New Owner here with a few ? Interior light, door lock problems?

[FenderBender]

Hi guys, Looking for some insight on a few of my problems. Yes I did a search but not very good at it and have not had much time on here lately.

My '99 VX came with a sweet remote start in it with no remote's and no factory remote's. Not sure if this is part of my problems? I kinda doubt it. The remote start is no longer connected to the battery but is still in the dash. It only say's Deluxe remote starter on it? Yeah sweet high quality unit.

Anyways The interior light seems to come on when it wants to and I almost always turn it off manually. PO said it kept burning the bulbs out so he just stopped putting them in? I did to as I do not trust it.

Power locks do not work. PO pulled the fuse said they would freak out, lock and unlock randomly while driving it. So his fix was to pull the fuse. I would like to get them working again. I tried putting a fuse in and they did nothing?

I have not had time to dig into these problems yet. So looking for some input.
Thanks, Mike

[circmand]

Welcome to the club. Not sure what your issue may be but I would suggest disconnecting th ebattery for half an hour and see if anything resets.

[Triathlete]

For your door lock issues check the plug for the door switches. They may have come loose, gotten wet somehow or be shorting out. From there it will be wire chasing looking for worn wires shorting out...look where the wires pass through or near objects that might rub.

[Paul_A]

All the wiring for the door locks is under the kick panel (In the u.k. it's drivers side) not sure which side in the U.S. there's a connector there which might be causing the problem or a couple of the wires might have chafed.

[FenderBender]

Thanks guys, I will check it out when I get a chance to.

[tom4bren]

Since both the dome light and the door locks seem to have similar random issues, I'd start with tracing the remote starter wiring and remove it if possible. It may be the culpret.

or

It could just be a bad ground on the remote starter. Ground issues can cause all sort of freaky symptoms.

[FenderBender]

I did not think about the ground issue. Both wires are cut for the remote start from the battery. I do want to remove it asap. I will be careful when I remove it. I know about the nightmares from removing some of the old school alarm systems. My buddy still has a Porsche 944 sitting because he removed the alarm and was not careful with the wiring.

[jasonm621]

Get rid of the remote start all together. Not saying this is gonna solve your problem but there has been several problems in consumer service reports cause by remote start kits. Ive heard more bad than good come out of them.
To diagnose your problem i would assume its a loose wire that may have been hacked from your previous owner making more useless tweaks to the car. download the service and repair manual which has very useful wiring schematics to help diagnose and pinpoint those nightmare electrical problems...
Hope it gets figured out i feel your frustration!!

[FenderBender]

Yep The remote start is coming out. That is on the list of things to do. I already downloaded the manual. I will post if I get it figured out. I leave at 4:30am some days so a dome light would be nice. Tinted windows and black interior make it pretty dark. When I picked the VX up I drove 1 1/2 hours home in the dark. I was not use to any of the controls and the light for the heat system was burnt out. That was interesting.....I replaced the heat control bulb when I did the stereo.

Thanks for all the tips guys...

[PK]

Yep The remote start is coming out. That is on the list of things to do. I already downloaded the manual. I will post if I get it figured out. I leave at 4:30am some days so a dome light would be nice. Tinted windows and black interior make it pretty dark. When I picked the VX up I drove 1 1/2 hours home in the dark. I was not use to any of the controls and the light for the heat system was burnt out. That was interesting.....I replaced the heat control bulb when I did the stereo.

Thanks for all the tips guys...

You do know that there are 2 x map lights in the interior mirror??

Should help you out in the dark.

PK

[FenderBender]

You do know that there are 2 x map lights in the interior mirror??

Should help you out in the dark.

PK

yep found them, but not as nice as a light coming on when you open the door. Yet better than nothing.

Thanks PK

[FenderBender]

I got out in the garage today and pulled the AutoCommand Deluxe Remote start module. Good thing they spent the $$$ on the "Deluxe" model..LOL
They did a good job installing it. None of the factory wires were cut. All were spliced and soldered. Since I was not going to unsolder them I cut them flush and taped them up. Had to pull lower dash, metal piece and lower a/c vent. Not a big deal. Put it all back together, installed door lock fuse and it worked!!!

Next put bulb back in dome light and it work's great. No funky stuff going on at all. 3 sec. and off it goes.

This is freaking great that it was such an easy fix.

Thanks for all the help.