It's supposed to do that

 

So you're telling me that my interior light is supposed to go off 2 secs after I open my doors, and stay off until I close them again?

It didn't do it until a few days ago and not one car I've been into ever did it.

 

It's called Italian courtesy.

In the absence of a daylight detector built into the car, it assumes it's dark outside (infact, if you're in a carpark it probably would be).

As you get in the car the light allows you to get yourself settled and place any bits & pieces where you want them.

Likewise, when you get out the light allows you to pick up any stuff you might need from inside the car to take with you.

If you need the light for longer you just press the button to make it stay on until you've finished what you're doing.

 

I don't think you've fully understood, or I have failed to explain what is the issue here.

I have owned this car for 4 years and I do know what is a courtesy light, car never did this before until a few days ago.

To further clarify, I have uploaded a video to youtube so you all can see how it looks and what it is doing. (I have edited the first post with video link) You can hear the door open and close.

 

OK. I had to go and check.

The way mine works is to come on when I unlock the door, even before it is opened. It then stays on for quite a while. After a minute waiting I got bored, and put the key in the ignition. When I turned it MAR the light faded off.

I then removed the key, light stayed off til I opened the door. Stayed on while the door was open. When I closed the door, it stayed on for about 20secs before fading out. This was not consistent with when I first got in the car, so I did the door open & close again, and got the same result.

It seems there is some subtle logic happening here, that makes the car psychic. The light seemed like it would stay on indefinitely when I first unlocked the car and got in, and that is probably deliberate - first to remind the driver that it's now unlocked, and also to allow plenty of time for fiddling with whatever needs fiddling with. Once you have turned the ignition on, it changes to a shorter 'on' period when you open and close doors - until the vehicle is locked.

I have no idea at all how this is achieved, but it's clearly not a dumb light unit and I now think it's a CAN node. So a combination of ECU and or body module. Which is a pity (for me) as I was hoping I could take a permanent 12v feed from a supply line, for a dashcam, from it. I've not pulled the light unit out, but I doubt it will be that simple.

So your problem is possibly a faulty body computer, or wiring, or more likely, the thing has just had a spell of Alfaheimers and got confused. This tends to happen a lot if the battery gets rather flat (my alarm and central locking go a bit bonkers - interior light may too, I haven't noticed). It may well get its marbles back once it sees a few more volts. Or it may be that disconnecting the earth from the battery for 20mins will reset it.

 

PS: I just had a look on eBay. Scores of s/h interior lights for around £10/ea. Definitely a CAN node, as they have the 3-wire connection (and a complicated nature). So if your battery is OK and a reset doesn't make it behave, I'd try substituting a different roof light unit.

 

Thanks halftone, I tried the reset, but doesn't work. Battery is OK, as I didn't notice any issues with starting or anything similar. Also the rear seats roof light works just fine, so it must be the front unit itself.

I'm gonna see if some of the local junkyards have it, if not, I will order from ebay and after replacing it I will post an update here.

 

I just checked mine (GT, 2008):

Unlock car using remote fob...courtesy lights (front & back) fade up to full brightness. After a few seconds they both go out. I open the door to get in and they come on again. They stay on until I close the door, whereupon they turn off.

When the key is removed from the ignition, the lights come on. They fade out again after a few seconds. When you open the door to exit, they come on again for the duration of the door being open. (Of course, in normal use you'd be leaving the car before the light had gone out after removing the key). They turn off when door closes.

So the logic of the lights appears to be that the car knows when you're about to enter or leave the car, and turns on the courtesy lights for a set time (about 8s). Opening the door to enter or leave the car also turns on the lights for the duration of the door being open (which normally overlaps with initial unlocking of the car or ignition key removal).

 

Yep, mine used to behave like that too..

I found two of these units near me, one is 7.5€ and other is 10€. I'm gonna try and get one to try it out during the weekend. Will post what the results are.

Thanks everyone for reading and trying to help!

 

If you get the blinking odometer after replacing, could need a proxy alignment ....

 

Is it not possible to set the delay interval using AlfaDiag or similar tool? On many other cars one can have the timed delay set by the dealer (as in set using their proprietory tool)

I'd actually like mine set for a longer delay.

 

Is it not possible to set the delay interval using AlfaDiag or similar tool? .....

Nope.

 

Hello everyone.

Just came home from the guy that sells used alfa parts.

He was happy enough to give 3 of these units to me to test out and all of them behave just the same as my unit.

This leads me to believe that the relay or computer that is controlling the front interior lighting is not working properly.

My next question would be:
What controls the interior lighting and where is it placed?

 

...
My next question would be:
What controls the interior lighting and where is it placed?

It's controlled by the bodycomputer, via the CAN.
Bodycomputer is mounted on the flipside of the fuse panel.....

This controls almost all electrical equipment via the CAN, such as light, wipers, windows, climate control, locks, burglar alarm etc.

Bodycomputer is specific to your car, and new one is specified/ordered according to serial number of your specific car, so not a simple swap.

 

Hmmm.... I suspect that's an expensive fix then...

I'm gonna try and disassemble fuse box and the body computer and clean everything with contact spray.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on what might be causing this and how to solve it?

 

see also here:
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-andamp-gt/1058602-alfa-gt-climate-control-panel-stopped-working.html#post15791818

I believe a new BC costs approx 400 euro's .....
I'd be surprised though if the only thing wrong would be the delay on the interior light in the case of a defective BC. I'd suspect something else, though I don't know ofhand what

 

Just finished with disconnecting the virtual cd changer and with cleaning the fuse box and BC using contact spray.

None gave any results.

Any other suggestions?

 

You could perhaps try removing and cleaning the door open switches themselves. Corrosion in the contacts or sticky action might confuse the CAN. If they work, unlikely really. But I wonder if they route via the driver's door switch unit, which is somewhat notorious for corrosion on the GT thanks to frameless windows allowing water ingress. The switch is a CAN node, and corrosion usually stops windows opening or closing, or central locking issues. Whether interior lighting is also vulnerable I don't know.

{EDIT NB this is all worthless speculation, but you might find out more via searching older threads}. Personally I'd always suspect the body computer last. Far more likely connected stuff is malfunctioning than the electronic module itself.

 

had a look in elearn, could also depend on battery voltage. See description of workings :

The lighting for the two courtesy lights is timed on the basis of a logic managed by the Body Computer.

when one of the front doors is opened, the courtesy lights are timed to stay on for 3 minutes;
if, whilst opening one door, another is opened, the counting of the three minutes starts again from zero;
if a door remains open for longer than three minutes, the courtesy lights go out and remain off until one of the doors is next opened;
If, during this period of 3 minutes, all the doors are closed again, a second period of 7 seconds is activated and is interrupted if the ignition key is turned on.
when the doors are opened using the remote control, the courtesy lights come on for 10 seconds; the timing is interrupted if the ignition key is turned ON;
when the remote control is used to lock the doors, the courtesy lights go off.
The switching off and on should be gradual (dimmer) with a cycle lasting 2 seconds.

When the ignition key is turned OFF, the Body Computer checks that the key has actually been removed (no transponder): in these circumstances it switches the front and rear courtesy lights on as described previously.

The courtesy lights are also on (without the dimmer) if the inertia switch is operated (the information is sent via the instrument panel CAN).

The function is activated with the ignition key in the ON position and remains on for a maximum of 15 minutes.

The Body Computer continuously acquires the 'battery voltage' signal and compares it with a limit: if the battery voltage level measured is below this limit, it intervenes through the CAN sending a signal to disable a series of loads: these include the two front and rear courtesy lights; the function is activated with the ignition key in the OFF position.

If the Body Computer detects that one of the doors or the boot has been left open and the vehicle speed exceeds around 3 Km/h, a buzzer is sounded.

 

these include the two front and rear courtesy lights;

Hmm.. I doubt this as the rear light is working just fine :/

Bu I will take a look though and try putting in battery from my father's Astra and see how it goes. Will take a look at the door switches. I am also trying to get a car electrician to take a look and see if he can figure it out.

Thanks a lot for your replies guys. I am really grateful. If you remember anything feel free to post. Will report back in a few days.

 

.....
Bu I will take a look though and try putting in battery from my father's Astra and see how it goes. ......

You could also simply take a multimeter and measure the battery voltage

 

Measured the battery voltage.

First measurment showed 12.4V while the second showed 12.5V

This should be borderline OK?

If battery is dying and that is causing the lighting problems, shouldnt it work fine after a long drive or something?

Also I have noticed that the bootlid light also behaves weird and goes off quickly once the bootlid is open. This wasnt the case before. I got access to a PC with autodata on it so I could get some diagrams posted here if that stands for something.

 

maybe one of the door/boot/bonnet switches is not working properly ?

 

Hm.. not sure how it could be so, if it behaves the same when the car is unlocked or the door is opened (any door causes the same behavior)

 

OK, so this is borderline supernatural.

Yesterday I got a blown sidelight. So when I replaced it today I noticed that my interior light works fine xD

I love this car, it fixes itself

Hope the interior light doesn't stop working again

 

good things come to people that are patient

 

Have a look at my thread posted today for a possible solution.