[deilenberger]

Question or two:

That's the diode you removed? How did you remove it? It appears to be part of the circuit, possibly to prevent switch arcing.. the light is unlikely to work without it. If you put the regular bulb back in - does it light up?

If not - I'd suggest getting our a voltmeter or test light, and seeing if you have voltage going to the two pins at the bottom of the light fixture (as oriented above). You should see 12.6V on those pins when the door is open (and you'd expect the light to be on).