No dome or map lights
 

We recently bought a used 2007 HHR for our son to drive. However we have recently realized the dome and map lights do not work. They will not turn on no matter how we adjust the switch on the dome light or on the dashboard or push the buttons on the rear view mirror. There is no voltage on the wire at the dome light or the mirror. My husband has checked the fuses and verified the bulbs all work.

Any ideas on other things to check before taking it to the dealer? Any way to check if the problem is in the BCM?

Thanks!

Does this vehicle have an aftermarket audio system installed? If it does they could have either cut or damaged the wiring harness during the install.

the radio looks like the factory radio, but there is evidence that there may have been add-on sound equipment. There's a little knob mounted under the driver's dash that looks like the volume adjustment for a subwoofer or amplifier. The only wire I can feel on it is a black cable that is tucked into the floor carpet over by the driver's door.

Aha, well that may be the culprit if someone in the past tried to tap into the dome light circuit looking for a "hot wire", it'll be a royal pain in the butt...but you might try to follow that bodged cable to where it ends up.

While I was out this afternoon, hubby removed that dial and the cable. The cable was not connected to anything -- just tucked under the carpet and laying in the channel.

We are also trying to figure out if there is supposed to be a little LED light at the bottom of the center stack lighting up the little tray in front of the gear shift and window buttons. The window buttons are not illuminated. We can't figure out if there is nothing there, or if it's there and doesn't work. Everything else on the center stack and dash seems to light as expected.

ETA: Finally read about the LED spotlight thing. What a lame idea. Anyways - it's not lighting up either. So basically no lights in the roof.

Yeah, there's no lights behind the window buttons or in the "coin tray" it comes from up above.....

Well, we found the problem thanks to a post on this forum on how to remove the headliner. Back in the rear driver's side pillar there is a wiring harness that is disconnected. It's mate is down behind the side panel bundled with the wires to the tail lights. There's about a 6-inch gap between the plugs. Right now, they will only connect if the upper harness is un-snapped from the pillar and goes across the rear side window. Hubby connected them that way and all the lights work! However, that is obviously not going to be a long-term solution. So now he is out looking for the parts to lengthen the wiring and drop the roof harness further down to reach the lower piece.

I don't even want to hypothesize how it came to be this way. Obviously some half-baked repair where someone didn't care about the interior lights working.

Just one of the joys of a used car, you just never know what the last owner was thinking. Glad you found the problem.:thumb:

We are super glad we didn't get it in to the dealer for that to find something so stupid. Seems to work fine now. One of the reading lights on the rear dome isn't working, but hubby thinks the switch is a bit sloppy and isn't going to lose sleep over it.

ETA: Correction -- hubby fixed the dome reading light too. So all is good in interior lighting land!!!

@HHRMom_0791, I am glad that you were able to get to the cause of the lights not working on your son's 2007 Chevrolet HHR. The members of this forum are awesome for assisting us with our questions.

Michelle, Chevrolet Customer Service