electrical gremlin - interior lights always on

[cudajames]

I am getting sooo close to finishing the car - it has been 9 months

Under dash work done - installed aftermarket 3 gauge cluster - ran to the fuse box. Had to remove the cigar lighter - I left the wire - just zip tied it neatly out of the way. Cleaned up wires underneath. Changed out the panel bulbs. Also the steering wheel has been out of the car and moved around couple times
Started the car last Wednesday - no electrical problems - well amp gauge didn't work.
But during that fire up - I broke the water temp sensor- damn it - two wrenches to tighten.

Fast forward - I replaced the gauge cluster - 2 (oil,water) and removed the amp wire. Re-installed the cigar lighter. Adjusted the steering wheel - pulled forward 1/2" or so.

Now the interior lights (under dash and doom lights) are always on when the battery is connected. I checked wiring that nothing is touching and checked fuses - everything looks fine
(and of course - I verified the interiors are not turned on from the head lights (i wish))

Could it be the door sensor? I opened the pass side door for the first time post Wednesday. How do I check that?

I am out of ideas

 

[Garry in AZ]

The dome lights are normally turned on when the switches in the door jambs close and supply a ground to the circuit. I would check the door switches, it's likely one of them is bad and supplying a constant ground. It's also possible that one of the wires to the door switches is pinched somewhere and grounded out. Likely an easy fix. Best of luck with it.

 

[jos51700]

Pull fuses one at a time until they go out, so you at least know what circuit they're pulling from.
Pull all the fuses singly and they're still on? Try pulling all the fuses at once and see if they go out. If so, then you've crossed between circuits. If they stay on, then you've hardwired them somewhere.

 

[cudajames]

I think I found the problem - looks like I broke a ground (it is black - so ground) wire that was attached/grounded with the steering shaft retaining collar.

However I cannot find the rest of the wire - any ideas where the source would be?

 

[67Dart273]

That should not be the problem. I believe it's yellow leads to door switches, and the switch on the headlight "twist to dim" knob. if that yellow grounded anywhere the lights will be on. Also suspect a wrong or shorted bulb, that is, one end of the filament shorted to the shell.

The functional path is "full time battery power"----through the fuse---to one side of the lamp(s)..........out on the yellow--------to the various switches............to ground when "on"

 

[cudajames]

holy miss-direction barracuda man.

The broken cable - which looked cut was a wild goose chase - who knows how long that has been like that - I just know it has been there since I messed with the column. And will not be going back into the car

It was suggested it could be the door sensor - I pulled the passenger side - wire was broken - but appeared to have been broken a long time. So I traced that nice bright yellow wire - dash light and on to the block. Wait - the wire was tight against the inner lip - and got bolted down when I installed the new oil/water temp gauges. Fixed the wire - be gone gremlin

Now I have to put everything back together - but it will be easier because of success

thank you everyone who helped

 

[67Dart273]

outstanding !!