Mr. Wizard

Hi,
Does anyone have experience with the C7 overhead map light's bulbs blinking? I have traced it to happening when my headlights are on. The dealer is telling me no one has the bulbs. I can't seem to find bulbs for them on auto parts sites including gmparts.com. One site I found says the lights are not user serviceable. It's like driving in a haunted house at night. I can put the lights themselves on, but who wants to do that either. I have ended up covering them up with painter's tape for now, but you need those lights when you need them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

laserdude2215

Are you saying that the map lights are blinking when they should be off?

brimee

Mine do this too, I posted this https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ts-2016-a.html
but never got a response from anyone else with this issue. It starts when headlights are on, then only when in reverse, then most all the time and then it disappears for a short time. I thought replacing the battery took care of it but it did come back.

in my research I did find this; https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...lickering.html

I did discover that I do have the aftermarket leds in the footwells but I do not have the oem footwell lights to change it back to try it.

I am thinking about disconnecting the map lights if I can figure out how to get to them.

Mr. Wizard

yes, when supposed to be off.

bbrown450

You got it , did that in my 16’ ( changed to LED rears) and the disruption in voltage did the same thing




QUOTE=brimee;1604492992]Mine do this too, I posted this https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ts-2016-a.html
but never got a response from anyone else with this issue. It starts when headlights are on, then only when in reverse, then most all the time and then it disappears for a short time. I thought replacing the battery took care of it but it did come back.

in my research I did find this; https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...lickering.html

I did discover that I do have the aftermarket leds in the footwells but I do not have the oem footwell lights to change it back to try it.

I am thinking about disconnecting the map lights if I can figure out how to get to them.[/QUOTE]

Mr. Wizard

After reading everything you & brimee wrote, I have a sneaking suspicion that the issue is related to the aftermarket foot well lights. I have them as well. I have had mine for about 5 years & this now is going on. They must make something weak with the map lights. My dealer never heard of this problem. He says the bulbs aren't currently available. His thought is that since it happens only when my headlights have come on (I tried the wipers & that didn't have any different effect). From what I have tried to see part wise is that first of all the lights are supposedly not user replaceable. So I am reading that maybe the bulbs are directly on a circuit board that would need to be replaced. But I am guessing the cure is to replace the foot well lights back to OEM (I hope I still have them somewhere & then block them out & splice the aftermarket lights into the plug for the OEM lights.I saw the post where one of the members is the manufacturer of those lights, but don't know if they would do anything about it. Maybe a new set of the aftermarket lights would work as well.

Mr. Wizard

UPDATE: I made a call complaining to General Motors so I could hopefully get someone that knows Corvettes to help me with this issue. I ended up getting a regional customer service person involved. One day shortly thereafter, my dealer called me to say that the lights were now available in Lansing & would call me when they came in. Just left the dealer today. They replaced these parts: 84601736 11927C F-LAMP & 84601738 11927C F-LAMP. These parts are the LED circuit boards that the bulbs are soldered directly on them. Problem is resolved & no more night-time haunted house disco driving for me! I hope this helps anyone else with this issue.

UPDATE TO UPDATE
The new lights magically turn themselves on and I can turn them off. Sometimes it’s both together, sometimes just the driver & sometimes just the passenger. I contacted the dealer, he said let’s wait a week and a half to 2 weeks and see what it does. I am sure that is going to make a difference lol. Maybe he is leaving the company and that stalls me enough so he won’t have to deal with it anymore.

Mr. Wizard

Took my car to a 3rd dealer when I had an air conditioning issue as not going to use the 1st 2 anymore. I told them about my map light issue as described on this thread. His head mechanic diagnosed it & came up pretty quickly that the issue is due to (believe it or not), that he needs to replace the passenger door latch control circuit (part # 84451454). He replaced it & the map lights now work as they should. Had nothing to do with my after market lights. Hope this helps anyone else.

brimee

I'm glad this worked in your situation.

I finally got my new oem footwell lights installed and all aftermarket leds removed and no more blinking map lights for me!

Mr. Wizard

Great to hear you got yours working properly. I guess I am lucky as I get to keep my blue LED lights!!

JCF Folsom

How does the mechanic know it is the passenger door vs the driver door latch control circuit (part # 84451454)?

thanks in advance for the help.

Mr. Wizard

Because they were familiar with the issue. They replaced it and the problem went away. Hope this answer helps you.

Vetteman Jack

Sounds like that third dealer is on the ball - could be a good choice for any future needed repairs

JCF Folsom

- did you get to keep your LEDs?
- do you have LEDs in the truck and footwells?
- did you ever try pulling the LEDs to see if the issue went away before replacing the passenger door latch control circuit (part # 84451454)?

thanks in advance for the help!

ZO6LIFE

That last dealer is a diagnostic hero. Most are just parts changers. Stick with that dealer going forward bro.

Mr. Wizard

Yes as mentioned I got to keep my blue after market LED lights in the footwells. I knew that the problem could go away by pulling the aftermarket LEDs and going back to OEM lights in the footwells as Chevy has a document saying to do that. That would of been my last resort. It just didn't make sense that they worked for years. I was having a problem with the passenger door acting weird around the same time. I never correlated the two. The mechanic knew.

JCF Folsom

Thanks for the follow-up Sir!