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You may want to try pushing the door light button by the rearview mirror. I've noticed sometimes if it's off on some vehicles their courtesy light features don't turn on
Also, check and see if there is a small spring-loaded pin on the door-jamb somewhere that pops in and out of a hole as the door opens and closes on it. That's supposed to trigger an on/off switch for the courtesy-light in the door. If corrosion has gotten in there, or for any reason that pin is stuck or not working freely, that could impact whether the courtesy light works.
I have these courtesy lights at the bottom of my doors, but they never come on. I’ve scoured the manual and setup, no love.
Any help on this?
tia!
Ah dang….those lights are my favourite. I have them in my two 4Rs and they made a car feel so classy. Mmm. I don’t think there is a way to turn them off…are they all out? There is a little black rubber nubby on the door jam that acts as the actuator. Some Toyota’s turn all of the lights on when one door opens while some Toyota’s only turn on the door that is opened. Good luck…I hope this info helps
Thanks, I found the switch, I was looking in the hinge side jam. The footwell lights do come on, as does the dome. And if I hold the switch in by hand, those lights dim, and go off after the 15 seconds, which is what I have it set at.
I find it very strange that it’s both doors, could there be a separate fuse for just the puddle lights?
Even if I can’t get it fixed, your knowledge, and time is most appreciated.
The wire that supplies power to the front passenger door courtesy light also feeds power to the front footwell lights. So it's strange the footwells are working, but not the passenger courtesy light.
The drivers door courtesy light has it's own wire to supply power...so it is strange that both courtesy lights aren't working.
Both lights are controlled by the Main Body ECU...so when you open the doors, the switch trips, and the Body ECU Grounds both lights, which turns them on...as the lights always have constant power.
Since you removed both lights to change the bulbs already you would have noticed that each has a two wire connector.
On both connectors the light blue wire is the Power, and the other wire is the Ground.
On the drivers door courtesy switch the Ground wire is Violet...on the front passenger it's Green.
If you had a multimeter you can check for Power and Ground at the connectors with the doors open.
All the lights mentioned so far are powered by the Dome fuse...which appears to be fine since most of the lights are working.
Does the car have any aftermarket electrical accessories? Like illuminated Sill plates.
If I was hooking up illuminated Sill plates, the wires for the door courtesy lights would be the ideal connection...inside the kickpanel.
If you do check the connectors with a multimeter, I would check it as follows:
Driver's side: Red lead on the Light Blue wire and Black lead on the Violet wire...with the door open it should be 12V (or whatever the Battery voltage is of the car..12.something)
Passenger side: Red lead on the Light Blue wire and Black lead on the Green wire...with the door open it should be 12V (or whatever the Battery voltage is of the car..12.something)
If you get 12v at either connector, that means the issue is the light assembly (socket or bulb) for that door.
If you don't get 12v on either connector, leave the Red lead connected to the Light Blue wire and move the Black lead to the B-pillar door striker...the striker is a good Ground point.
If you still don't have 12v then the issue is the lights aren't getting Power...which means a wiring issue.
If you do get 12v, then the issue is either the wire from the light to the Body ECU, or the Body ECU itself.
I would highly doubt it's the Body ECU...which leaves you with a wiring problem.
The other two possibilities is that it's the sockets for the bulbs, or that the bulbs you put in also happen to be bad.
Wow, as always, great info Sasnuke! I do have a meter, and I will check the wiring, and use your guidance to “prove” what is really happening. In the meantime, no aftermarket lights at all. Got it from an elderly lady, who was the first owner.
I got 12v+, and the ground toggled with the switch. So I checked continuity across the filaments, both open, bad bulbs!
so I’m going share what this dumb *** prolly did…I have bulb/fuse drawers in the garage, grabbed the last 2 194s, so I must have changed out the bulbs on another vehicle at some point, then cleaning up, but the bad bulbs in the drawer, lol!
think I’ll run up to the Zone, and pick up some LEDs since I’m now out of 194s.
Sasnuke, thank you so much for your help! Your a huge asset to this forum!
Both bulbs blown at the same time... lol.. never happened to me before. Before you go grab those led bulbs, maybe you wanna check out those door projection lights.
Well, I don’t know if they blew at the same time, but they never worked since I had the car. Seems a tungsten bulb would not be a good application in a door that slams. Dunno.
those are cool, but the links are bad. I’ll take a look around, thanks.
08-31-21, 12:25 PM
Courtesy lights not working
