Interior lights turn off?

[apice]

I was driving my friends 89 mr2 tonight and something wierd started happening. His interior lights would turn off for a couple of seconds, and once I started messing with the lights, they would turn back on. Anyone know the cause of this? The headlights would stay on btw. I figured it MIGHT be a fuse - but then again I dont think they would turn off, and then back on if it was a fuse problem.

[328FTW]

If it is just the interior light I would say the contacts that hold the bulb have a little corrosion on them. The bulb is held between a couple of metal slides and tension just holds the bulb in place. Take the bulb out and clean the contacts.

If you mean all the interior lights like the dash and all I would say a bad join which could be an easy find easy fix or a nightmare.

[muffinman]

Could be a short some where.

[lsgheero]

when this happens again check to see if he has running lights, headlights are a seperate fuse the running is tied to the interior

[apice]

Well there is a knob that goes from off - to lights - to parking lights. The climate control went off also. IIRC the cd player turned off as well (it is a kenwood aftermarket).

[Timon]

^I had a similar problem after i installed my stereo. I ended up sparking the wires on accident, and blew a fuse. The interior likes didn't work, but the headlights did. What I didn't know is the running lights, and taillights weren't working at all - I drove like that to the parts store .

[apice]

Yeah I wish it was that simple, but my interior lights went off and then they came back on after I messed with the headlight control knob thingy (I just wiggled it. Not sure if that really made it come back on or not)

[Jackstand Queen]

Sounds like you need a new, or junkyard replacement light switch. Or as 328FTW pointed out, it could be the bulbs behind the instrument panel have some connection problem.

If you are the "real DYI type", you could find the corosion problem, or wear inside the light switch and fix it.

[Ignarius]

I have the same issue on my '86. If you pop that cover over the instrument panel off, you can see the wiring from the dimmer switch to the interior lights. If you wiggle this the lights will turn on/off dpending on how you hold them.

I'm not sure if the issue is the dimmer switch, or the wiring, becuase I dont have a good way to test. I have heard that some people will set up the interior lights on a sperate switch, though.... I don't know how you would do this as the practice of wiring is not my strong suit, but it's worth looking into. Usually I just smack the cluster gently.

[scottohno]

i have that problem on my 88. if you turn it to parking lights, then head lights, it works fine for me. then it goes off in a randomized amount of time, then turns back on wen i do it again. i think mines the switch, but im not sure. im actually looking to solve it myself and stumbled on you!

[Jackstand Queen]

scottoho:

I have seen the exact same problem you describe before on old domestic cars. In those there was a part in the lighting system called a "ballast". It was actually a transformer of some sort.

I am not aware that a first Gen Mr2 has a separate "ballast" component. The closest thing an old Mr2 has to a ballast is the light switch. Again, recommend you find a lightswitch at a junkyard, or see if toyota still sells them. I gotta admit, I'm the kind of guy who would disassemble the switch and see if I could fix it. I learned that from visits into Mexico. They try to fix the part, rather than the American approach of replace anything that even smells of failure.

[mr2tim]

Its the ground on the light switch, its internal in the switch body. Just another bad engineering mistake by Toyota engineers, like so many others in this car..

Dudes remember, these guys lost World War 2