My dome light circuit has a short in it, and I am wondering if any of you folks have
encountered this problem to assist me with some efficient troubleshooting paths.

If I brake hard - or if I am braking on bumpy ground - the dome light will flicker on and off
as the car bounces and rolls. If someone is riding in the passenger seat and some part of
their body pushes against the door skin or armrest - the dome light will come on as long as
there is pressure against the panel of the door.

Of course, this isn't a disabling problem but it is annoying - particularly when I am driving
at night. I also have a concern about draining the battery due to this freaky problem.
Orrr, worse, could this wiring issue lead to a fire? At this point in time, I have disabled
the dome light by turning the switch off.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Open up the passenger door and try unplugging the switch on the door frame. If the problem goes away the you know that switch was bad. If not then we can rule that out and move on.

 

Haha, that's crazy! I'd probably just get annoyed and take the bulb out.

 

I have the same problem, although my dome light does not turn on when the doors are open. You have to turn it on manually. Going to check out the wiring manual and see the problem. I'll let you know if I find any solution.

 

It does sound like a passenger door switch problem, the switch should only have one wire for power and the switch itself is its own ground, when the door opens, it will touch itself and complete the circuit to complete power through the bulb to ground.

Yes, disconnecting the wire should stop the problems when you go over bumps or when someone leans on the door.

 

Thanks for the input... I will have some time tomorrow to check out the door switch and
see if pulling it makes the problem go away. It has been so annoying putting up with this
goofy @$$ problem. I will post again and let you folks know how it goes.

 

Move the door latch hook inwards about 2mm.

 

Those switches can go bad. My 92 Accord was bad in the drivers door. Didn't act as yours did, but it would work sometimes and not others. This is particularly bad as the headlight warning chime as well as the dome is tied to the drivers door switch.

What I found was that by opening the door and manipulating the switch it would sometimes work fine, sometimes not at all, and sometimes the dome would be on at like half strength.

Luckily (at least on my model), all four switches on the doors are interchangeable. So I swapped my driver's switch for the passenger switch and cleaned up the problem (at least to a door I care less about).

In either event, the switches are around $10 or so if you choose to fix it right rather than dump the problem on a door you don't care about.