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Glove box light?

stucart

Well-known member
Joined
24 Apr 2013
Messages
570
Trying to change the glovebox bulb for an LED , what a PITA, got it out and LED in then putting the metal cover on with it still lit ( dozy I know) I have managed short it out! Assume I've blown a fuse but can't find out which controls it, no mention in little book in fuse box, interior lights still work by the way. Help!
 
Ive had a look at a wireing diagram and there doesn't appear to be a fuse responsable for it .. seems to be controled by VESA and rear cu,s .

Try checking fuse B6 .. other than that i tend to basically check all fuses in this situation as its posible its a cu fuse for the above or unlisted .. it does happen sometimes.

Diagram i have is only for 2006 though.
 
Swapped the glovebox light for one of the footwell lights and that doesn't light up either so definitely not the actual light, but the glove box one doesn't work in the footwell ?..
Now found a thread on Rennlist, someone has similar problem and even the dealer can't fathom it!
Also if I leave glovebox open and lock car it doesn't "beep" to tell me like it should I believe!
Wish I'd not bothered!
Any more suggestions?..
 
What's the VESA and CU 's by the way?.
 
Have you dropped the glove box?

The microswitch on rear right of it can get dislodged and not switch correctly. As the leds not working I'd have a look there if switching polarity doesn't work.
HTH
 
Car not beeping with glove box open means the car is not seing the switch .. but it may be a control unit fault .. ill look into it a bit more over the weekend and see if i can come up with anything .

Atm it seems to be x2 control units ( CU ) that do everything and a short may have damaged one .. but as i said i need to spend a bit of time on it to work out the system .

The rear and vesa are small PC,s basically that switch on functions that are assigned to them .. rear cu is mainly all your rear lights , spoiler etc .

When you press a switch on these cars .. say indicator right .. switch goes to steering column CU which sends a message on the CAN ( computer Network ) .. every CU in the car sees this message but things like the engine cu really dont care so ignore it , where as the front and rear CU which are responsable for the indicator will both see the message and turn on the right indicator.

Think of an office computer network .. it works the same way .. binary signals going round all PC,s in a loop .

A very boreing lesson ( which everyone fell asleep reading ) on how modern cars work lol .
 
I think that this is a common fault when fitting LEDs on 987/997s, there is a wierd resistor affair in the wiring to the switch if I remember correctly, it can pop if you short the lamp or fit the LED with reversed polarity, ask me how I know :sad:

You have to drop the glovebox to get at it I believe :nooo:
 
There is a resistor in the glove box light unit? But if put the footwell light in without the resistor that doesn't light either or visa versa, guess somethings blown! Tried a battery disconnect see if that did owt, no still the same!
 
Diagram for a 2006 glovebox light system.

It seems from this that the switch has an earth which when activated goes to the light and to the rear cu ( for alarm purposes ) , the feed for the light is from whats called here the network control unit , that sounds like gateway but it wont be .. i would assume this is the vehicle electric cu ( VESA )

You need to check with a meter if you are getting an earth from the switch and 12v at the light unit.

If your system is as above then it might need a fault code clearing from the control unit to work as the system is in safety mode .. its seen a short and so will shut down untill its been told everything is ok basically .

Unfortunatly this is the only diagram i have so cant be certain its the same for your car but i would assume it either is or will be close .

Right click on image and view .
 
Hmmm , thanks for that, it looks like its a dealer job next time its in for service i'm afraid!!
Anyone know any different??? :x
 
stucart said:
Hmmm , thanks for that, it looks like its a dealer job next time its in for service i'm afraid!!
Anyone know any different??? :x

I did exactly the same thing and it turned out to be the microswitch had gone when I swapped the bulbs out.

Glovebox will need to come out to change the microswitch. If you are not comfortable doing it, take it to a decent indy. Forgotten how much it cost as it was done when i gave it in for a service.
 
I also wondered if it was related to the boot light - something makes me think that you need both bulbs to be good to make the circuit.
Might be unreliable however!
 
The frunk and bonnet lights work as they should by the way still.
 
You can diagnose it to a degree if you use a volt meter , it needs an earth and a 12 volt to work , with a meter you can see which is not there .. post that or check diagram above to see whats most likely .

If you have never used a meter before then im happy to talk you through it .

It is still possible it just needs a fault code clearing to get it to work .. unfortunatly i cant prove this as the owner might get upset with me shorting out his glove box light to see the effects lol .
 
If you PM me your exact model and email address, I can try and get a screenshot of the wiring diagram from PIWIS.
 

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