Dome light Dead...

[Frozen001]

I was recently installing a security system on my cousins 2001 Grand Am, an while working on it the dome light simply stopped working... no bad fuses, and the bulb is good. I tested the plug with a meter, and there is no power even reaching the light bulb. Any ideas on what might have happened.

BTW when it stopped working I was not even doing anything to the wires on the car....

[GASE 95]

what were you doing when the light went out?

[Frozen001]

Well, actually I was looking at the wire on the dome light to see if I could trace them back to a better location on the car to connect to the alarm system. I was not using anything that could have shorted something out; just sort of pulling down on the case and looking at wire colors (which are black, white and orange, black and white are ground and orange is the power I think??) I am totally baffled by this. I was able to trace this wite back to the massive wiring block by the dash fuse panel, and there is no power there either.

[GASE 95]

ok i dont think that black AND white are grounds...should just be the black. Theres no need for 2. Orange is usually connected to a switch or relay so that should be ur hot wire. White is usually an ignition wire but that doesnt make sense in this case. I dont know how you couldve caused it to quit unless while pulling on the cover you somehow pulled a wire loose. But that doesnt make sense either since you have no power by the fuse box. Is there anything else thats not working properly?

[Frozen001]

Originally Posted by GASE 95

ok i dont think that black AND white are grounds...should just be the black. Theres no need for 2. Orange is usually connected to a switch or relay. Im thinking that the white should be ur hot wire. I dont know how you couldve caused it to quit unless while pulling on the cover you somehow pulled a wire loose.

I pulled the light out completely after it stopped working and checked the connections. Black and white show 0 ohms to ground and the orange is open.

[Frozen001]

Originally Posted by Frozen001

I pulled the light out completely after it stopped working and checked the connections. Black and white show 0 ohms to ground and the orange is open.

BTW.... The dome light has a switch on the light it self to turn it off/door/on, and there is also a panel switch to turn it on/off (this is the usual on in with the panel light dimmer)

[Pvt_Murphy]

Originally Posted by Frozen001

I pulled the light out completely after it stopped working and checked the connections. Black and white show 0 ohms to ground and the orange is open.

Black should be ground and Orange should get power when the key is on and the lights are turned on; I think maybe white powers the 2 lights for the rear passengers and the orange might go to the main one to turn it on when door is open. But Black should be gound.

[Tom94gaGT]

Is it just the dome light or all the courtesy lights? b/c i know that on my car all the courtesy lights stopped working and i checked everything, and turned out that the switch on the driver's door was stuck and thats why the lights werent going on? just a thought