323 courtesy light problem

[Remspoor]

Hi everyone, I got a question about the '93 Mazda 323 I bought a few months ago: the courtesy light seldom comes on, what could cause this?

It's not a big problem, but since the parking lots at home & work are pretty dark, it can be an annoying problem. The bulb is fine since it does work intermittendly. The fuses are fine too. Should I just take the car to the dealer (I'm kind of a car-noob when it comes to maintenance, except for the obvious stuff), or is this something I can fix myself?

 

[erikvonb]

make sure the spring loaded switch on the door frame doesn't have any dirt or sludge on it. the same thing used to happen to me with my '93 protege. play with the switch to make sure it works ok. I just cleaned mine out with a toothpick and it worked fine after that. hopefully that's all it is for you.

the dealer will charge you up the a$$ to fix something like that.

-Erik

 

[Remspoor]

Thanks, I haven't had the chance to clean the spring, but if I push the switch a couple of times the light switches on. So it does look like the switch is the problem.

Now, where's that d@mn toothpick...