Well I decided to pull apart the dash on my 87' today and get ready for an SR-5 dash swap, and I thought I would tackle this problem also. The courtesy switch on the drivers side door has never worked (which means my interior light doesn't turn on), but the passenger side one has always worked. So I got out my test light and found out that the driver side switch isn't getting any power. What could it be? A break in the wire? I traced it as far as I could into the harness but I can't go any farther without tearing into the harness. Is there some simple way to bypass the harness altogether and run a wire directly to a power source?

 

same with mine, is the button still intact?

 

All the switch in the door does is complete the ground when you open the door allowing the light to come on, remove the switch and clean it and make sure the wire that plugs into the switch is not corroded and is plugged in tight.

 

Yes it is but I went ahead and replaced it anyway with a used one

It was plugged in tight, but the wire that feeds it doesn't have any power. I just need to know if there is an easy way to get power to the switch without tearing into the harness

 

Well now that I really thought about it, I have no choice but to tear into the harness to fix it

 

Does your dome light come on manually by its own switch?

 

Yes it does

 

Then your dome light is getting 12v. Your problem is in the ground. My 86 has 2 wires that come down the DS A pilar from the dome light to the left kick panel. You can access them through the LF speaker grill. If you remove the grill and speaker you should find a black and a B/W wire. The black is ground and should ground out when you open the door. My DS door switch didn't work until I cleaned it with some penetrating oil and played with it.

 

Thanks, but I don't think that it's the ground. The switch isn't getting any power, which I believe is the problem, seeing as the passenger side switch has power and works but not the driver side

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zE49FFD0b0

Fixed!