Dome light seems impossible?

[JZLAJeep]

So today I was trying to figure out why my dome lights won't work, and i ended up running into a wall. So there's three wires going to each light, the pink hot wire and the two black switched grounds. All of these seem to be connected as they should. The issue seems to be inside the actual housing. One side of the bulb is connected to constant hot, and the other side is connected to........ nothing. The bulb has no way of grounding to either ground, and it doesn't look like it ever did. Both side lights are like this. The bulb lights up great if I cross the ground side of the bulb to ground.

 

So am I going crazy? Is it supposed to be like this and I just don't understand how its supposed to work?

 

Getting pictures of the conductors inside the housing would be difficult but i can give it a shot tomorrow if that would be helpful.

[Pete M]

I long ago stopped trying to fix them and just get the Euramtec lights instead.    very close to original stuff. 

 

 

 

 

 

[eaglescout526]

On the lens of the OEM style, there’s a protruding object on the underside of the lens that has a metal ring on it. When moved up or down it should engage the light in either permanent on or switched on by the door switches(which probably needs to be cleaned too)

[fiatslug87]

This is what eaglescout526 is referring to. When the lens is rotated the little wheel makes contact with the post on either side.

Off:

On:

[jpnjake]

I’ve found that sometimes just continuously moving the light from all its on and off positions it’ll clean the terminals enough to work, it’s worth a shot on pretty much every one I’ve tried 

[eaglescout526]

Thanks fiat. I responded late last night and didnt feel like going and getting one of the lenses to get a pic haha. 

[pizzaman09]

Before I replaced mine with the Pete M recommended, I did clean up the brass contactors in my original lights with a Dremel and a mini wire wheel.  It worked but structurally my lights were too broken to use.

[JZLAJeep]

Thanks everyone! Got the chance to play with these a little and got them to light up. Need to keep playing with them though. Not sure if the door switches are any good also. But this has helped a lot!

[motownXJdad]

On 4/16/2023 at 12:20 AM, Pete M said:

I long ago stopped trying to fix them and just get the Euramtec lights instead.    very close to original stuff. 

 

 

 

 

 

i agree with pete, same company that made the originals👍 and theyre not crazy expensive

[cruiser54]

This stuff works great. 

 

That said, I have a handful of those stock used lights in various stages of disrepair if anyone wants them.