First off, I'm not an electrical engineer so bear with me.

The bulb in the door quit working so I tried to replace it. It wasn't burned out. I checked the voltage and it's putting out 9.5V as compared to the other side which is putting out 14.5V. It makes sense to me that if the wire is grounding out somewhere that it would drain the whole load and not just 5V... How did I lose 5V off of that circuit?? Anyone have any ideas???

Thanks for your help

-D-

 

Shoot! I've exactly same problem as your.
let me know if you found the solution.

 

I have the same problem, I think that I just fried my wire, but I am too lazy to take the whole door apart. Let me know if you find an easier solution.

 

Both of our maximas had the same problem, now the bulb is dim everytime i open the door.
weeks later my windows wouldn't roll down, my security would go off and disable the car.

Solution to this take the door bulb out,(very simple but you'll have to lose the lighting). After taking the bulb out everything is working fine ever since.
wow, someone better find a better solution for this. i hate not having a light on one door.

 

If you've got manuals check out the section on the Body Control Module and the Local Control Units. Your door has a sensor that sends a signal to the BCM, the BCM then sends a signal back to the LCU (at each respective door) to turn on the step lamps. If only one door has a problem then I would suspect that the wiring may have a short or corrosion. It could aslo be the LCU itself. Good luck and I hope it's nothing major.

 

As the great Daniel B. Martin once said, "if it was left to me, I would just leave it as it is". Or something close to that. I got the same problem, I just left it as it is. Not really that important.

 

Nah~ I think this is very important to me!

 

I'm referencing the factory manual and I see that the step lamp gets power directly from the fuse block and only gets grounded through the LCU (the circuit board inside the window/ lock switch housing) at either the driver or passenger doors. SO if one light isn't working properly and the other one is you can assume something is wrong w/ the lcu of that door. The lcu is very important and is also used for a lot of factory security purposes. Diagnose this prob. or you may not have the security you think you do.

 

Toolrocks...

I appreciate your input on this, should I look at replacing the lcu or is a short more to blame??

 

Hey, I'm glad to help. I'm not real certain about your problem, but here's what I'd do. First remove the bulb from the bad door. Now at that socket I would measure for (+) 12v or similar. One wire should have power and the other should not. If you get a strong 12 or 14.4 volts then suspect it is your grounding. If you don't get good (+) signal then check the wiring at the connector behind the door panel. It's near the speaker but you have to remove the whole panel to get to it.
If you had good (+) voltage now it's time to test the ground. Set your meter to measure resitance (ohms) place one lead to the body ground and place the other lead to the side of the light socket that did NOT have the (+) voltage on it. Now look at your meter and the other doors light. When the other doors light comes on your meter should read a very small #, when the light is off it should indicate an open. If the resistance reading is higher then 3 ohms I would try disconnecting and reconnecting the wires at the window switch. If that still doesn't help then remove the door panel and try disconnecting and reconnecting the wires in there. A lot of moisture can corrode some of that stuff. IF the wiring 'fixes' don't do anything then I would suspect a bad lcu. Damn I hope I haven't lost you in this boring write up. Good luck - let me know what you find please. I may have my door apart this week so I'll tell you what measurments I get.

 

I checked most of that when I originally had the problem. I didn't check the resistance on the ground though.
I cut the connector off and checked voltage of the wire, just to make sure that the problem wasn't the connector. I got 9.5V off of the power. I checked it with the ground on the door and also on another ground on the car. Same 9.5V reading. The ground is probably ok.
I visually checked the connections behind the door panel earlier and they looked fine, I'll take the door panel off and disconect and reconect the harnesses back there, hopefully that will remove any oxidation on the connections and maybe fix the problem.

Again, thanks for your help and let me know if you think of anything else to check....

I'll post what I find.

 

Well, it sounds like the problem is with the (+) supply wire and not your lcu. Maybe you could pull the fuse that supplies the step lamps power and measure for a short from the lamp sockets positive wire to ground - I'm pretty sure it should be open. Maybe it's pinched somewhere or something. Good luck and that's about all I can think of. One other thing - measure your cars battery voltage when you do this. I'm sure you know that you'll get a higher volt reading when the car is running versus when it's parked and you're working on it.

 

Unfortunately I haven't had time to mess with this.

Has anyone else had this problem???

 

My bad side door has 6.9V reading and other good side has solid 11.9V reading. Should I remove the door panel and what?

 

Read the above posts between me and MadMax. Hopefully it's just corrosion or something. So I would remove the door panel and disconnect the harness near the speaker - check for corrosion and re-attach. Remeasure your voltage and if you still have a prob. start looking for a short on the line. Post if you have other questions but I hope this helps.

 

No! It¡¯s not corrosion related problem.
I kept my car in a climate-controlled garage ever since it was new and the car is in near perfect condition.
I even removed the door panel and checked the connection. No sign of corrosion.
It worked fine until I tried to 18W high powered bulb in there.
After I insert that thing it didn¡¯t and my light quite working when I insert the original 194 type. Tell me what¡¯s wrong people!

 

Are both doors lights out? IF so then it's a fuse. If it's only one then you probably cooked the lcu. Also, the fact that you park in a garage is great, but when you drive in rain moisture still gets inside the door.......
Back to your light - measure and see if you have (+) voltage at the socket. IF you do try grounding the other side and see if your light comes on. If it does your lcu is def. bad. if it doesn't then check that fuse or check the (+) wire for continuity back to the fuse panel. Good luck

 

no... my driver's side is not working while other side works perfectly!

 

All right - so it's not a fuse. Do you have (+) voltage at the lamp socket of the bad door? IF you do, then the problem is with the ground. Your step lamp gets its ground from the lcu (the circuit board inside the window switch controller) Measure for continuity between car ground and the ground socket of the lamp socket. It should exist when the other doors light is on - if it doesn't then your lcu is probably cooked or the wire is cut. (i doubt the wire is cut). It might only be cooked for the step lamp though. make sure your windows and locks still work from that location. Also, check and see if there is a wire grounded to your door. you may want to clean up the ground if its dirty. Hope your lcu is okay. That socket is meant for I think a 3 -5 watt bulb, not the big 18 watt one you put in. Out of curiousity - did the 18 watt light at all, even for a second?

 

Nah~ that 18W didn¡¯t even go in but when I tried to force in the problem occurred.
My bad side has 6.9V reading while other side has near perfect 11.9V voltage while car¡¯s not running.
Dang~ I don¡¯t know what the heck is wrong~ AH~~~~

 

Are you trying any of my recommendations? I wish you luck. If it is your lcu you may be able to find one at a junk yard??