Interior lights do not come on when you open the doors

[ScCobra]

On my 2011 Infiniti M37x Interior lights do not come on when you open the doors. I have checked the door switches and all have continuity, and when you turn on them on with the overhead counsel button they work all except the front foot well lights. I have check all the fuses and all the bulbs they are all good. Any idea's?

 

[crrraaig]

Did you swap LED bulbs for any interior lights? This is a pretty common failure (shorting either BCM or wire harness - they are not fuse protected) and unfortunately a expensive fix.

I've seen another having this same failure mode recently on another M forum, Google should help you find it. Here is a bit of the advise given there:

Yep, if they'll turn on manually then the power side of the circuit is good but the ground leg connecting to the BCM either has a burnt wire/connector or the BCM itself has a blown transistor.

 

[ScCobra]

Did you swap LED bulbs for any interior lights? This is a pretty common failure (shorting either BCM or wire harness - they are not fuse protected) and unfortunately a expensive fix.

I've seen another having this same failure mode recently on another M forum, Google should help you find it. Here is a bit of the advise given there:

Yes I did exactly there but nowhere in the manual does it say you can’t use LED lights on the interior how silly is this. I was installing a small LED pad under the steering column foot well light at the time and after that they didn’t work I checked all the fuses and none of them were blown. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

 

[crrraaig]

Many would agree with you! I guess this is one of those un-expected situations that the design engineers never thought of - evidently they do not mod their cars.

Non-polarity LED's are available now; this may help but I haven't seen anyone who has tried these with the battery connected and posted to tell about it - would be nice to know for sure that using Non-Polarity LED's would eliminate this problem. I'm living with a burnt out overhead bulb that I'm paranoid about replacing, even with a regular bulb!

The other thing to absolutely avoid with these cars is the "Service Menu" or as tossed about on the 'net, the "Secret Diag Menu". Accessed using the Volume Dial. A bunch of people have WIPED the car's infotainment/climate control systems using this - it requires a full reprogramming by a Infiniti dealer.

I hope you can find a burnt ground, should be a pretty easy fix in that case.

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[AZ_G]

This is the first I've heard of LED's causing this problem. Is it mostly happening with the M or is this common to all Nissan/Infiniti's? I just changed over to LED's on my '07 G35 and '17 Qx80. I really like them and hope they won't be a problem.

 

[crrraaig]

Did you use "Non-Polarity" LED's, or have the battery disconnected when installing the regular LED's? This seems to happen when you insert regular LED's in the wrong way while the car (BCM) is energized - as explained by a Nissan tech in another forum, these are not just plain power circuits anymore, the BCM controls the lights.

Sounds like you made it without issue, congrats! Enjoy the modern lighting, I'm going back to whale oil lamps.

 

[AZ_G]

I'm think most of the bulbs were non-polarity as they worked without flipping them around with the exception of the vanity mirror bulbs on the Qx80. Those were a difficult size to find and I ordered them separately from the kit that was used for the rest of the vehicle.

I did not disconnect the battery. Didn't realize that was evenecessary! Maybe I got lucky or maybe it's the non-polarity like you said.

 

[BernardWilliamso]

This is a pretty common failure (shorting either BCM or wire harness - they are not fuse protected) and unfortunately a expensive fix.

On my 2011 Infiniti M37x Interior lights do not come on when you open the doors. I have checked the door switches and all have continuity, and when you turn on them on with the overhead counsel button they work all except the front foot well lights. I have check all the fuses and all the bulbs they are all good. Any idea's?

______________________________

 

[Todd96964u]

Yes I did exactly there but nowhere in the manual does it say you can’t use LED lights on the interior how silly is this. I was installing a small LED pad under the steering column foot well light at the time and after that they didn’t work I checked all the fuses and none of them were blown. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

I have the same problem. What do we do??

 

[BaileyPayne]

Is it mostly happening with the M or is this common to all Nissan/Infiniti's? I just changed over to LED's on my '07 G35 and '17 Qx80. I really like them and hope they won't be a problem.

On my 2011 Infiniti M37x Interior lights do not come on when you open the doors. I have checked the door switches and all have continuity, and when you turn on them on with the overhead counsel button they work all except the front foot well lights. I have check all the fuses and all the bulbs they are all good. Any idea's?