[Gorganzolia]

I have a 93 camry with a sunroof i been fixing up for my niece and the dome light does not come on automatically with any door open. I have tried the dimmer switch it works on the dash but no click or anything so that not it. The dome light on the roof has 3 buttons one to open the sunroof and close and one to tilt the sun roof and one that seem to just be on/off for the dome light. That is the only way i have found to get the dome light to turn on. I cant find a owners manual online or anything to direct me to a switch for the auto ability. I have heard the clock and the ring around the key was on the same fuse and the light does turn on manually but other then that nothing. I am at a loose on this one anyone have any ideas?

 

[DFBonnett]

Might be the door switch ground. Try loosening and retightening the bolt under the rubber cover. Sometimes it's the switch itself. I finally had to replace both fronts on my '94.

 

[Gorganzolia]

maybe but i still dont understand where the auto switch for the dome light is located

 

[DFBonnett]

Is the dome light switch for the sunroof model a three-position slider?

 

[Gorganzolia]

not that i have found there are 3 button but no slider

 

[Gorganzolia]

 

[Gorganzolia]

that look like the one i have no slider and the light is just a on/off button

 

[DFBonnett]

Seems like the switch for the sunroof model is different from mine. Press the switch into the OFF position and try the loosening and retightening on both front door switches. Basically, all the door switch does is complete the ground for the light.

 

[norm356]

Two key things to confirm, and based on the results you'll know what to do next:

1) are you getting +12V at the light? Remove the housing assembly from the roof and unplug it. With a volt meter confirm that there is a constant +12V at the "on" wire and when the door courtesy switch is extended out that the "door" wire gets +12V. From looking at the lamp and its 3 position switch you should be able to determine which wire is which.

2) If those two check out, and the vehicle IS supplying power to both positions, then I bet the ground for the sunroof has been lost. This used to be an issue on Toyotas with sunroofs, sometimes. At some point a dedicated ground wire was added to the dome light harness (maybe at Gen5, I forget). To fix it, you want to pull the edge of the headliner enough to access one of the sunroof mounting bolts, and loosen and tighten it until the ground is restored enough for the dome light to work again.

3) If 1) does not show +12V at the "door" wire, then I'd suspect the courtesy switch in the B pillar, like DF Bonnett suggested in his 1st post, they get corrosion and don't make contact to ground as they should do. Sometimes jiggling it can get it to work, periodically. A new switch would restore operation, but access to the wire harness connector requires removal of several pieces of trim (later generations moved this wire harness connector closer, so it could be replaced more easily. Some have found that disassembly and cleaning was enough to restore the courtesy switch operation at the B Pillar.

 

[BMR]

Might be the door switch ground. Try loosening and retightening the bolt under the rubber cover. Sometimes it's the switch itself. I finally had to replace both fronts on my '94.

View attachment 292265

Seems like the switch for the sunroof model is different from mine. Press the switch into the OFF position and try the loosening and retightening on both front door switches. Basically, all the door switch does is complete the ground for the light.

That pic appears to show a simple on/off switch for the dome light. Some cars have a 3-position, on/off/switched, with the "switched" position allowing the door switch to operate the light.

With that said, I thing Bonnett is on the right track. But I think the grounding at the driver's door switch is OK, as the light wouldn't work at all if it wasn't. And you said it works with the switch near the sunroof controls. So, try douching out the door switch with WD40, or contact cleaner of your choice. They get full of dust and crud after 20+ years, and this usually revives them.

Also, as a test, see if the light operates when any of the doors are opened. If not, it's more likely some other problem, and not the door switches.

 

[Gorganzolia]

it raining today so i cant do much but to answer your question about the doors open does it come on, as i stated earlier in the post i have tested all doors none of them make the lights come on. The light switch seems to be only on or off i have never gotten the light to come on any other way then the on off switch

 

[DFBonnett]

BOTH switches on my '94 were flaky even after hosing them out with contact cleaner. The driver's door switch finally failed completely. The rear doors have no switches. I replaced the passenger's side as well as the driver's side because they came as a pair on Ebay. Just try improving the grounds. 10mm socket and 5 minutes.

 

[Gorganzolia]

i will try to clean it when i can i cant find them in pairs but the best place is on amazon like $16 each i was hoping i just missed the auto switch some place

 

[DFBonnett]

Got mine here. Working fine. No connector on the end so you have to cut and splice the wiring, but then you don't have to pull interior moldings.
2PCS Car Auto Vehicle Interior Door Light Lamp Switch Push Button high quality | eBay

 

[Gorganzolia]

well i thank but i dont want to wait a month i gona try to clean them first but thanks for the link i saw this video i am going to try that first

 

[BMR]

Yeah, try cleaning the switch first, before you buy new ones. That has worked well on both by Camry and Avalon. I think I had to re-clean one switch. But it worked a charm for the others.

 

[norm356]

Note: WD-40 is not a cleaner, it leaves behind a waxy residue (its job is to prevent water condensing on the surface of things), which can muck up electric parts and key cylinders. Preference would be to use something designed to clean electrical contacts, or maybe brake cleaner (as it leaves behind no residue).

 

[BMR]

^That's true. Although I had good results. I reckon a bit of residue was better than the mountain of black crud I flushed out. It was nasty.

 

[Gorganzolia]

i plan to use some Vaseline like he did and i have a bench grinder with a wire brush wheel i will shine that metal and add the Vaseline like he did i used some on my alternator plug to make my dash panel work on a different car (even thought i changed the entire gauge before i figure this out lol ) it works well if you don't have the proper gel. I just hope that will fix the issue i have no doubt they are dirty as old as it is. I have just never seen a car lacking having a auto dome light switch in a car before, I was hoping one of you all might know of where said switch might be located but i guess since it is a model with a sunroof some reason that changes things some what. But if the rain will let off i will try this fix and let you guys know if that helps or not. Thanks for all the advice.