So I painted my headliner, everything went better then expected except when I finally got everything back together the cockpit area dome light wont work in the "on" position. It still functions normally in the "door" position (lights up when a door is opened) but I cant turn it on in any other situation. Does anyone have any ideas? I noticed a small black plug without a home during re-assembly (thought it may be homelink but it wasnt). I checked and couldn't find a place for the plug to go anywhere on the dome light.. I had the roof apart for a few weeks before finishing up the headliner so i cant remember where this little black plug goes but I have a feeling it has something to do with the dome light issue. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I have not had mine out, but sounds like a ground wire may not be getting good contact. You may need to check for paint from the headliner job that may be keeping you from getting a good ground. When the door opens, it provides a ground for that position of the switch, I believe, so that is why it works with the door. So you have 12V to the light, and when the switch moved to ON, it is suppose to provide the ground to complete the circuit and make it work. Again, I have not actually looked at mine, as I have not had any issues, but I would guess there is a push-on or screw-down ground around the light assembly somewhere. The other things could be a broken wire between the light and the ground point during your headliner project, or the end it not connected all together to the ground point.

Also, check to make sure all the metal contacts that are in the light assembly are still in place and not broken.

 

There is a metal tab on the dome light structure to make the connection.
I had the same thing happen to me. It won't be any kind of electrical connector on the fixture...just a metal tab
Slide the black connector to the tab and you should be good to go.

 

oooh so that plug actually does go onto the lamp assembly?

 

Sounds like that black connector is your ground and needs to be plugged into the fixture.

 

ok i figured it out, it definetly was that little black connector BUT it dosnt attach to the actual light itself, it attaches to driver side of the metal mounting bracket. its hidden pretty well when the bracket is in its final position so you may have to pop the mounting bracket out to make the connection. thanks for the responses.

 

Here's a pix from the RAVE electrical library, a good resource.

 

Thanks for bringing up this problem. Mine hasn't worked in my 99 since I bought it, but between all my other projects I've never had time to track down the problem. After reading this I walked outside to the rover, pulled down the light, plugged in the ground, and boom there was light!