Interior lights out again

Gotta love that wiring . . .
Post Reply
TX82FIAT
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:04 am
Your car is a: 82 Fiat Spider 2000 CSO
Location: San Antonio

Interior lights out again

Post by TX82FIAT »

Last night I replaced the bulb on the interior trunk light and started the car up turning the interior lights on to verify success. The interior trunk light started blinking and flickering and then stopped. As I went to turn the car off I noticed all interior lights had gone out. In the past, I bypassed the dimmer switch when the dimmer/reostat failed installing an in line fuse behind where the switch is. I'm thinking I blew the fuse at the bypass point by having some direct contact with the circuit to metal in the trunk if the litte piece inside the trunk light was not set properly. This does not seem right as the amount of resistance through that trunk bulb would be minimal.

Anyone else have any experience with trunk light shorting the interior instrament panel lights circuit? Not the best design to only have a trunk light only work when the interior lights are on. Any thoughts appreciated, hopefully ir is a center column quick fix tomorrow morning.
Buon giro a tutti! - enjoy the ride!

82 Fiat Spider 2000
03 BMW M3
07 Chevy Suburban
spider2081
Patron 2024
Patron 2024
Posts: 3015
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:45 pm
Your car is a: 1981 Spider 2000
Location: Wallingford,CT

Re: Interior lights out again

Post by spider2081 »

The stock dimmer control has an internal fuse link. If there is a short in the panel light circuit it blows. If you are handy and decent at soldering you can open the dimmer and repair it. I use one strand of a # 16 stranded wire.
There are lots of posts on trunk light wires shorting out when not used.

You will need to do some testing and post more info
TX82FIAT
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:04 am
Your car is a: 82 Fiat Spider 2000 CSO
Location: San Antonio

Re: Interior lights out again

Post by TX82FIAT »

Good and bad news. The trunk light wire has a short. Unhooked the trunk light to avoid issues. The fuse was blown but it was odd because you could not tell the fuse was blown looking at it. Had to test the circuit and then replaced the fuse. All is good.
Buon giro a tutti! - enjoy the ride!

82 Fiat Spider 2000
03 BMW M3
07 Chevy Suburban
Post Reply