No interior lights?

Hey guys, got another question.....

As I was pulling into work yesterday, all of a sudden my interior lights and tail lights went out. The radio and odometer I can still read (the radio illumination is very faint) but everything else wont light up. I checked all 3 fuse boxes, every fuse is good. What could have happened? My brake lights still work, just not my rear running lights.

Thanks!

i'm having a quasi-similar problem. None of the lights on my dimmer circuit work since i accidentally shorted one of the lights. All fuses are fine. I've checked all of them many times. I know i heard a faint pop towards the front door fuse box. I'm suspecting the main switch but I'm not about to buy a $150 switch on a hunch. But yea if anyone has any ideas, that would be great. BTW i have Alldata's electrical diagram for this circuit if it would help you out at all, Phoenix

Well I was thinking, what is the switch that determines when it's day and night for the car? Maybe that switch or sensor or whatever it is, is broken? Where do I find that switch and how could i check it??

Turtleman, the Alldatas diagram is probably not needed for me, as I probably dont know what I'd be looking at anyways! But thank you!

Any ideas?

Anybody?!?!?!

I would start by determining if the light sensors on the dash work or not. Does the car respond to light by turning on the lights/dimming the dash like it's supposed to?

Hey!

Nope, I cannot manually turn the lights on or dim them. Also, when I unlock my car my tail lights used to come on when it was night time, now they dont even flash. Is the sensor that round dark thing located on the driver's side?

If, for argument sake, it was the sensor, what would it cost to replace it?

Thank you very much

There are two sensors, I thought. One on driver side, one on passenger. I've never heard of one going bad, so don't know what's involved. I wouldn't think it would cost much. It's just a photocell. Installing might be tricky. But I don't they really go bad. Might be wiring or connectors instead.

Have you worked on the car under the dash? Had any wiring/electronics work done?

This may sound stupid, but would the headlight swith do that?
When I had some work done on my car a few years ago they hook the switch up wrong and fried the switch. It did some funky stuff to the lights. I'm just throwing some ideas out there.

I've never had any electrical work done on it. Also, when I try to manually turn on the lights using the headlight switch, they don't come on... Are there any wires under the hood that could have been knocked loose that would cause this? Any ground wires? It really sucks driving with my four-ways on all the time lol

I really appreciate (sp) the help.

I highly doubt it's the light sensor. I believe it could be the main switch but I don't know that for sure. I still have to fix mine.

I think I'm gonna go with that first. Where can I locate the main switch and what would it be to replace?

Thanks!!

ok well i'm getting fed up with this no lights thing so I'm going out on a limb a little bit and buying a part on my hunch (god I hope i'm right)

I ordered a used headlight/dimmer switch assembly for 27 shipped vs. ~200 for after market new. Praying it solves the problem!

Anyway, I went on ebay and entered an alternate search and found a lot more parts (mainly electrical - switches and such) but it helped me out quite a bit and I hope it can help someone else out too

Here's the link...
http://motors.search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&fcl=3&sofindtype=22&frpp=50&from=R10&satitle=riviera+switch&sacat=6030%26catref%3DC6&fmmk=&fmmd=riviera&fylo=1995&fyhi=1999&mppfqy=riviera+switch&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=60538&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&fgtp=

Thats awsome! Thanks. I got fed up too and took it into a mechanic to get the problem fixed. He said it was the lighting control module and it would cost $480 CDN to replace from the dealer. I went on ebay and got one from Morad for $20 bucks plus shipping and taxes. Hope it works..... I'll let you know. That link has a lot of good stuff though Might just have to buy a part or two.....

Thanks again!

well it seems the switch is not the problem... boo guess i'm puttin that right back on ebay lol

I pulled the instrument cluster out today. The board is almost troubleshootable but not quite enough that I'm going to find the problem (if it is there at all) I tested the bulbs. all fine. If i power the circuit up with a direct connection to the hot side everything goes on except for one of the bulbs (bulb is fine) so I believe I fried something on the board when I shorted the circuit originally. Found a whole cluster on ebay for $40 plus shipping so i'm gettin that booger.

oh yea something kind of funny is I hit exactly 160000mi today and then started workin on the cluster. then i drove to my store and later, realized that the cluster is personally responsible for counting the miles so I'm going to be putting a 80k mi cluster into my car. my mileage will never be legitimate again

well its not the cluster... I'm not aware of any other components on that circuit and alldata doesnt have anything too useful. I'm pretty much quitting at this point. I can get the lights on if I bridge the + side of the circuit to a + power source so im probly just going to do that with a switch right now because i dont have any more time or money for this crap

by the way, if anyone needs a main headlight switch for 97-99 or an instrument/gauge cluster assembly for 95-99(i think) you know who's got some extra ones...

Damn, sounds like you're having some bad luck.... I still haven't got that control module in yet but I'm hoping it'll be the fix......

Ever thought of checking your main lighting module out?

Phoenix wrote:

Damn, sounds like you're having some bad luck.... I still haven't got that control module in yet but I'm hoping it'll be the fix......

Ever thought of checking your main lighting module out?

I don't know what that is..