Haunted dome light

[voolover]

Anybody out there have the fix for a dome light that comes on while accelerating or cornering? Stays out and works fine the rest of the time. Are there motion detectors involved. It's an '02 Pathy SE......thanks for any and all clues!!

[nissandoms47]

Probably a bad door switch.

[fueler]

Probably a bad door switch.

i concur.

[voolover]

Thanks for the clue. That narrows it down. I got out my Torqs bits and checked all the strikers,latches and door switches. Nothing was loose-loose. But all the latches needed about a turn and a quarter to snug em up.

Just went for a drive and.......the dome light stays off now! This was something (amoung others) that the dealer (Nissan) said they would fix before we took delivery last Nov. All was well for about a week and its been getting worse lately and the ext. warranty won't cover it.

Anywhoo, thanks again ...glad it wasn't something major!

[Pathy35SE]

I had forgotten we had the same problem a few years ago.

After futzing with the bulb and dome switch, I deduced the problem was the striker plunger on one of the door jambs. I figured the flex of the body during cornering was allowing the plunger to move ever so slightly and ground itself.

My solution was to add little bumpers to the areas where the doorjamb plungers hit the door, therefore making sure the plunger always stayed pushed in firmly while driving. It worked immediately!

So, while I see you probably fixed it already, keep in mind my little trick in case it acts up again (or to anyone that encounters this in the future.

Funny how certain models have common idiosyncracies and annoyances.

Still a great SUV.

[voolover]

Yeah, I tried that too with a piece of balled up tape just to see if that was it. But, no dice. If you open the back door you can see just how little the front door plunger moves to activate the light. Combine this with a slightly loose latch, striker or switch and you got a problem. This was one that the nissan dealer either couldn't or wouldn't fix. And these same people want to do a 60k service!? I'm afraid of what they WON'T do. But, that's another can o worms for another day.

Thanks for the input as it is the little things that drive us crazy....a short drive these days.