Interior light not switching on when opening door

[rawr]

My interior light does not switch on when I open the driver door. The light on the bottom left of the door does not work either.

Everything works fine on the passenger side.

What could be wrong?

I suspect some kind of door sensor, but could not find one.

[boblamb58]

Micro switch inside the door latch.. the easy (read $$$) way out is to just replace the latch.. about $150 plus labor if you have someone else do it.

Or you can try the $3.00 fix.. it's a bit involved.

[rawr]

Any details on the involved solution?

[boblamb58]

Originally Posted by rawr

Any details on the involved solution?

FWIW, I tried it, it was a PITA, but it worked. Unfortunatley I did not do it %100 correct, as it only lasted about a year.

Here's the direct quote from a previous newbeetle.org post. Apologies to whoever wrote it in the first place for not citing you.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, we can fix this door switch for $3 USD! You need to go to Radio Shack and purchase Part number #275-016A. This is a Submini Lever Switch. It has NO and NC contacts. Now here is what you need to do.
1) Tear the door down to the door lock assembly. This is detailed in the Bentley.
2) Remove the door lock assembly from the door carrier assembly you just removed. You will need to drill out a rivit to do this as detailed in Bentley.
3) Once you have the door lock assembly out, you will see the switch in question. It is the one that has a red and blue wire going to it. Mine was ruined as outlined above.
4) You will need a dremel tool to slot out the holes that hold the switch in place to the new switch fits in.
4) Observe the posistion and how the old switch works.Then remove the old switch. It is held in place by two plastic plugs that are melted to hold the switch. Pry it out with a small flat bladed screwdriver and clip the wires at the switch. Then slot out the holes for the new switch with your dremel. You will be able to see what you need to slot by comparing the two switches.
5) Take the new switch and remove the lever by slowly twisting it out with a pliers. You don't need it, just the main body of the switch.
6) You will need two tiny screws and nuts, which I had laying around, otherwise you can get them at the hardware store. Attatch the new switch and solder the red and blur wires to the switch. One to the Common and one to the NO (normally open). Plug the electrical plug back in and test the operation of the switch.
7) Button it all back up and rejoice in the money you saved!

I also lubed the new switch with electrical grease and hopefully it will last for awhile. Now that it is all modified, I can slug a new one in if it fails again in the future. (hopefully I wont have to!)

[hako]

Wouldn't it be easier and quicker to simply instal a plunger type switch that "normal" cars have - Tandy (Radio Shack in U.S.) carry packs of 3 with plungers you cut to length for under $A5. Then find the colour of wires for the pair that the microswitch operate and break into the loom.

[jc918t]

I hate to ask, but is the interior light switch on your mirror set to operate when the doors open? When I first bought mine, I didn't realize that one of the positions of that switch would defeat the door sensors. Good Luck.

[rawr]

Well.. I'm not that dumb
The passenger door works as it should.

New lock costs ca 1000 norwegian dollars. That would be about 125 american presidents.
How difficult is it to mount this?

[dunno513]

Most door lock assemblies are pretty easy to install, just time consuming. Cheap way to fix is to do the mod above, but for those not so interested in radioshacking their car, go to vw, buy the part, and install yourself. Don't let VW do this unless you are one of those folks who have to borrow a screwdriver from your neighbor. Then you may want to enlist some help.

[rawr]

Nearest radio shack is 10 hours of flight away.. New lock it is.
Is there any adjustment in this box? I'm afraid the door will be hard to close.

[northernlad]

I have this problem as well. I have spent the better part of the morning calling around in case its not the feared door lock switch. Even had a VW "speciality" shop tell me it was the old plunger type switch. VW doesn't do that anymore. Idiot. $350-400 USD thank you very much.

Originally Posted by dunno513

Most door lock assemblies are pretty easy to install, just time consuming. Cheap way to fix is to do the mod above, but for those not so interested in radioshacking their car, go to vw, buy the part, and install yourself. Don't let VW do this unless you are one of those folks who have to borrow a screwdriver from your neighbor. Then you may want to enlist some help.

About this dunno, if the labor cost is ~$200 its seems like bad idea to suggest its a DIY no brainer.

I will go to the dealership and get an exploded view and perhaps I can get it posted here...

[Smileybug]

I got mine done at the dealer for my drivers side. $450. ripoff. Now my passenger side is doing it but I'm not even caring about it. My drivers side was effecting my alarm and lock system too much. But not my passenger. I don't use it enough. So whatever. Its staying broken.

[mdntblu]

I have a similar problem where the interior lights not switching when opening door (dome lights and door light). But the weird thing is the lock still works fine when pressed with the lock button and when using the keyfob the lock goes up and down when the door is locked. Any ideas what the deal is?

[Hardware]

Sometimes the switches go bad. Most times it's a cracked solder joint. The only way to tell is to pull the latch, disassemble it and look at the motherboard the switches are mounted on. See here 00 Door latch problems

[mdntblu]

Originally Posted by Hardware

Sometimes the switches go bad. Most times it's a cracked solder joint. The only way to tell is to pull the latch, disassemble it and look at the motherboard the switches are mounted on. See here 00 Door latch problems

Yeah I took an old drivers door one I had apart and couldn't get it back together. Easier said than done. And I'm usually good at mechanical things.

Anyone in SoCal want to help me with this? I'll buy them Pizza.

[ojdza01]

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Thank you for the direction, I went to Radio Shack today, bought th epart and installed it. Works great! Albeit a bit difficult for a novice but nothing a little patience and elbow grease won't overcome. Let's see how long it lasts. Either way, $3.16 USD and a couple of hours is way better than a 150-200 latch. I did have to connect the common and the NC (Normally Closed), not the NO (Normally Open) connection. Either way you are a MFG (Mother loving Genius!) Thank you! If anyone has questions hit me up while its still fresh!

OJD
'99 Beetle GLS (Silver)

[VWBubba]

I noticed today that neither the door lights or saloon lights come on when the doors are open, passenger and drivers. The saloon lights come on when I unlock with the remote key fob, go off when I start the engine and come on when I remove the key. I gather from this thread that they should also come on with the doors open along with the door lights, is this correct and if it is, are we looking at the lock microswitch problem in both doors ?

[ojdza01]

VWBubba, there was a post here that read.."
I hate to ask, but is the interior light switch on your mirror set to operate when the doors open? When I first bought mine, I didn't realize that one of the positions of that switch would defeat the door sensors. Good Luck."
Try that, if not then it seems like a micro switch issue. But honestly, its unlikely that both doors would stop working at the same time. If you figure out that it is a switch problem, and you're handy, fixing each one should be about a 3hr job.
Ojd

[VWBubba]

Originally Posted by ojdza01

VWBubba, there was a post here that read.."
I hate to ask, but is the interior light switch on your mirror set to operate when the doors open? When I first bought mine, I didn't realize that one of the positions of that switch would defeat the door sensors. Good Luck."
Try that, if not then it seems like a micro switch issue. But honestly, its unlikely that both doors would stop working at the same time. If you figure out that it is a switch problem, and you're handy, fixing each one should be about a 3hr job.
Ojd

Thanks I gotta laugh but you are right to ask about the mirror switch as some do not think of this. Maybe the switches did not go at the same time, I don't know as this car is new to me and I just noticed they were not working.

When the boss gets home I will take a look at the passenger side one and let you now. Thanks for the reply.

OK so now we know. I circuit tested the lights and found it traces back to the door switch as suggested on this forum (I was hoping for something simple). I took one look at the multiple Torx screws, loom and panel adhesive and thought 'roll on summer' as I quietly replaced the outer panel.

While we are on the subject of interior lights, the new bulbs from the stealers is €5.50, for a tiny bulb in a plastic holder. Sod that me thinks, I took out the old bulb from it's retaining cap and fitted it with a new capless bulb, all you need to do is carefully fold out the wires on the new bulb and wrap them around the cap like the original .. 2 minutes an €0.50 spent. You can also use the coloured ones too :-)