Those of you that I just met at the Greensboro NC meet probably remember the dome light being stuck on, and the car failing to activate the alarm.

As soon as Cow and I got back to my house, we started troubleshooting it.

First, we removed the door switches, no mechanical problems found,

I haven't taken the front access panels off, so that seemed an unlikely cause, so we tested the engine/trunk switch as best we could. It's bolted inside the engine well.

No mechanical problems found anywhere. So we get another bright idea. According to the manual, the alarm will activate after a longer beep letting you know that one of the switches is interrupted, and that switch will be bypassed in the alarm circuit.

So we arm the alarm, and then test the doors. Ear piercing screech. That's not the problem.

We arm it again, and we test the trunk. It beeps, but no alarm. Surely there's our culprit.

So we unbolt the switch, but unfortunately we are unable to remove it from the engine bay due to space constraints. We figure if we can disconnect one of the connectors, the alarm will function normally until we can get it to Lotus to take a look at it, and my domelight will turn off.

Hesitant to make that move, we decide it would be less risky to just remove the dome light bulb. So we start playing with it to remove the cover.....only to find out that while there is no switch that controls the light, the light itself is the switch. Apparently, it has 3 positions. Up, Center, and Down. In the center position, it looks perfectly normal, and center or up will turn the light on. Down turns it off.

So after riding around all day with the cabin light on, we turn it off and try the alarm again. It works flawlessly. Figured you guys would find that as amusing as we did.

I, of course, blame Cow for turning the dome light on while thrashing about trying to get in and out of the car

I would love to see pics of your Lotus.

Super Awesome car.

Thanks for posting.

Although the car IS hard to get in and out of, it is worth the effort.

The Lotus next to Emc209i's Fiero. I didn't think to get a pic of it surrounded by all the luxury cars (compared to this thing, a Fiero rides like a Cadillac, and is as spacious as an SUV).



When we got it back to Statesville, I finally convinced him that the top had to come off

[This message has been edited by CowsPatoot (edited 04-26-2009).]

quote Originally posted by Savet:

Sweet!
Thanx!

quote Originally posted by Savet: I, of course, blame Cow for turning the dome light on while thrashing about trying to get in and out of the car

Haha. That was very interesting to watch.

Glad you were able to inductively find the problem.