1st Gen Tacoma Map/Dome light Issue

When I open my door and my dome light is set to "DOOR" the light flickers ON/OFF. Whats the issue? Also is my MAP light suppose to turn on when the door is open? If not, is there a cheap way to make it do so?

 

My first step with anything like that is to just replace the bulb and see if that helps. After that make sure all the wires to the switch are tight and not coming loose

 

The dome light is a notorious poorly made design.
Pull the cover off the dome light fixture. Using a clean rag, remove the bulb. Do not touch the bulb with bare skin.
Clean the contacts with rubbing alcohol, and apply conductive grease of your choice to the terminals. Don't get any of the grease on the bulb.
I recommend ox-gard.

You can also polish the ends of the bulb terminals and the bulb fixture connections. But usually it's fairly temporary. Again, don't touch the bulbs.

 

Awesome, not even my thread but that's good info

 

did you use an LED light?

have you tried the "search" function?

 

The map lights don't come on when you open the door. Only the Dome light. There's not really a simple way to do it. Did you use LED bulbs??x2

 

Mines been cutting on and off for years. I used to bang it and make it all better for a while, but it's dead now. Just another thing to fix one of these days.

 

They are a terrible design,even the bulb. Mine has been off since the last time I took it apart,cleaned & reinstalled it for the hundreth time. A pill shaped bulb with pointed ends for contacts & no way to lock it in place...yeah that's a good design.LOL If the road does not knock it loose,the dust will end the contact...

 

I put a map light dome light combo from a limited 1998 in my 2003. I would look for one in the wreaking yard. Get all the wire you can with it. It has the two map light switches along with a door switch between them. Now I have tundra wiring, but you could fish power from the dome light. When I got my truck I was not happy with the lighting. Just the center light would come on. Now I have this when unlocking my doors and opening them.

 

am I the only one that keeps the light off all the time?

 

Yes

 

I find it annoying when the light comes on. Most of the time I'm not loading anything. Plus with the front window there is enough light I can see the seat to put things on.

I will use the light if I need to find something behind the seats or grab something but I usually turn it right back off

 

Only time I ever used mine was when she was with me. I would turn it on if needed,but a headlamp or flashlight is usually needed before I get to the truck. I like the dark nights....

 

never use it.

 

i know this is an old thread, but i like light & fixed my dome light today. it wasn't coming on with my other lights (map lights, red door lights, & mysterious blue dash light) when the doors were open, and only occasionally worked in the "ON" position. it was a super easy job, and is working great (for now). took all of 5 minutes. it seemed like my issue was the switch, so i took it apart sanded the contact with some 1000 grit to remove the oxidation, cleaned the contacts, added a very small amount of conductive grease, and reinstalled. careful when dissembling though. they use a tiny sprung ball bearing (for lack of a better name) as one of the contacts in the switch, and if you're not careful the ball bearing and spring will pop out....and they're reeeeeeally tiny.

 

dome light was working until I hit a nice size pothole. It won't work on door now. I am hoping what you did will fix mine.

 

I don't know if this is relevant on here, but to anyone having the issues of the lights not working after taking off your headliner, or just taking off the dome/map lights, the screws and the body need to be flush to the metal of the chasis/cabin because the metal grounds each unit.

The rear dome light/door light has a thin blade fuse between each screw, and it may be grounded since I see a second wire but I think that's just for a door ajar wire indicator. The map light in the front only has one wire and no ground so it must have metal to metal contact for the assembly to ground and work.

I'm doing a sound deadening job and just took the headliner off a second time because they weren't working and realized I needed to cut the foam/dyaliner off in that area for flush contact.

Hope this helps someone.

 

My little metal ball inside of switch was rusty and not working.
I used fine sandpaper and got all the rust off and now it works.

 

Does anyone have the part number for the dome light lens cover? Smacked it a little too hard trying to get it to turn on...

 

LED?