This has been bugging me for quite some time. Ever since I purchased my S2k the interior lights have failed to come on when you open the doors. I decided to try and trace the problem today, but of course it's not that simple. I also don't have a shop manual for this car yet so I have no wiring diagrams to go off of. What I did find, though, was that all the fuses and both door switches are functioning properly. However, when I tested power at the lights there is power from the battery constant but no power from the wire for switched power (at least that's what I'm assuming the two wires are for). Any thoughts, suggestions? Thanks.

 

i solved this same exact issue and it wasnt the door sensors.

it was the contacts behind the 3 position switch that were corroded and thus not responding to any position. after reading the helms and playing with the maplight with my multimeter, i deduced that the switch had to be the problem, so then once i unscrewed it, i saw the contacts were kinda green (oxidized). not sure why. but once i cleaned it off, and pulled the springs out a bit for good measure, and put it back together, it all worked again.

the main thing that bugged me was that the cabin would not light up as i used the keyless entry or opened the doors. so it bothered me getting into a dark and unlit cabin. i thought it was my keyless entry module, so i took mine out and replaced iwth with a friends, and that didnt solve it. so it had to be somewhere with the wiring.

i hope this helps other ppl with the same problem.

btw, to take off the map light, you first pry off the diffuser lens (carefully), then you unscrew the two bolts holding the rest of the maplight plastic housing. DONT TRY to pry off the maplight plastic housing, its soft plastic and will deeply score your maplight housing. yes, i know by idiots experience. so take off the lens FIRST.

 

fixed it a few days ago. took apart sanded down the oxidation put it all back together with the springs and everything and it was good to go!

 

Two cases of oxidized contacts on the dome light switch? Sounds like this is one of those that needs to be archived in the reference section.

tysonCRX - congrats on finding the problem, that's probably one of the very last things I'd have figured would go wrong. I thought the last I'd see of oxidized contacts was when I got rid of my '68 VW Beetle with copper fuse holders and tin fuses. Let's hope Honda isn't using that same construction on any critical parts of the car.

 

the most troubling thing in troubleshooting was swapping out the keyless entry module. its worse than trying to swap a fuse as the bolt is way up there and youre on your back, halfway in on the rocker sill with pretty much no visibility. and then finding out that isnt the problem and having to repalce your friends you borrowed too....

 

I just noticed the same thing, I have a 2001 and I just picked it up last night, but I noticed the map lights don't work in any position, and its not the fuse. So first thing when I get home today I will try to clean everything out, hope it works, but it sounds like its the same problem

Thanks

 

I know this sounds very basic, but for the OP-- have you checked to make sure if the interior light swith is in the right position?

The positions are:
Off-all the time
Off-On when doors are open
ON-all the time

 

yea, i had the same problem oxidized connectors, cleaned it up, works flawlessly

 

Thanks for the help; I too can concur that this is a problem and the fix is to clean the contacts.

 

this problems just occurred on my 05. i will try this tomorrow.