Opening the glovebox last night in the driveway, the lamp didn't come on. I assumed the bulb had blown and went to change it today. I ended up chasing my tail as the new bulb didn't work. Checked the technical manual for instructions and removed the lamp assembly. Turns out it is a little more sophisticated then your usual glove box lamp as it is also wired into the alarm system. I checked the fuse, checked everything I could including taking the lamp assembly to my work bench, applying 12V and discovering the lamp works fine.
Went back to the car and for some reason turned the ignition on and discovered the lamp now works.
The owners manual states that the lamp will come on anytime the glovebox is opened with no mention of the ignition having to be on. All the other cars I own and have owned in the past, have the glovebox lamp working regardless of the key being in the ignition or not.
I just want clarification from others. Does your glovebox lamp work only with the igintion on? TIA

 

That's how mine work.

 

My glove box light only comes on with the key in the ignition.

 

Mine only works with the key on as well!

-Dan-

 

I'm sure tighed1 will come up with a mod like the “Me so Horny” mod.

 

Gotta have da key.

 

Ditto...and the same in my XLR.

 

That's the way the glove box light is designed to work It shares the same fuse with the cigar lighter socket. It's also dead until the key is used. Took me a while to figure it out too. Ran an ohm meter across the bulb which always showed good. Then tried the key "trick". Hooray!!!

 

Thanks everyone for clarifying.
Never gave it much thought before....IMHO all glove box lamps should come on regardless of key. Kinda like having power seats operable without a key.

 

Did anyone ever come up with a mod for this?

Because if no one did:
I just modded my car, my glove box light and cigar lighter (GPS/Phone/Camera charger) are now powered all the time.
Anyone interested in a write-up of how I did it? Took me 15 minutes and $11.55 at AutoZone.

Tools required:
Wire stripper (or pocket knife)
Something to grab a fuse and pull it out
Terminal Crimper tool

 

Ok, time to publish the mod.

First, go to AutoZone or Walmart and get ya two of these:


They look like this, but wont' have the fuses installed:


Now, take the two of them, strip the ends of the wires and, using a crimp connector and tool, splice them like this:


I know you can't read the fuse ratings, but using their colors, you'll know what fuses to put in there.
You will need only a 20 amp and a 15 amp fuse, the OTHER 15 amp and the 10 amp are already in your car and
you will install them in the following step.

Now, cut the one blade off from the one fuseholder - use diagonal cutters or whatever, but MAKE SURE YOU CUT THIS BLADE!

Now, go to the car and remove the cover from the fuse box on the driver's side. Remove fuses 16 and 31 and use them to populate
your home-built harness. Install the harness as below - the dual fusholder with one blade missing is installed on the left, in position 31.



YOU MUST POSITION THE HOLDERS WITH THE RED WIRES "UP" toward the center of the car.
YOU MUST CUT THE BLADE OFF OF THE ASSEMBLY ON THE LEFT as directed above.

The Yellow fuse holder and it's wires are not part of this mod - ignore it!

 

This is what you are doing:

The "right" hand holder with the red (10 amp) and blue (15 amp) fuse goes in position 31. In this case, the 10 amp fuse is powering that circuit normally, the 15 amp is feeding power from that circuit's battery feed to the red wire.

The OTHER assembly works like this:
The power comes in on the red lead from the other assembly, goes thru the blue (15 amp) fuse and turns around and goes thru the yellow (20 amp) fuse into your glove box light and cigar lighter. If you don't cut the blade off, power will backfeed into the car and power up stuff that should not be powered. Also, the 20 amp fuse is simply a "jumper wire", it protects nothing, you can use any fuse from 20 to 1,000 amps in the yellow (20 amp fuse)'s position and it won't matter - the 15 amp fuse is the protection for the cigar lighter / glove box light.




In no time, you will be charging your cell phone while at dinner (or, more importantly, your video camera batteries, as the Spring Dragon is coming up!) and leaving your glove box open overnight to guide you into the garage by it's faint light ..... (Yes, I've done that twice now...)

 

Nice work and write up. Does this keep the radio powered with the key off? I too lazy to cut it off every time I exit the car.

 

Thanks, Anthony - coming from you, that means a lot!
(And congrats on 1900 posts!)

But...
No. The radio is not affected - all that fuse 31 powers is the lighter and glove box light.

(See page 8W-10-12 of "The Book", if you care to!)

 

Next time I'm wrenching I'll likely install this mod. Thanks.

I'm getting ready to hit the couch and watch the game, so that's it for the day.

 

I'm down with a sore back... might take your advice....

 

go for it....I'm all ears