that still has its ground and that is why the reading lights will come on. They are just being provided a working ground point and therefore the circuit is being properly completed. To the other poster about the glove box lights, I have no idea if these two circuits are inter-related or not, but it is entirely possible.

Your reading lights are supposed to come on anytime the door opens as part of your interior illumination, that is why this circuit provides a different ground to complete the circuit. I would think that you have lost the grounding point that is specific to the reading lights and their switches in the mirror housing. This is especially suspect as you stated that you added your radar detector to this circuit.

Hope this helps.

DSTURBD

 

Everything was working great for years. Radar hooked up 10 years to the reading lights. Battery went dead and this is when all started. Where should I continue to look? Thanks.

 

Could still be a ground that was marginal to begin with and the increased heat from low battery draw could finish it off as to corrosion or whatever. That is why when we have mysterious electrical problems with C5's, the first thing guys do is check out all their main grounding points and clean them to restore a good connection.

Have you ever seen the insulation melt off of a battery cable when cranking with a low battery on older cars that won't start? Same principal.

I would first clean the ground point for the circuit in the mirror housing and see what that does. (Not sure off-hand exactly where it is, but wiring diagram will show it.) Can't hurt and may very likely cure the problem.

The fact that it was working fine for so long before-hand is exactly what makes me first suspect a bad ground. As well as the fact that both the reading lights and the radar detector both work fine with a door open. That eliminates either of those two things being bad by themselves.

DSTURBD

 

Those lamps (if I'm reading the schematic properly) are a bit odd in that the mirror switches are on the 12V side of the bulb, not the ground side. The 12V feed is through relay 37 and fuse 2 in the footwell, which also feeds the glovebox light, visor lights, underhood light, and mirror dimming (if so equipped)....check if those are working properly.

 

I would check fuse #2 in the passenger footwell very carefully. If the lights work in some situations they're getting power from a different source, the ground would be the same so I doubt you have a ground issue. Measure the fuse, if you have a short and you just replace it, it might blow immediately leading to the wrong conclusion that it wasn't the fuse.

 

Well I checked good old fuse #2 and it was blown. This gave me hood, glove, box and rear view mirror/reading lights work just great now. Still can't get the radar to work as it used to. It will only go on with the door open at the mirror. Where would you wire the radar in? I have the rear view mirror holder and would like to continue using it. Will run wires through head liner and down to ?. My dash lights did quit working also. They do come on with headlights on. Any idea as to where I might start looking for the dash lights too? I really appreciate your help. Bought my 2000 FRC new and just starting to have little gremlins.

 

If you want an alternate power source and you have a 97-03 there are power sources in the passenger footwell. There are none in the 04.

In the passenger foot well there should be 3 auxiliary power wires.

Orange wire taped off. Always powered from Fuse #7 (20 Amp). This Fuse/wire is shared with the cigarette lighter.

Orange wire to a connector. Always powered from Fuse #1 (20 Amp). Wire not shared with anything.

Yellow wire taped off. Powered from ignition switch when "On". Powered from Fuse #11 (20 Amp). Not shared with anything.

Here is a link with more info and pictures:

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...ad.php?t=14632

Here is another option also known as a Fuse Buddy which you can get at most auto stores. Many people use these. The radar unit does not draw much current so your options for fuse location are many.

 

Fuse slot 22 in the footwell box of my '04 was empty when I installed the Curb Alert...it's switched. It may be used by some option I don't have...CD changer maybe?

 

Dear Mr. DeRaud,
(Long Reply but please read.) Thank u, thank u, thank u. I had the same problem (reading/map lights didn't work manually (did light when door was opened), glove box and underhood lights didn't work, (didn't check the visor lights; never use them.)) I did look through the fuseboxes' lists and found one for the "Courtesy Lamps", but I had my doubts that was the problem since they all worked when I opened the door. I was thinking it was a grounding point issue because I have an intermittent problem with my blinkers not working and thought that maybe they use the same one (grounding point) and that it was just getting worse. But that didn't make sense either because the interior lights problems was sudden and permanent, not intermittent like the blinkers problem. Anyway, so I thought I'd check the Vette forum which has helped me a few times before. And voila! There it was, same problem; and better yet: your answer. It was spot on. I pulled fuse 2 from the footwell box and it was blown. I replaced it and the aforementioned lights all work now. So thanks for reading the schematic and figuring it out. I had no idea of what the descriptions of relay 37 and fuse 2 meant ("Monitored (Inadvertent) Load Control"???), and never would have guessed one of them would have been the problem. You saved me a lot of time. And money if I had to take it to a shop. Sorry for the long reply; just saying "Thanks" didn't seem like enough. (Plus, I'm almost giddy for fixing it myself with your help, and when I'm excited and happy I talk (write) a lot.) I just have to express what you, and other members of the forums that I never did thank in the past, did for me and others by taking the time to write to the forum and help us out. Thank you all. Hopefully, someday I'll have something worthwhile to contribute.
Paul (Vette_Fan_2)