77 Seville door lock illumination

[mechanic80]

It seems that the exterior door lock illumination is powered by a single bulb and fed by optical fiber, right?  When my interior lamps were not working (bad fuse) I would hear a buzzing near the rear of the left fender, maybe even under the hood, when depressing the driver's outside button.  Having replaced "body" fuse, the interior lamps  work but I no longer hear that buzz.  Was that the illumination relay?  I can't read the wiring diagram because of it's small size (CD)  Will I find a bad bulb near there?  I'll be pondering that tomorrow.  Any leads would be appreciated.
mechanic80

[TJ Hopland]

Not sure about 77 but 80 it was a fiber optic off the courtesy light in the door.   The only thing I remember having its own bulb was the outside thermometer, it was a bulb under the dash.   

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Yes the door prisms were illuminated by a fiber optic cable from the interior door courtesy/warning lamp assy.

Depressing door button activates the relay/timer and the its location is where you hear the noise so it's a safe bet the illumination relay was the source of buzzing. If everything is working normally, I wouldn't worry about it.

[mechanic80]

But now, here's the rub:  After leaving the doors open for an extended period while firming up the dash vents, the following gremlins surfaced:  The kick panel lamps stay on. Period.  The interior lamps (all door courtesy, dome and trunk as well as vanity mirror lamp) will not light, and the fuse blows now when it was fine earlier and for some reason the electric locks are inop.  A separate circuit, I know, yet the horn and power seats function.  It should be irrelevant that I also had just replaced a front parking bulb.  This is a head-scratcher: Partial failure of one circuit (door locks) and complete failure of another.  Oh; I cannot hear the click of the timer for "body" lamps shut off either. I'm guessing all part of that circuit.    HELP!

[mechanic80]

I just found the 1990 thread on the 77 Seville with identical electrical problems.  I couldn't ask for more help than what's already there.  It will certainly be a project, but it has to be done. Thanks, all.

[Gene Beaird]

As these cars age, and get treated differently as time passes, such electrical gremlins will indeed arise.  I was recently out in my shop starting and running several of our cars in 'hibernation'.  The Seville fired right up, but after starting, I noticed that the HVAC is still not functioning properly (and no, I haven't changed the climate control programmer electrical connector), and one of the front parking lights don't light.  I sighed and thought 'I just can't keep the lights all lit.' 

One of the first things I did after purchasing our Seville was rebuild the front headlight buckets and replacing several burned bulbs.  Additional 'adjusting' is no doubt needed.  So I feel your pain. 

Can you share the link to that 1990 post?  Thanks.

[mechanic80]

My first efforts were the same: bulbs, fuses and the headlamp housing.  The post was 2009, not 1990.  My bad.  To access it, in the search box, enter '77 Seville electrical problem and it'll pop up.  I used to be pretty good at auto electric issues having cut my teeth on Lucas systems from the 50's and 60's but those now seem elementary in comparison.  I'll be waiting 'till it's warmer to tackle the gremlins (7300' up in New Mexico, its COLD!)  First I have to print the body wiring service diagram in sections and tape it together so it's large enough to read.  On my MAC, that seems to be a project in itself.  Wish me luck.  I just keep thinking "if only I hadn't left the doors open for so long" but the same issue would have come up in the future, I guess.  On the upside, I do know where to start looking!

[Gene Beaird]

heh, throw the file on a USB drive and take it to a printer.  They usually have large-format printers you can squirt that thing out of.  it's a lot nicer to fold up that big single sheet of paper than have all those pieces of tape stick things together you don't want stuck together.