Interior light wiring

[Austin1999]

The interior light has never worked on my samurai, all wiring at the light end is connected up however when i use a multimeter it shows no output meaning that the wiring is broken, any ideas where the wires run so i can try and find the problem? Wiring diagrams dont actually show where the wires are in the car
Thanks

[ScottieJ]

It runs down the B pillar and along inside the sill coming out above the speakers IIrc its passenger side. if you pop out the seatbelt mechanism then there is a connector up inside that section of the body. if your SJ has ever had work on the sills there's a chance the wire has been cut through accidentally.

[Austin1999]

Thanks very much, i done as you said today and found that the wires had corroded and broken. I rewired the section along the sill and now have 12v to the interior light. Next problem is that it only works when the drivers door is open. The wiring for the passenger door switch is missing. Any idea where to join the door switch to? And the interior light doesnt work manually, it only works when the drivers door is open. Im not sure why it wont work manually

[ScottieJ]

It should be switched earth, so check that there is an earth connection from the light to the body when it's switched at the light.

Passenger door switch should just be connected to the earth wire from the light.

IIRC this is ( I haven't had an interior light in my main SJ for the last 13 years ) There are wiring diagrams in the stickies of this section.

[Austin1999]

I still couldnt get it to work manually so i ran a wire from the negitive terminal of the battery to the manual part of the interior light and it still didnt work. I am not sure what to do next, yet it works when the door is open.

[ScottieJ]

You must have been earthing to the wrong part of the switch, so the white wire going into the light should be the 12v+ feed, then the other wire runs to the door switches that earth to the body when the doors are opened.

When you switch the light on manually it should just earth it straight to the body, I think it does it through one of the mounting screws but I’ll have to look at one tomorrow to verify.

[Austin1999]

Thanks for your help, i finally fixed it earlier, turns out at the top of the pillar the wiring had been bodged meaning that the wires were the wrong way round. Swapped them around and now the light works fine