door switch panel lights not illuminating when headlights turned on

Welcome to 2CarPros.

Since the other light switch lights are working, I suspect the wire which supplies power to the light in the driver's switch is damaged or there is a corrode or damaged pin in the connector.

There is a pink wire in the harness to the switch. It is what provides power to the light. You will need to check if there is power at that wire. If there is, then you need to check the connection.

If there is no power, you will need to trace the pink wire back to the left kick panel junction to see where power is lost. Interestingly, all the other switches are spliced together. The driver's is separate even though power comes from the same source.

Take a look at the attached schematics. I have attached a few links you may find helpful when testing.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-test-light-circuit-tester

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-voltmeter

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-wiring

Let me know if this helps.

Take care.

Joe

All right, thank you for the information. Not that I cannot do it, just don't have the tools to do so. All makes sense however.

This morning I brought it to a different shop and they diagnosed things within an hour. Nothing wrong with the door or the wiring in the door. Looks like it was the wiring connection itself...the previous shop took everything and bundled into a big web of mess and basically crimped things a bit and damaged the wire needed to illuminate. They got everything diagnosed and fixed within 3 hours and it's working! yay.

However, the lock button is still funky so that's my next mission. What it does is when the key is in the ignition and you turn it...not necessarily on, but turn it just to the point of firing the spark to start it, then the lock portion of the lock button does not work. Same if the car is on and running. But, when the car is off and in park, I can get it to work. And it's only the lock...it unlocks just fine no matter what. And the button to lock and unlock on the passenger door works perfectly. Small and some what insignificant thing but wondering if you have suggestions on that now. :)

Thank you.

Welcome back:

Yes, I will be happy to help, but I have to ask a favor. We are trying to keep the threads specific to one topic. I hate asking, but could you copy this new question to a new thread? By doing it, others can find the help they need easier (at least that's our goal).

I hope you understand.

Joe

i will do that shortly. but i wanted to now add back to this one. so, like i said, it’s fixed and the door switches now illuminate when the headlights are on. But now it opened a new can of worms. what’s happening now is that when the headlights are on all illumination happens (yay!) but then guess what? now when the lights are on the window switches won’t work. on any of the 4 doors! turn the headlights off, bam, the switches work again. this a relay problem? battery need a charge or replacement?

Welcome back:

Wow! You aren't having much luck with this. If the repaired wire is disconnected, does everything work correctly again?

Joe

well, that much i don’t know, haven’t tried it. can i disconnect it easily to see? but yes, becoming a pain. fix one thing, create an issue elsewhere.

Welcome back:

The only thing you could do is remove the switch again to disconnect it. I have to be honest, I suspect something was crossed and is shorting. Since it started after the repair, something must have happened at that point.

Joe

Well that's not good. don’t think it could be anything else?

Welcome back:

I wish I had an exact answer because anything is possible. However, I suspect they took power from the wrong wire and it is causing the issues. When you turn the lights on, the power circuit is open, preventing the windows to work. Somehow, they got power that is only available when the lights are off.

Have you contacted them to indicate there is a problem. If I was there, I would be able to check and diagnose what happened, but not being there really makes it a difficult because I can check where they took the power supply.

Just for curiosity, when the windows are working, does it have an affect on any of the lighting on the vehicle? If you place the light switch to the parking light selection, does the same thing happen?

Let me know if you contacted them and what they told you.

Joe

i haven’t contacted them yet, was going to go up there on Monday. just haven’t had the time, unfortunately. but to answer your question and the parking light, yes, still happens. if the lights are clicked on at any level (park lights, highs, lows anything) the windows will not work. the lights have to be all the way off. and it’s all 4 doors. so it’s as if it turns “off” the window switches in all 4 doors when lights are off. here’s to Monday i guess. i’m sure they’ll want to nail me for a few hundred more dollars now.

“all 4 doors when lights are off.”. that should be "on" not "off"... windows work in. all 4 doors just fine when lights are off. :)

Welcome back:

Ugh... That hardly even can make sense to me. The only other thing I can even suspect is a damaged ground that fails when the added load is applied.

As far as them charging you, it didn't do this when you took it, correct?

Joe

correct. the only issue when i brought it in was the illumination of the power switches. now they do but when on (the lights) the darn window switches don’t work. ugh is right.

Welcome back:

I had to laugh with your "Ugh is right." I need a good laugh. Honestly, wiring can be tricky, but this is an entire new issue they started. I can only imagine your frustration.

Let me know if I can help.

Take care,
Joe

Well, got it fixed. I took it back to the shop last night and got it back today. They could't guarantee and/or warranty what they had previously done since things we not factory. So that is a bummer. they didn't charge me an egregious amount extra. in fact, very minimal which is nice. Nonetheless, there were 2 wires that were connected incorrectly or cross wired. They fixed that up and good to go. working exactly as it should.

Welcome back:

Glad to hear you got it fixed. I suspected something was crossed. It must have happened when they were working. Honestly, I'm glad to hear they didn't charge much, but if it was related to something I did while working, I wound never have charged the customer to fix my mistake. It frustrates me to hear they charged you anything.

Regardless, I'm glad it's fixed. If you have questions in the future, please feel free to come back.

Take care,
Joe