[Speedster]

I have a 2009 Malibu LS. I LOVE the cool blue interior lighting at night. One problem, the light on the passenger door handle doesn’t work. At first I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to have a light, but I checked another ’09 LS and sure enough there were lights on both door handles.
Does anyone know if this is an LED bulb? Has anyone else had this problem? I’m a little nervous about taking it for repair. What if they have to tear the car to pieces trying to find the problem? What would you guys do? Live without the light? Or take it for repair hoping they get it right? Feedback appreciated…

 

[Joeyavhu]

Take it in for repair...
At pretty much absolute worse, they are going to unscrew the single bolt holding in the handle assembly and replace the light fixture. Tops.... its a 10 minute job, thats taking their time, although they will probably say it is going to be a couple hour job.
You paid for a working vehicle... make sure they give it to you.

 

[Snow White LS]

Take it in for repair...
At pretty much absolute worse, they are going to unscrew the single bolt holding in the handle assembly and replace the light fixture. Tops.... its a 10 minute job, thats taking their time, although they will probably say it is going to be a couple hour job.
You paid for a working vehicle... make sure they give it to you.

I second that!

 

[nighthawk-24]

I do not know how to fix your problem but I will give you some information that 'might' be helpful if you take it to the dealer.

The light on my drivers side door handle quit working in either October or November. When I took my vehicle to the dealer for scheduled maintenance I told them about the light on the handle. They said that they would need to order a new one. That was in early November. Fast forward to the 2nd week of January. After multiple calls to the parts department and GM customer service I still did not have a new door handle.

According to GM they don't have any. How is this possible I asked as they are still building Malibu's that have door handles in them? Apparently GM changed parts suppliers and is backordered accross the country. GM did infact change the part number for this item in early December, showing the change. So after over two months of waiting...no new door handle, no pretty blue light.

Fast forward to yesterday...that is a little confusing...anyways, I just had my car to the same dealer to get my bowties colormatched and I asked if they could once again look into the door handle issue with GM.

Apparenly someone from the body shop (because of the painting I was having done) decided to look at it for himself, insead of the tech from the service department. He found that a stupid plastic connector had broke causing a short in the connection. They replaced the connector and walla...light glorious light.

I would feel free to tell a rep that the connector to the light is damaged or shorted out so you don't have the same issue as me.
If your handy, you could probably pop out the handle and solder the connection...but it should still be under warranty...ha free service.

Hope that helps.

 

[Speedster]

Thanks, Nighthawk and others. I'm going to take it in for service one of these days and ask for the light to be fixed. I'm just a little paranoid - in my nightmares I see the door taken completely apart and an untrained tech trying to put it back together. Don't get me wrong - I know there are many good techs out there. But there are some really lousy ones, too.

 

[Darkcircle169]

I had the same problem. i took me door panel off and seen that the connectors had been broken some how. I put the panel back on and took it to Gm they had to order a new light took 2 days to get it in. Sucks cause i dont know if GM changed the kind of light or if its the wrong bulb the new one is a little LED but it is not as bright as the one on my drivers door. The one on the drivers door lights up my floor the new one don't guess i need to take it back in and try and get a new one.... i probable didn't make any sense oh well

 

[DrivenDaily]

The door pull cup lighting is LED on both front doors. None on the rears. It could be the angle or POV when you notice the difference in light levels, or it could actually be that the new one is less powerful.

I'd like to change my interior lighting over to red or red-orange. Blue hurts my eyes at night when I'm extra tired.

Maybe I'll do like SilverLTZ and get a Mazda!

JK

 

[moses21]

do anyone know how to do this but aftermarket... they took this off of 2012 malibu ls along with other thingz.. plz help me

 

[DrivenDaily]

Yessir!

Buy some small LEDs of the color you want.
Find a parking light wire already in doors (front only) or add one (rear) along with a 2-wire disconnect plug.
Attach LED to door pull cup, possibly drilling a hole at top rear to allow light to shine on inside of cup.
Add a resistor of appropriate value.
Test at night for acceptable light level.
Finish installation.

Another way would be to have one resistor at the source of your supply and then run a wire from it to all doors. If you do this you could also have another resistor to either dim it further or make it brighter (or both! ) and just add a switch to choose which level you want. But that might be extra work for no real benefit. For testing purposes you could put a rheostat (variable resistor) in line to get the light level you really want, then measure and build the appropriate resistance value.

BTW, one of these days I'm going to change my front doors from bluish to red and add red to the rear doors.