Project Festiva : Domelight w/Maplights Installtion

Project Festiva : How-To's

Installing Domelight w/Maplights

Model Years: 1988-1993

Estimated Time: 30 mins

When I got my car, the domelight rarely came on. I took off the cover to find the switch was stuck and when I tried to unstick it, I broke the connector tabs off of it.

One thing I use a lot in my Mazda Protege are the maplights and since the Festiva is a Mazda design, I figured my maplight domelight that my Protege has would work with the Festiva. Never did I imagine it would work this well.

You can get these domelights from 1990-1994 Mazda Protege LX's (body colored mirrors and DOHC engine) and some of the DX models that have the conveinence package. You can also find them on 1991-1996 Ford Escort LX's and GT's and maybe the base models (i'm not sure). I got mine off of a 93' Escort LX hatchback in the junkyard. They didn't even charge me for it!!

When you take it off the car, keep the 3 screws that come with and also yank the plug connector from the roof hard, and you'll expose about 6" of wire. Cut the harness so you have both the plugs and some extra wire (see the pictures below)

Tools you will need:

Standard #1 or #2 philips screwdriver
2 blue spade connectors
Wire crimping tool
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Drill (optional)

Installation Instructions:
	1: Pull the stock domelight cover off.
	2: Unscrew and remove the stock domelight (2 screws) The plug should come off easily.
	3: Comparing the screwholes, you might think that this will require some custom bracket fabrication (since the roof pillars are located in strange positions). But after doing some measuring and looking it is actually very easy
	4: Using the ruler, measure and mark 2 1/4" away from the two screwholes. (as shown in picture) The size of the box should be 2 1/4" by 2 1/4" I marked the holes from the new domelight on the roof in relation to the one screwhole on the passenger side of the car (but this isn't required)
	5: Using the scissors, cut away the box you outlined. See the screwhole you couldn't see before? isn't that strange?
	6: Take one of the screws from the domelight and screw it into this newfound hole to expand it. Also do the same to the other hole to expand it (see arrow)
	7: Unplug the wire harness from the new domelight and strip both wires. Using the crimper tool, crimp both spade connectors to each wire, but be sure you can see the color of the wire so you don't reverse the polarity later. NOTE: I used two red prong connectors because I didn't have the correct terminals at the time (and all the stores were closed) I checked to see if these would mount in the OEM domelights connector plug and they did...you can do this also, but just be sure to test before you proceed
	8: On the new domelights harness, there is a red and a blue wire (at least on mine there was). The red is + and the blue is -. On the stock plug, the red is - and the white is +. Plug the red spade connector into the white wire on the plug and the blue spade connector to the white wire on the plug. you might want to test the polarity of this yourself. The wire colors might differ from year to year. After you do that, shove the plug under the headliner and route the harness as pictured
	9: Plug the harness into the new domelight, and hold the domelight firmly against the roof until you match up the middle hole with the center hole that was pre-drilled into the sheetmetal. (I had a flashlight to be able to see this)
	10. Grab a screw with your other hand and screw it in so that it holds the domelight in place but don't tighten yet. Looking with the flashlight, turn the domelight until it is aligned with the other hole that was used to mount the OEM domelight
	11: When aligned, screw in the screw and tighten the center screw
	12: Test to see if the "Door" Mode works with both doors. When you open the door, it should light up, and when the door shuts it should not light up. Also test to see if the maplights work. If they don't work, your center screw isn't grounding the domelight...screw it in more. If only one or two bulbs work, then you might need to replace one or more bulbs.
	13: If you want, using a drill, drill a hole where the other mounting hole is. and screw the other screw into it. I personally think it is mounted firmly enough with just the 2 screws so I didn't bother (i was mainly worried with punching a hole in the roof)
	14: Install the new domelight's cover and have fun!! It might be me, but the maplight on hte passenger side seem to shine more towards the door, while the other maplight shines at the steering wheel. I think that maybe the OEM holes make the domelight aim slightly towards the passenger side, but it looks pretty straight to me. You can always use the unused mounting hole in the new domelight to re-adjust the domelight if you think its not centered properly with this setup.