I'm having one of those dreaded car electrical issues on my 2008 EX-L and am hoping someone can help.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that the driver's front map light was not coming on when any of the doors were opened. At first, I didn't think much of it because I just figured the bulb was out. However, when I thought to push the light to manually turn it on, it actually came on like normal. When the passenger-side front map light started doing the same thing (not turning on when the doors opened), I decided to tear things apart to try to figure this out. Using a voltmeter, I tested the sole power source for both front map lights at it's end connector (over the rear view mirror) - it was outputting 6V with the doors open/master interior light switch off, 12V if I turned the master interior light switch on (all lights on in the vehicle which simulates the individual map light being manually turned on). This is what I would expect since manually turning on the light normally gives you a brighter light. After putting everything back together, the passenger-side map light would come on with the doors open and when you manually turned it on. However, after about a week, nothing works on the passenger side now (with doors or manual) and only the manual light will work on the driver's side.
Is this some kind of short near the lights themselves or could this problem be "upstream" somewhere at the origination of the wiring harness near the fuse box/in the dash/wherever it goes (even though I seem to be measuring good voltages)? The only other thing I can think of is the little switches that turn the map lights on are somehow jacked up, but it doesn't make sense to me why both would be affected simultaneously.
Thanks for the help ... gotta love electrical problems.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that the driver's front map light was not coming on when any of the doors were opened. At first, I didn't think much of it because I just figured the bulb was out. However, when I thought to push the light to manually turn it on, it actually came on like normal. When the passenger-side front map light started doing the same thing (not turning on when the doors opened), I decided to tear things apart to try to figure this out. Using a voltmeter, I tested the sole power source for both front map lights at it's end connector (over the rear view mirror) - it was outputting 6V with the doors open/master interior light switch off, 12V if I turned the master interior light switch on (all lights on in the vehicle which simulates the individual map light being manually turned on). This is what I would expect since manually turning on the light normally gives you a brighter light. After putting everything back together, the passenger-side map light would come on with the doors open and when you manually turned it on. However, after about a week, nothing works on the passenger side now (with doors or manual) and only the manual light will work on the driver's side.
Is this some kind of short near the lights themselves or could this problem be "upstream" somewhere at the origination of the wiring harness near the fuse box/in the dash/wherever it goes (even though I seem to be measuring good voltages)? The only other thing I can think of is the little switches that turn the map lights on are somehow jacked up, but it doesn't make sense to me why both would be affected simultaneously.
Thanks for the help ... gotta love electrical problems.
