Dome lights and puddle lights not working

I didn't add on to the massive door switch thread because I'm relatively certain that my Jetta knows when the door is open/closed. Symptoms:

• Dome light, lights over passenger doors, hatch light, puddle lights NEVER turn on, even with any switch in any position
• When the key is turned to the 'on' position and each door is opened in turn, the car registers that a door is open with the indicator light
• Closing all doors and pressing the lock button, then opening driver's side door sets off alarm

The interior light fuse appears to be fine, although I don't know what a blown fuse on this looks like. I put the #14 fuse in a different one to check it was working.
Having absolutely no dome lights has made me forget many things in the dark at night... Hopefully someone knows what's going on. Thanks!

Silly question but is the dome light switch in the right position? I'm pretty sure its a 3 way switch: always on, on when doors open, always off.

Have the lights ever worked?

The lights over the rear passenger doors are themselves a switch. Push one end in to turn it on all the time, push the other to have it come on with the door switch, or something like that. The switch over the rear view mirror has no effect on these lights.

A blown fuse is easy to identify, but you have to remove it. Hold it up to light & look through the side of it. if the s-shaped metal is intact, fuse is good.

How about the trunk switch? Does the instrument panel show "open door" when the ignition is on and the trunk is open?

david_594 said:

Silly question but is the dome light switch in the right position? I'm pretty sure its a 3 way switch: always on, on when doors open, always off.

Click to expand...

Yup, I've tried the 3-way switch in every position, and in any position, the lights do not come on. I can't even get the lights to come on when I press the little button over the ones to the left or the right of the main dome light.

TDI in MT said:

Have the lights ever worked?

The lights over the rear passenger doors are themselves a switch. Push one end in to turn it on all the time, push the other to have it come on with the door switch, or something like that. The switch over the rear view mirror has no effect on these lights.

A blown fuse is easy to identify, but you have to remove it. Hold it up to light & look through the side of it. if the s-shaped metal is intact, fuse is good.

How about the trunk switch? Does the instrument panel show "open door" when the ignition is on and the trunk is open?

Click to expand...

The lights all worked up until about 7 months ago maybe?

I've also tried the lights over the rear passenger doors. Those switches also, in any of the 3 positions, do not cause the lights to turn on. If that's all there is to checking fuses, I've checked the ones that it seems to make sense to check (the ones associated with lights in general...), and they all still are intact.

The trunk switch seems to work fine as well, as the instrument panel registers that a door is open when the hatch/trunk is open.

FWIW, I have a fuzzy memory of not having any lights working in the main cab of the car (dome lights over the front and passenger seats) and then going to the back and opening the trunk and having the light work. It is not currently working, however.

Little bump for this topic? I'm still fumbling around in the dark. Every door including the trunk, when open, makes the "door open" indicator light turn on. Just no lights.

No power getting to any of them. Most likely a blown fuse. Time to search the internet to find out which fuse it is.

I've checked every fuse that it makes sense to check, and even switched around a bunch of them. I used the turn signal fuse spot to check the fuse that should power the interior lights (fuse 14), and the turn signals work with both fuses.

Could there be another place where the connection could be malfunctioning that would take out so many lights?

Check your globes.

Sean,
Did you ever figure this out? I'm having the same issue. I just fixed my drivers side door latch mechanism and now all doors are properly registering on the dash when they are open/closed. But like you describe, all of my interior lights are out, no matter what position the switches are in (off, door or on). And like you say, the #14 fuse for the interior lights is fine. And I pulled the bulbs and they work too.

I do wonder whether it has something to do with the rear hatch. The lights used to flicker when it was open.

Any help, direction or ideas would be great.

I'm unfortunately still stumped. I didn't think it was the door latch mechanism, since my dash door-open indicator lights still work fine.

I'd be super surprised if all of the globes went out at the same time.

Guess I'll keep fumbling around in the dark

There is a fuse, but it may be incorrectly marked in the Bentley. I don't think I have it marked, but it's either the 10-amp #14 or the 15-amp #38. Do a search, it's mainly for the central locking system including fuel hatch and rear hatch/trunk release, but also controls interior lights and power windows.

you guys figure anything out ? I have a 2002 golf, just bought it. no interior lights .according to the manual the power for the lights comes from the comfort module, there is no power coming from the module I believe the wire is red and blue. I am thinking it is the module because everything else the module controls seems to work
any ideas

seanjohn said:

Little bump for this topic? I'm still fumbling around in the dark. Every door including the trunk, when open, makes the "door open" indicator light turn on. Just no lights.

Click to expand...

squarehead2 said:

you guys figure anything out ? I have a 2002 golf, just bought it. no interior lights .according to the manual the power for the lights comes from the comfort module, there is no power coming from the module I believe the wire is red and blue. I am thinking it is the module because everything else the module controls seems to work
any ideas

Click to expand...

I just fixed mine in the 03 Wagon this week, after going through just about everything, and even replacing the CCM. None of my dome lights, map lights, door lights were working....and they weren't working when I bought the car.

My problem ended up being in behind the panel where the hood release lever is. That red an blue 12vdc+ wire is connected to five more red and blue wires in the main wire bundle in there. Mine had been repaired previously by the looks of it...all six wires were twisted and soldered together....and they had all corroded again and some of them were broken off. I snipped all the bad wiring out, reconnected all six of those red and blue wires again, and bam, every interior light popped back on just like the were suppose to. I'd start peeling the tape off of that bundle of wires and have a look if I were you guys.

PS: I did also find a plug behind the bottom end of the drivers side a-pillar that was all corroded to snot as well....I snipped that bugger out too and just butt spliced the three wires together.

Interior lights are all good now.

Oh...and I now have a spare CCM if anybody finds that they need one...lol. However, I'd suspect wiring before that CCM...most of the threads I read, the CCM appeared to be the problem, but wasn't.

HTH,
Rem

Has anyone else fixed their problem the way Rem did?

macdonaldtomw said:

Has anyone else fixed their problem the way Rem did?

Click to expand...

I see you've already found the other thread with pictures...

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4366502&postcount=21

That was the exact same thread I found when I had this problem with my wagon...and when I dug into it, my wires looked exactly the same as in those pictures. I fixed them all up, and bam, all of my interior lights starting working again. This is what these forums are for.

I think it's our salty NS weather...it eats this stuff after a while.

I also just solved the same issue with my 2003 wagon by linking those 6 red wires with a blue stripe back together after finding the butt connecter holding them together turned to green powder. Had to cut into the harness to find it. Taped together with factory black. when reassembling, coat the exposed areas with dielectric grease or vasiline to seal out moisture. Also make sure cabin is not taking on any moisture. Remove wiper cowel and seal up rubber grommet on drivers side going into firewall if so.

Wires are under fusepanel under carpet leading up the back of the drivers side A pillar.