Dome light

I'm working on an 08 P71 ex-police. The dome light does not turn on when the doors are open, while it works just fine if turned on via dimmer switch. The door ajar light on the dash does come on when the doors are open, but no dome light.

If you work the switches on the dome light, will the lights work? A lot of the Police had an option to keep the dome light off when doors are opened for safety reasons when the officer was entering or exiting the vehicle.

Yup the light works fine when turned on with the switch. After looking at the wiring in the FSM it looks like the dome light is triggered via BCM. With that said. The BCM is sending power to the dome light when toggled by the dome light switch. The door ajar light on the dash comes on when the doors are open, so this tells me that the door sense is working fine. Which makes me think it's a BCM issue or the BCM has been programmed not to turn the dome light on with doors open for the reason you stated.

If you work the switches on the dome light, will the lights work? A lot of the Police had an option to keep the dome light off when doors are opened for safety reasons when the officer was entering or exiting the vehicle.

The P71 Crown Vics have a "Dark Mode" that disables the domelight operation with the doors. Here's what you need to do:
Look under your dash - specifically under the glove box. You will see a single wire with a blue harness plug. Unplug the two halves of the harness... you may want to tape or zip-tie the ends to keep them from hanging below the dash. Next... remove the Negative battery terminal for 10 minutes. That will deactivate the "Dark Mode" and your dome light will operate with the doors.

After searching the net for a while I found what the problem is with the light, you are right the BCM is in "Dark Mode" or " Dark Car" Mode. What you said about the wire is correct for 05 models and older. The 06 and newer models need the use of a factory scan tool to disable the "Dark Mode" or " Dark Car" Mode.

http://www.p71interceptor.com/fordids/screenshots/

http://www.p71interceptor.com/fordids/screenshots/interiorlighting1-vi.png


The P71 Crown Vics have a "Dark Mode" that disables the domelight operation with the doors. Here's what you need to do:
Look under your dash - specifically under the glove box. You will see a single wire with a blue harness plug. Unplug the two halves of the harness... you may want to tape or zip-tie the ends to keep them from hanging below the dash. Next... remove the Negative battery terminal for 10 minutes. That will deactivate the "Dark Mode" and your dome light will operate with the doors.

Drive it down and I will reset it for you.:naughty::naughty:

That's one long hoof to Kentucky from Ontario. What scan tool do your own? I just picked up a Hickok NGS which is updated to 09 and has a CAN module. I'm hoping it will do the trick. Soon will know once it gets here.

Drive it down and I will reset it for you.:naughty::naughty:

I purchased the IDS for the shop and liked it so much I got me one. Got it updated to 2011 and probably will stop updating. Going to quit working in a couple of years so I am trying to let my assistant learn the ropes. You should be able to do it with the NGS.

It seems that Ford is getting just as bad as Chrysler with module programming options,only difference is that Chrysler has been doing it since 1996.