2002 X-Type all interior lamps stay on at all times. Key on or off, engine running or not running. The only way I can get this to stop is to pull the fuse. Also have tried replacing the relay because it felt really hot, thought maybe it was faulty. That did not fix it. Any ideas?

 

OK don't be offended, ready, Have you checked the Interior Light "dimmer switch". That is the one that makes them bright and dim. It may be bad or just left in the "On" position.

 

Actually I didn't check that but it makes sense and I do feel retarded for not checking that. Thanks for the reply.

 

Another thing I thought of and have actually see fail on other vehicles is the "open door switch". Look for the small push button inside the door front jambs. If it seems operational remove the kick panels, those are the interior panels on the Left and Right of the car near the front of the doors and see if you can acces the wire to the switches. Disconnect them and see what happens. Keep in mind that they operate independant of each other so you will need to disconnect them both. Usually these are mechanical switches that are, if you have a volt meter, normally "OPEN", ohms setting to ground will show OL or extremely high, with doors closed and "closed" with the door open, ohms reading to ground will be very low.

 

So I checked the interior light dimmer switch today and it was not on. I unplugged it and the headlamp switch just to see and no change. On door switch theory, wouldn't the instrument cluster indicate that one of the doors is open? Or does the system maybe not work like that. I am not sure.

 

are all the lights on? or just the dome? or the map lights? or foot wells?

 

All of the lights are on. Front and rear dome and footwell lights are all on. It acts like a door is open but without any warning from instrument cluster.

 

weird... I must say I have never heard of that. I would have to say it is one of two things. First, I would thing something with the door switch is broke. Maybe the bolt that holds it on is missing so the switch sits back into the frame. But you said no indicator lights are on the dash... so I would say the CPU is messed up. Have to tried to pull any codes yet? Go to auto zone (or any auto parts store) and they will read the codes for free. Might have to have the dealer flash your CPU. Maybe one of the techs on here have seen this before and will be along to help. keep us posted.

 

Euro, all of these lights have a common switch that controls them. What you will need to do is to unplug the connector from the Generic Electronic Control module (GEM module). Then access any one of the lights. You will then do a ground check between the black wire and the chassis of the car. If you are getting anything less than 20 ohms, then in one of the lights, you have the black wire in contact with the chassis. If you are getting over 20 ohms, then you have a problem with the GEM module.

If you have a problem with one of the lights, I would ask if you recently changed a light bulb in one of them. That would be your likely suspect. If you haven't changed any of the light bulbs, then you will end up having to access all of the light fixtures, disconnecting the black wire from all of the lights and doing a ground check of the black wire. If you are getting over 20 ohms, then your problem lies in the wiring itself and it has had the insulation worn off somewhere and is now in contact with the body. If the wiring if fine, reconnect the lights one at a time until the problem re-appears. That light fixture is your problem.

 

Thermo, just curious as to whether you have seen this problem happen before on these before. I was kind of leaning towards the GEM from the beginning but wanted to get some input first. As for the steps you gave I will give that a shot. Will a wrong light bulb type create this problem? In the top part of your post you said if over 20ohms then a short to ground exists then in the bottom of the post you said under 20ohms is a short to ground. Just wondering which is actually the case. I have tried unplugging them one at a time to see if any one of them is the cause. No dice. Almost forgot. Does the boot light tie into any of this or a hood latch or anything?

 

Euro, I have seen past problems with the contacts in a given light touching the body of the car. Normally this happens in the dome lights. When the manufacturer mounts the terminals on the back of the dome light, if you push them too far into the holder, the screws that hold the wires in place can contact the body, giving you a ground or blowing the fuse (depending on which side touches the body). You could possibly get this problem from installing a new bulb, but it would be highly unlikely.


As for the trunk/boot light, that is on a different circuit as I recall.

 

I see that does make good sense about the grounding. I will keep you guys posted.

 

Solution: My problem was indeed a GEM. Got a new one and had programmed today. Thanks for everyones help.