Expert: William Forster - 11/23/2006

Question
I got the manual out on this car and replaced the fuse so that the dome light would come on but now even when I close the door it won't turn off.  It was hit on the driver side and repaired once but the shop did not put some part that keeps the door open only so far, mine swings all the way out and you know how big those doors are!  Thank you!

Answer
Did you complain to the body shop about the problems with the car? If that hasn't brought you any satisfaction, Complain to the insurance company that the car has not been fixed to your satisfaction. Tell them you want to file a diminished value claim. Anything that will potentially cost them money will usually get them into gear. They should contact the body shop that did the repairs for you, and insist that the shop correct the problems. The missing check strap will eventually cause damage to the hinges, especially if the door gets caught by a gust of wind. The door will eventually start coming into contact with the fender, and you will start getting wind noise. I'm not familiar enough with Neons to give you directions on how to make the dome lamp go out when the door is shut. Some cars have a push button in the door jamb, others have a switch in the latch mechanism that you can't see. If there is a switch in the jamb, it must come into contact with the door when the door is shut. To test a potential dome switch, first be sure that the manual dome switch on the dash is shut off. Now, press the jamb button, and see if the dome lamp goes out. If it goes out, you found the problem, and you know the system still works. You can shim the contact area up by gluing thin strips of plastic to the switch contact point. Only glue enough pieces on until the lamp just shuts off. That will temporarily fix the problem until the door is properly repaired. Bill