normally (on normal vehicles) the door switches ground the circuit when the door is open. should be easy to check each door switch.
Wouldn't know where to start in checking it (as I said I'm pretty crap at sparkin) and how would the diode affect the interior lights & holding down the HRW button turn em off???
Can you get new diodes??? Just looked and ????????? dunno what part no. I'd be looking at?
Sorry for all the Q's but I'm determined to get to the sorry bottom of this but electrics is in no way my strong point, mechanics / welding (to a degree) ok but wiring
So with you meter leads test the wiring, so place the + lead on the front switch and the - on the rear switch you will get a reading, reverse you're leads and u won't get a reading confirming the diode is functional and allowing the four door switches to be in parallel for the operation of the interior lighting.
The diode is in the link to the security ecu from the tailgate switch, unfortunately there's no information on what involvement the tailgate door switch has with the ecu and why the need a blocking diode.
And if you haven't got enough of the white s**t, let me know - plenty here alreadywe may be on to something here, just done some research on the Lucas 10-AS alarm. The input for the interior lights is Pin 1 and is the WP wire exiting from the tailgate diode. However IF the diode fails, it usually buggers up the alarm ECU as well!!! All I can do is test it in the morning (if we're not 2 feet in snow).
The diode will have a part number on it, which will hopefully still exist under the heat shrink tubing it's "buried" in - failing that, I would suggest one rated to more than 12V, and of a similar physical size from somewhere like maplin ( if you have one, or the bay of fleas). Diodes are rated in terms of how much voltage they can "block" or "refuse" - it is not likely to be more than 12V on a car (!), and then in wattage for how much power they can dissipate in blocking said voltage. 5W 12V diodes (1N5394B), are about £3 for four on the bay of fleas, and 600W (!!) 12V diodes (P6KE12A), are, strangely, about £3 for four from the same place !! ( those were just the first two I found, to give a rough idea )The diode itself looks like its insulated in some kind of rubber / silicone stuff. Depending on the result (and I'm praying its this at fault) how would I know which one to buy to replace it??? Are there different sizes etc???