Problem with interior dome light/door lights not working on Honda Accord

[Reginald]

The dome light and door lights on my 1987 Honda Accord LX-i sedan all worked fine until last summer (2018), when they gradually stopped working over a couple of weeks and one day they simply stopped working all at once and haven’t worked since, except for one door light (front-passenger door). I checked and swapped fuses with brand-new ones, to no effect. I replaced bulbs, still nothing. I swapped the door jamb switches, thinking that the front-passenger door jamb switch would work on any other door I put it on, but no – any door jamb switch I swap into that front-passenger door will work only on that door, the other three doors stay dark – which tells me that all the door jamb switches work fine. I checked the mounting bolts on the interior dome light, they’re nice and tight without any interference. It’s also worth mentioning that my Accord has recently developed a parasitic draw problem on the battery, could this be related?

So am I to assume the problem is related to wiring/ground? If so, where do I start?

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

A suggestion:
Start by looking at where the door wiring passes out of the door(s)through to the vehicle interior ( door jambs area ) and look for contact wear or possibly broken wire(s).

[Reginald]

I checked the door jamb switch wires when swapping them out the night before (at least, as much as I could see with a flashlight), they appeared fine. I do have a test light and multimeter however, if those could be useful here.

Otherwise I checked the wiring harnesses between doors tonight. All appeared fine, only one was slightly roughed-up but otherwise non-noteworthy:

[Reginald]

Any ideas on what step to take next?

[Reginald]

I used a test light this morning to confirm that three of the door jamb switches are not receiving any power, while the front-passenger one is. Basically confirming what I already knew, which also means it can’t be fuse-related as none of them would be receiving power in that case.

I could really use some insight here.

[Richard Kirshy]

[color=orange][i]I used a test light this morning to confirm that three of the door jamb switches are not receiving any power, while the front-passenger one is. Basically confirming what I already knew, which also means it can’t be fuse-related as none of them would be receiving power in that case.
[/i][/color]
In basic terms…
Follow the yellow brick road.
You’ll need a wiring diagram for your specific vehicle.
Considering the age, I would not think you have a control module for the locks (but stranger things have happened)
You’ll need to back trace the dead power feed(s) until you find power, at which point you’ll most likely find a break in the wiring.

[Reginald]

I did find some wiring diagrams for 1986-87 Honda Accord sedans like mine via repairguide.autozone.com and an online PDF of the shop manual, but both of them conveniently omit any information about the interior wiring or anything related to fuse #13 (Interior lights). From a visual perspective, I can see the door jamb switch wires snake up the pillars towards the ceiling/roof of the vehicle, but that’s it. I have to find where they all meet together and that’s likely where I’ll find the source of my problem.

I might disassemble the dome light housing to better access the wiring there, or see where it goes.

[Reginald]

Someone on a Honda forum pointed me to a more complete manual for my Honda Accord, which actually contained information about the interior wiring and fuse #13.

I did some editing. The area I highlighted in yellow is where I believe the problem lies. The items circled in red I have confirmed are not receiving power, while the items circled in blue are confirmed to be working. I forgot to add that the safety indicator in my car does not show when any of the doors/trunk are ajar. Now I still need to physically locate where the wires all meet and go from there.

[Reginald]

I was looking at this

What I found:

Will check for voltage tomorrow

[Author]

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