Pontiac Repair: 1996 Bonneville interior lights, interior lamps, ssei

Question
QUESTION: All of a sudden the interior lights don't shut off except after about 10 minutes with the key off. They used to dim and shut off after the car was started, now on all the time. Every door still turns the lights on when opened, so door switches apparently ok. There must be one element that dimmed and shut them off, I think now that element is shorted so the lights stay on. Any ideas?

ANSWER: Hey Dennis:

well it could be any number of things. If this is a SSE or SSEI bonneville you could have a handle switch bad in one of the doors it's called illuminated entry. when you lift the outside door andles the lights come on before the door is actaullt opened. you siad the lights time out after 10 minutes. after they time out when you open one of the doors they come back on. but do not turn off? does it do the same thing with every door? how about when the lights are stuck on if you turn the igmition key to run do the light turn off? if theydo youmore than likely have an interior lamp module going bad. If they stay on you could still have a lamp module bad but more than likely it's a door switch bad or wiring to one of the switches bad shorte to Ground "the body" of the car or each other. Hope that helps some. Good luck!



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the quick response. It's an SSEI and after your comments I noticed that when lifted, none of the door handles activate the illuminated entry now, but they used to before this problem. I think that's a clue. But both front door switches bad?? To answer your 2nd question - if the key is off the lights go out after about 10 min. Then if any door is opened the lights go on. But while the key is on and the car is running, the interior lights never go out, stay on as long as the key is on. Another clue - according to the owner's manual, locking the doors will turn off the interior lamps right away but now this doesn't happen - lights stay on. Could it be the interior lamp module? Where is it located? Thanks for your help with this.

Answer
Well Dennis. If they do not go out when you have the doors closed and the key on it's one of 2 things. either the map module is bad which it's located under the glove box next to the right hand fuse block It's a big plastic box with 2 or 3 plugs in it. or you have a switch that has gone bad in one of the door telling the module the door is still open. Without a service manual with a wiring diagram it's hard for you to see the way that it's wired. what you can do is take the door trim off both front doors and unplug the electrical connector on the door latch assembly and see which one turns the light off when it's unplugged. a nother possibility is that one of the door switch wires is shorted to ground. Last possibility is the dome lamp switch on the head lamp switch that could be stuck on but that would be way down the totem pole as to possibilities. These job kinnda suck to try to diagnose yourself.. Good luck. P.S. why not a good Survey In my first answer to you I mentions something to you you didn't even notice yourself until I mentioned it. This is a FREE service to you and I do it strictly on a volunteer basis so I would expect nothing but a good score in the future to my self or anyone else that takes the time to answer your question on this site.