me and my wife are both good about disconnecting the battery when exiting the vehicle we have had this problem on this van for two years we normally use this van as a back up vehicle but other down vehicles made this one our primary vehicle

the battery has never been drained grom this problem becouse we keep the negative cable hand tight on the battery so you can pull it off when exiting the vehicle

after a while disconnecting the battery gets very annoying and thats how this adventure begun

 

i removed fuse 29 interior lights and yes it only effects interior lights removing fuse makes interior lights not function locks still work

 

if my dimmer has an off position we can not use it it isnt functional


im about to attempt to figure out how to remove the dimmer and try to unplug it

 

Good, now you can pull the fuse and leave the battery hooked up knowing you will have a drivable vehicle.



Before I cut into any wires and installed a switch I would follow the advice of bluewind and check the dimmer switch. I’m not big on cutting into wires but there comes a time in the life of a car that you just stop worrying about the small stuff.

 

so your saying pull fuse 29 and then wire up a switch right?


im trying to remove the dimmer dial but this is crazy the dashboard screws just spin and dont loosen ive tried the 2 at the bottom of the dash and the 2 on the dimmer dial all 4 screws just spin like their stripped but their not stripped
im working with 15 dollars worth of tools and cant get the dimmer to unscrew

i have a socket on the screw all 4 of them and they just spin forever their not tight but they wont come off

 

as long as i can turn off the lights on and off manually im happy this is a 500 dollar vehicle as long as it functions thats all that matters

 

man i dont believe this i cant get the screws off of the dimmer dial or the two screws on the bottom of the bezil holding the temp instraments basiccally the whole bezil comes off exposing the dimmer dial
the dimmer dial has 2 screws and the bezil has 2 screws

all 4 screws are the same kind of screws and all 4 spin but dont loosen

since i was unable to do the dimmer dial i wanted to move on and come back to that later we have been driving around for 2 days with a bungie cord holding the sliding door so i attempted to put latch assembly back on

i ran out off time but what where i am at is the door sensers are disconnected and latch assembly is put in

even though the latch assembley is in i am either not seeing something or i broke something driving around banging on the assembly becouse their is a rod that goes to the actuator with plastic fittings it looks broke and not hooked up

later im goin to look at the diagram bluewind posted and see if i can attatch that rod

door shuts but doesnt open again

-- reason is becouse that rod is not attatched to the actuator --(i think)

putting a wire to the dimmer switch or hooking up a toggle switch is the way i believe you both are instructing me to go on this
if i am understanding you both than yes that is going to be my goal

i have a busy week coming up so for now im leaving the sliding door alone and proceeding to figure out how to get the dimmer dial out so i can pull the harness or plug out off it and then go from their



THANK YOU BLUEWIND AND RICK FOR YOUR HELP

 

freekkc:
Why don't you go ahead and test your dimmer switch with a multimeter? It should tell you if there is an off position. If there is no working off position get a complete light switch panel from the junk yard for 10 buck or so. The switch you want to splice in is not going to do anything different than what the dimmer does in my van.

the key is this "o" at the bottom of the wheel. it means " off".

 

Pulling the fuse will make life a little easier for you and allow you to use the van without removing the battery at every stop. But repairing the problem is always better than bypassing it. If your dimmer switch can act as the shut off it is much less evasive (and cheaper) than installing a secondary switch that “could” cause problems later.

There are many here that can help you install a secondary shutoff switch but are awaiting the results of the dimmer tests suggested by bluewind. This “is” your “best” option at this point.

Looking forward to your reply, good luck.