Rear Courtsey Lights and power remote for sideview mirrors not working

1260 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by AlexGS, Oct 2, 2007

Aquino(FR)

Discussion Starter · Sep 28, 2007

Hello,

I noticed that the rear courtsey lights do not turn on when the door opens. The front ones work. I pushed the button on the rear lights and it still did not work. The power remote for the sideview mirrors dont work either. I checked the relays and the fuses underneath the steering wheel and everything seems intact. Am I missing something? This is for a 91 164S

Thanks

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AlexGS

· #2 · Sep 29, 2007

Aquino(FR) said:
Hello,

I noticed that the rear courtsey lights do not turn on when the door opens. The front ones work. I pushed the button on the rear lights and it still did not work. The power remote for the sideview mirrors dont work either. I checked the relays and the fuses underneath the steering wheel and everything seems intact. Am I missing something? This is for a 91 164S

Thanks

Do the rear swivelling reading lights work? I suspect not, since these are turned on by the button(s) that you mentioned. It would be unusual to have all four bulbs blown (the two 'door' lights + the two reading lights). But maybe they have just failed one-by-one over the years. Perhaps check for voltage at the light fittings.

What about the buttons on the rear view mirror console - they let you turn on the rear 'door' lights separately from the front lights - any effect? I think sunroof-equipped cars are missing those buttons.

Somewhere in the system (under the glovebox, from memory) there will be a large (long) white 'relay', which is a delayed switch-off device for the interior lights. This would be my next suspect, as it may have a separate set of contacts for the rear lights.

The bottom-left fuse in the fuse box ('Services') powers the interior lights, I believe. Of course you would expect the front lights not to work when you remove the fuse.

The electric mirror failure is most likely to be the directional switch, in my experience - probably requires de-oxidising and some Vaseline or similar.

-Alex

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ChazzyD

· #3 · Sep 29, 2007

Sometimes, just exercising (just using the switch) the left and right selector switch and the directional control say a million times will cause mine to start working again and then it stays working if you use it a few times at least every few months. The contacts get corroded in that mirror switch for some reason. You can remove it, take it apart and spray contact cleaner in to clean it out and then repack it with dielectric grease to refurb it, if you don't want to go to all that trouble, just keep exercising the switch 'til it works. That switch has tiny parts in it and just doesn't like being left alone too long.

Charles

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Aquino(FR)

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 29, 2007

AlexGS said:
Do the rear swivelling reading lights work? I suspect not, since these are turned on by the button(s) that you mentioned. It would be unusual to have all four bulbs blown (the two 'door' lights + the two reading lights). But maybe they have just failed one-by-one over the years. Perhaps check for voltage at the light fittings.

What about the buttons on the rear view mirror console - they let you turn on the rear 'door' lights separately from the front lights - any effect? I think sunroof-equipped cars are missing those buttons.

Somewhere in the system (under the glovebox, from memory) there will be a large (long) white 'relay', which is a delayed switch-off device for the interior lights. This would be my next suspect, as it may have a separate set of contacts for the rear lights.

The bottom-left fuse in the fuse box ('Services') powers the interior lights, I believe. Of course you would expect the front lights not to work when you remove the fuse.

The electric mirror failure is most likely to be the directional switch, in my experience - probably requires de-oxidising and some Vaseline or similar.

-Alex

I tried turning on the rear swivelling reading lights and they did not turn on. Everything was working up until recently. I will inspect the "service" relay like you mentioned. I did remember removing the service relay a few days ago and the front interior lights went out and when placing the relay back in just the front ones went on. I tried pushing the button on the overhead console as well and no response. I will check the long white relay like you mentioned. I thought for some reason the electric mirror and rear lights were inter connected some how since both of them went out at the same time.

Thanks for the input everyone and I will inspect these items today and let you know the results.

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AlexGS

· #5 · Sep 30, 2007

Just to clarify: it was the 'Services' fuse, not relay.

If you have removed the long white delay relay and noticed on replacement that only front lights go on, I think that is your problem. Perhaps you can 'borrow' a relay from a specialist for a quick test. Or take the cover off and look for broken wires, 'dry' solder joints etc.

My electric mirrors are also not working in the up/down direction, so I need to get around to that switch re-furb as described by ChazzyD. I bought a 'Corrosion Buster' pen filled with white glassfibres, which I think will be ideal for the job - it polishes-up metal surfaces in confined areas. I had the same problem with my previous 164 as well, and fixed it easily - though, the switch components are tiny so you have to work on white paper etc.

-Alex

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Aquino(FR)

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 1, 2007

AlexGS said:
Just to clarify: it was the 'Services' fuse, not relay.

If you have removed the long white delay relay and noticed on replacement that only front lights go on, I think that is your problem. Perhaps you can 'borrow' a relay from a specialist for a quick test. Or take the cover off and look for broken wires, 'dry' solder joints etc.

My electric mirrors are also not working in the up/down direction, so I need to get around to that switch re-furb as described by ChazzyD. I bought a 'Corrosion Buster' pen filled with white glassfibres, which I think will be ideal for the job - it polishes-up metal surfaces in confined areas. I had the same problem with my previous 164 as well, and fixed it easily - though, the switch components are tiny so you have to work on white paper etc.

-Alex

I did remove the long white delay relay and yes your right, only the front lights go on. So, does that mean the part of the relay has gone bad? I will check however if the wires are intact and then get another relay. I did go as far as to check the bulbs for the rear lights and they seemed fine. My electric mirrors do not work in any direction. I was going to check and make sure if power was getting to them by using a 10 volt meter. If there is power going to them then I know for sure the switch has gone faulty. Thanks for the input. Ill let you know what happens.

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AlexGS

· #7 · Oct 2, 2007 (Edited)

Aquino(FR) said:
My electric mirrors do not work in any direction. I was going to check and make sure if power was getting to them by using a 10 volt meter. If there is power going to them then I know for sure the switch has gone faulty. Thanks for the input. Ill let you know what happens.

Unless there is something horribly wrong with your electrics, a 10 volt meter should not suffice. Mine is a healthy 12.3V with the engine not running, and 14.4V with the engine running

As it turns out, I noticed yesterday that my electric mirrors also did not work in any direction. So I removed the switch (either pry it out of trim piece, or remove screw behind driver's door release handle and slide trim piece forward to remove), took it apart, and cleaned it. Perfect result. I suspect it may be quicker to clean the switch than it is to remove mirror and check for power. Just thought I'd let you know

-Alex

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