i've had this problem since i bought the car...the interior lights would never come on so i figured it was just a blown fuse...when i went to replace it i realized there was no fuse in there...so i put the correct fuse in for the courtesy lights...since then (assuming i leave the fuse in) the lights just stay on at all times...no matter if the doors/hatch are closed, car is off ....wut in the world could the problem be??? im guessing its a bad contact somewhere...but someone please point me in the right direction because i HATE electrical schematics and chasing down shorts....biggest pain in the @$$...also the switches on the reading lamps on the mirror dont do anything...the lights will still always stay on...so for now i just leave the fuse out...

 

Check the switches.

The door switches for the lights are "short to ground" to turn the lights on. A faulty door switch with a short to ground will cause the lights to stay on. The other switch in the system is a little "tab" in the middle of the hatch latch. When the hatch closes, it pushes the tab down to turn off the lights. Bent tab, switch shorted to ground could cause the lights to stay on.

If all the switches check out OK, you'll have to start tracing the wires to look for missing insulation, shorting the wire to the chassis. I had a wire in the hatch area crushed by the nitrous bottle bracket cause the lights to stay on.

 

thank you so much injuneer...always a great reliable answer!!! checkin the hatch tab tomorrow bc the door switches checked out fine today...i had no idea where else to look after the doors..