99 tahoe interior dome light

I have just purchased a 99 tahoe 4dr 4x4 with 49000 miles on it. There seems to be a problem with the interior dome light coming on by itself ...? I have gotten out of the vehicle and watched the dome light go out...when I come back 20 or 30 minutes later, the light is on... I did not use the remote locking as I walked up to the vehicle, so I know it's not related to that. Has anyone else had this problem, or do I have a unique electric issue? Any ideas? I have already had one dead battery out of this. Purchased a new battery as I do not know how old the one that came with vehicle was.

Same problem here.


Originally posted by omaha99
I have just purchased a 99 tahoe 4dr 4x4 with 49000 miles on it. There seems to be a problem with the interior dome light coming on by itself ...? I have gotten out of the vehicle and watched the dome light go out...when I come back 20 or 30 minutes later, the light is on... I did not use the remote locking as I walked up to the vehicle, so I know it's not related to that. Has anyone else had this problem, or do I have a unique electric issue? Any ideas? I have already had one dead battery out of this. Purchased a new battery as I do not know how old the one that came with vehicle was.

Try pushing the button that is below your headlight switch. It disables the time-delay feature of your courtesy lights.

That is how mine is disabled.

But since my wife drives it, I would like her to be able to see into the car before she gets in. (safety issue)

I can appreciate your concern. I'm sure there's a timer relay involved somewhere. I have the full set of shop manuals for the '99 Tahoe, maybe I'll be able to find something about your problem. I can't promise you that I'll find it but I'll give it a shot. The set is composed of four, big city phone book sized, set of books.:banghead:

Don't think the timer has anything to do with the problem. The lights normally go out as supposed to, but the somewhere along the line, just come back on, later maybe go off again (if they feel like it), or they can stay on.

Originally posted by kaskillah
I can appreciate your concern. I'm sure there's a timer relay involved somewhere. I have the full set of shop manuals for the '99 Tahoe, maybe I'll be able to find something about your problem. I can't promise you that I'll find it but I'll give it a shot. The set is composed of four, big city phone book sized, set of books.:banghead:

Hmm...I don't think the books cover gremlins anywhere:dunno:
I'll keep looking anyway...:smile:

I'm glad I'm not the only one this is happening to...I was beginning to think I'm just jinxed where cars are concerned. Ditto to ronkh, I would like to have the lights come on when I open the door in the dark...but stay off otherwise. It ran the battery down twice before I happened to notice that the light was coming back on by itself !! I'd like to have some idea what is causing it before I take it to a mechanic. Thanks !!

I am having the same problem with a 2000 tahoe. The light goes on an off all by itself. I had it to the dealer and they ajdusted a door switch. 24 hours laterthe late came on went off etc. I've already had to jump-start the car once. anyone finds out what to do please let me know.

I also have the same problem with my '99 Tahoe! The dealer is stumped as to the problem. Nice isn't it!

If the problem occurs on Tahoes with cargo doors, there may be an intermittent short in the cargo door jamb switches (the black box with the spring loaded pins sticking out near the top of the right cargo door opening). Sometimes dust combined with the right amount of moisture will cause it to short out occasionally.

I have had two different servicemen both dealers check the car out and nothing was found. The comment about the moisture is interesting though the first tiime I noticed it was on a rainy night.

I have the same problem with my 99 Tahoe LT. It just started last night. Also my wife said she heard a slight clicking sound from the dash the same day the lights decided to stick on. I used the dome light over-ride switch to shut them off. I have had a problem with my upper "Dome" lights not coming on but the floor and door lights do. I checked the light socket and there is no power coming to it when there should be power. The fuses seem to check ok, is there a seperate relay that supply's the power to those lights? I'm trying to locate a good manual for the truck. If I can get an answer before I find a book that would be great.

I don't have the barn style doors, I have the "lift glass". I was thinking it could be that switch as well. The dealer replaced the switch and I still have the problem. I do notice though, it will act up more on rainy or humid days.

I have the GM shop manual for a Tahoe and I found the section that goes step by step for this lighting problem everyone in this thread are talking about. The problem is I don't have a scanner and there is too much complicated text to try to type in. I tried to take a digital photo but my hands are not steady enough to take a clear picture.
The things to check are:
shorts between the panel dimmer switch, the panel dimmer switch itself, the door jamb switches, the interior lamp control module, the keyless entry module, door lock control module. I hope this gives some ideas for all of you to check out. I will keep trying to take a photo of the two pages related to your problems. If I get a good clear photo I will post it for everyone to read.
GOOD LUCK!

Greatly appreciate the help Kaskillah!

Could you specify the chapter/page numbers you are looking at so I can relay that to my mechanic ? Thanks !!

1999 Book Volume 4 pages 8-140 and 8-141

Any sort of answers yet?

Here is page 1 for troubleshooting the interior lights from the GM shop manual.
GOOD LUCK!

http://www.geocities.com/kaskillah/page1.html

Here is page 2 for trouble shooting the interior lights.

GOOD LUCK!

http://www.geocities.com/kaskillah/page2.html

Nothing showed up in th elast 2 posts, could you try again please

I put links to the pages. I think they should work.

thank you

Does your Tahoe have cargo or tail gate doors. I had a 95 that had the tailgate / liftglass and my cargo light would go on an off by itself. I spent $60 for the headlight/interior light switch and didn't fix it. It turned out to be something really stupid. The back glass door was open. I guess I would hit the remote or kids hit the release button. It happend several times after that but I knew I just had to shut the glass door. Good luck!

HEY GUYS....I FOUND THE PROBLEM!!!!......MY WIFE WAS USING MY TAHOE WHILE I WAS OUT OF TOWN FOR A FEW DAYS, WELL LOW AND BEHOLD "SOMEHTHING BROKE" WHILE SHE WAS DRIVING IT (happens everytime she has it, but that's another story) WELL THE WIPERS STOPPED WORKING TOTALLY SO SHE RAN IT OVER TO MY BUDDY'S SHOP AND HE FOUND THAT THE CONTROL BOARD AT THE WIPER MOTOR HAD SHORTED OUT,(now mind you that i had a brief problem with the wippers stopping every once in while when they were in high speed for a long period, so i would turn them off and back on and they would work fine, this was about the same time i began to have the interior lighting issue) SO HE REPLACED IT AND THE WIPERS WORKED....NOW HERE'S THE GOOD PART, WHEN I RETURNED I HAD NOTICED THAT THE DOME LIGHT SWITCH WAS OUT IN THE "ON" POSITION AND THE LIGHTS WERE WORKING CORRECTLY, NOT BLINKING, NOT DOING THE "ON AND OFF" THING EVERYTIME YOU TOUCH SOMETHING. SO I STOPPED AT MY BUDDY'S SHOP TO ASK HIM WHAT HE DID AND HE SAID THAT ALL HE DID WAS REPLACE THE BOARD AT THE WIPER MOTOR....SO JUST TO EASE MY MIND I HAD HIM THROW THE OLD BOARD BACK IN AND GUESS WHAT THE LIGHT PROBLEM CAME BACK! SO HE SWAPPED OUT THE BOARD WITH THE NEW ONE AND ALL IS WELL AGAIN! SO I AM SURE THAT THE SHORT OR GROUNDING ISSUE WAS FROM THAT WIPER BOARD.......

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Originally Posted by DizzyZarr
Hey MoTo, I'm having the same issue with my '97 Tahoe, did replacing the switch work?
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GM puts so much electronics in their cars these days that simple common sense no longer works for trying to figure out what's wrong anymore. I'd hate to think if something more serious were to go wrong.
I can imagine someone saying,"Yeah, my headlights were giving me trouble and I had to replace the fuel injection system."

I just found a problem with my interior lights. We have been using the rear door more and the contacts are very dirty. Cleaned them and all works well now. We had a small coolant leak on the intake and the service tech at the dealership said we needed a new intake. $1200 dollars later leak gone! $300 to clean injectors not long ago. Now it needs a fuel pump in the tank and that is a bunch of money as well. I only have 60,000 miles on the vehicle.

I had a slight coolant leak on my Silverado's intake manifold. I would get some minor pooling at the top near the heads. Was that the kind of leakage you had BPS? All I did was snug the manifold bolts down a little and I never had a leak since.

Sounds like the same thing. We have to remember that dealer service tech's look for perminant solutions and assume that the car owner is a get in and drive type operator. I hated spendint the money but I am pleased with the result. Should have re-tourqed the manifold bolts first though!
JEB

Dealers also are known to pad a bill when nothing has really been done though I hope that's not in your case. I worked in a shop over 20 years ago and recall one time where I found the problem to some malfunctioning A/C outlets in a Caprice really quickly, something like 5 minutes. It was only a loose vacuum line. The manager told me to get back under the dash where I had found the problem earlier and make it look like I was busy for about 20 more minutes. It was so he could justify charging some diagnostic time.

I had the same problem on my 99 Tahoe. Check your door switches. I found a bad one on the passenger side front.

The dome override worked for me. Much thanks

My 99 tahoes dome light started acting up. Will not go off while driving. Goes off then comes back on. I dropped the ground off the battery last night to save the battery. Today tried to trouble shoot. No luck. Pulled the courtesy light fuse so could use the car. This site has been helpful. I have the lift window and drop tailgate. Dirt does get in there and causes a moister problem . That is where I will start tomorrow as snow rain and freezing temps.
Will give update. Mike