How to repair a Festiva Interior Dome Light

[DougMountainLion]

Dome lights on these old Festivas are extremely hard to come by, if not impossible.

After many failed attempts to find one, I figured out how to repair mine and get it back in service.

The connections on these things are made with aluminum rivets, which weaken over time, as they expand and contract in weather and temperature changes.

To restore electrical contact, go to your hardware store, buy up a small batch of tiny nuts and bolts, then drill out each aluminum rivet and replace it with a nut and bolt, tightned down for good connection.

You'll have a working dome light again before you know it.

Dome light door switches can also stop working after a long time. Usuallly you can clean them up and get them working again, but if you want to replace them with a regular push-button type switch, just install a Normally-On push button switch in it's place. That's all those door mounted dome light switches really are in the first place.

This worked for me!

Doug

[wrongfulleaf]

What up Doug? Good to see someone new from around here! Anyways I am not sure how much searching you did on dome lights here on the website but I put in an escort dome light (bigger master lamp and also has map lights) and it works great. When I bought my car there was one installed that didn't work right and had no cover and in the glove box there was 2 broken ones so they don't hold up very well IMO.

[ejp2fast]

definitely the escort maps is the way to go on this...

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20085

[Mctiva]

Hey my Bro' in law just hooked mine up w/ a dome light from a izuzu -it looks decent too.

[Lmcclure]

i will be doing this soon, i would imagine up around your area you wont have any troubles finding a escort map light

[Festiva_tunner]

if installing a power sunroof the RX7 mirror and dome switches fit

[Aaronbrook37]

Just a bump... I was able to repair my dome light by cleaning up the door switches. Both the "ON" and "DOOR" settings weren't functioning well, and you had to jiggle the assembly to get it to turn/stay on.

So I grabbed my bottle of Liquid Wrench (WD-40 would work too) and sprayed some into the switches while protecting the paint around it with shop towel. Then I let it sit for a minute, and worked it in before cleaning both the contact point on the door and the knob itself. Now the switches slide much more easily without causing issues, and both of my settings work great, and I don't have to bother upgrading to the Escort unit!

Ordered a big 24-LED dome light replacement off of Ebay to brighten things up... I may hook my trunk up (the way leapin did) with a door sensor, and wire that into my passenger side one. Will keep you all posted either in this thread or another.

[DougMountainLion]

It's academic for me now. I am parting out my Festiva. It is no longer safe to drive due to severe rust damage to the underbody frame rails, front brakes, and steering linkages. One CV joint has also failed.

Anybody want a good engine and 4-speed manual transmission out of a 1988 Festiva L?

Doug

[MTec007]

that would be better posted in the FS/WTB forum

[walth]

yeah, sorry doug but you'll definitely get some resistance for posting that here. sorry to hear your loss on the festiva from body rot, etc.

as far as the dome lights go...some people like to keep things stock; absolutely nothing wrong with that. I myself agree with the escort lights but certainly appreciate a good solid write-up no matter what the cause.

great write up

[batstiva]

Just a bump... I was able to repair my dome light by cleaning up the door switches. Both the "ON" and "DOOR" settings weren't functioning well, and you had to jiggle the assembly to get it to turn/stay on.

+1. Even after swapping both dome lights for Escort domes, they still wouldn't come on when the door was opened. I actually unscrewed my door switches, cleaned and WD-40'd the contacts. They work perfectly now.

[scitzz]

+1. Even after swapping both dome lights for Escort domes, they still wouldn't come on when the door was opened. I actually unscrewed my door switches, cleaned and WD-40'd the contacts. They work perfectly now.

But that Escort dome light is definitely worth the upgrade!

[roycehof]

What I did was easier - I just got some conductive epoxy (silver loaded epoxy - same stuff used to repair rear defroster) and "painted" on the rivets and down to the conductors. 6 years later it was still working great when I upgraded for the Escort map light unit. Also, these dome lights are not difficult to find - lots of the Japanese cars use the same unit. Escort with the map lights is definately the way to go (one thing to know about the light swap is that the wires actually match up the opposite of what you would think - check the wires prior to hooking up and splicing them). Hope this information helps.

[batstiva]

But that Escort dome light is definitely worth the upgrade!

Oh yeah, without a doubt. My old ones didn't work either, mostly because of the door switches. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade.