Help with Ford E450 dome lights

[Snachlas]

We have a 2020 Redhawk 24B. Like many of you, we have the Ford E450 cab. Ours is a 2019 Ford 10 cylinder. As of late, our two dome light / reading lights, one over each door have stopped functioning. They do not automatically come on when I open the door to the camp. They do not operate by pushing a little black button at the base of the lamp. It also appears that the clear lamp lenses seem to be spring loaded as they push in and come out.

I’ve also use the dimmer wheel that lightens our darkens the instrument panel and I’ve turned it all the way up until it clicks and the dome lights still do not come on. If anybody has had such an experience or can give me some information on these lights I’ll appreciate it. Since neither one works, perhaps I need to check a fuse. Thank you

[wmurphy]

Do the lights work when you open the doors? On our new unit, one bulb was burnt out. Check the bubs, use a test light or meter to check for voltage. The owners manual should show you which fuse powers the dome lights.

[bucko]

I'd go for the fuse first. If it were just one dome light not working, I'd say it was the door handle switch; yes, Ford no longer uses a push switch at the door jamb anymore. Instead, they installed these switches on the door handle, and you have to remove the inside door panel trim to get at them. My 2007 Ford F-150 had one go bad.

In your case though, since both the driver and passenger dome lights are out, I'd locate the fuse first.

[TWP723]

The interior lights ultimately travel through the BCM (body control module). There's switches on the latches. The switches receive a signal from the BCM on independent circuits. When the door is closed, the switch is closed...routing the signal to ground. When the door is open, so is the switch.

Something is up with the BCM.

[TWP723]

...also

Body installers are known for adding inline fuses/relays.

[Scoutmaster253]

Check the fuse.

Occam's razor: (paraphrased) "the simplest explanation is usually the best one."

[jyh818]

I have the same issue. Not sure which fuse it is. I didn't think if the bulbs may be blown...although both going out at the same time is unlikely, but could happen. I will test the resistance on the bulb.

[Snachlas]

Thank you to all who replied to the problem I’m having with my courtesy lights in my Ford E450 cab. Again, I can’t get the lights to come on either when I open the door, use the buttons on the lights themselves or move the dimmer dial on the dash all the way to the click position which should turn on the courtesy lights. I suspect it may be the fuse, which I have identified with the Ford manual. I’ll try that. It may also be the controller as was suggested.

On these particular courtesy lights, there is one on a little black panel above each of the two doors. There is a round black button next to the light, and the light itself, which is about an inch or so in diameter, appears to be spring-loaded like other reading lights I’ve seen. It’s possible that when everything is working correctly, the little black button, which is about the size of a penny, may enable or disable the entire light. With the door open and even the key in the ignition set to auxiliary, I’ve tried every combination of button presses on the light.

It seems to me that the passenger light started misbehaving before the driver light. At the time, the passenger light may have simply been disabled .I’m replacing fuse #9, which is in the passenger compartment near the parking brake. I’m guessing those two lamps are what the Ford manual calls “courtesy lights“. I’ll check it out and then if I need to I’ll take it over to Ford. Since many of you probably have an E450 cab, I’ll report back here when I find out. Thanks

[RPR]

Are the lights on a timed relay? If the door is left open it will turn the dome lights off after a set time. Keep from running the battery down. This relay May be bad.

[Snachlas]

Hi RPR and thanks for the quick reply. We haven’t had the unit but a couple of weeks and I really haven’t noticed if the lights are on a delay like our F1 50 or my jeep grand Cherokee. However, and I don’t know if the relay you speak of could be related to this, we can’t turn the lights on right now by any method. That includes turning up the dimmer dial for the dash where the courtesy lights are supposed to come on at the end.As I said before, the courtesy lights don’t come on when I open the door and they don’t respond to the buttons on the lights themselves.

[ghonsaker]

Originally Posted by Snachlas

Hi RPR and thanks for the quick reply. We haven’t had the unit but a couple of weeks and I really haven’t noticed if the lights are on a delay like our F1 50 or my jeep grand Cherokee. However, and I don’t know if the relay you speak of could be related to this, we can’t turn the lights on right now by any method. That includes turning up the dimmer dial for the dash where the courtesy lights are supposed to come on at the end.As I said before, the courtesy lights don’t come on when I open the door and they don’t respond to the buttons on the lights themselves.

Did you resolve this I am having the same issue

[Kent Kennedy]

i had the same issue in my 2017 30x the bulbs were bad. I replaced them with a red LED bulb so there is little or no glare at night when using underway.

[Mwade]

I am having the same problem. Did you ever fix your problem?

[Camper_bob]

The OEM bulbs seem to be the problem. That's what happened to me. One was out for a LONG time, and then when the other died I replaced them with LEDs. That's been many years ago, and they're still working just fine.

[Mwade]

Exactly, both my bulbs were burned out, who would have thought. I removed the light assembly, and disassembled it right down to the bulb. I then put it all back together. On the passenger side I used a small flat screwdriver, inserted it on the edge of 5he clear lens, it popped right out. After I installed the new bulb I replaced the lens (note the lens has 3 tabs on 5he outer edge that align with the light housing), push the lens in, and I had to give it a little twist so it would stay in position.