dome light not coming on

[jaketlong11]

alright so yesterday I bought my first festiva my dome light will only come on if the door is just right closed on the passangers is this a bad sensor ? or do I have a wiring problem
oh and if you bump the door it flickers sometimes

[Damkid]

Probably a corroded switch in the door jam

[Aaronbrook37]

Take out the door switches, lubricate the sensors, and give them a good wire wheel job. Also ensure the dome light unit itself isn't building up corrosion or gunk.

[Spike]

Also while the dome light is off (if you take it that far), look at the little black plastic switch and see if there's still metal contacting the roof. That has been the failure in all 3 runnable Festivas I've had. That darn ground on the switch wears itself out. Look up Escort dome lights on here (if that switch ends up being the culprit), they are a super-easy upgrade, and are fantastic compared to a stock unit. Plus, they're grounded by an actual screw (instead of a tiny piece of exposed metal)!

-Joe

[getnpsi]

clean them as the members above stated, if its still sketchy flip the passenger and drivers for the time being. Mine used to stop working in the wet and would come back when dry

[jaketlong11]

thanks I will try it

[shafe]

o.k. i bought my little festive new in 88 my dome light has two wires one red one tan i have a replacement that has only one but its a black wire...do i hook up red or brown? or both....?what are the red and brown,? just for door switches?

[bravekozak]

The dome light switch has three positions.
OFF (no contact)
MIDDLE (ground through the red/blue stripe wire to the door switches)
ON (ground through the dome lamp mounting screw to the roof brace)

On an 89, the white/red stripe wire carries juice up the driver's A-pillar to the dome lamp from the ROOM fuse. It is hot at all times.