Faulty door microswitch - a workaround?

[scotsgent]

Octavia 2003 L&K hatch, 130hp asz tdi.

My car seems to be exhibiting some of the classic symptoms of a faulty drivers door lock micro-switch.

Namely:

After unlocking the car it then 'autolocks' after 30 seconds whether the drivers door has been opened or not.

No 'door opened' illumination light on dash when drivers door is opened.

No puddle light in drivers door..

However:

a) The convenience lights work when the door is opened (so some kind of signal must be getting through?)

If I open the door with the KEY (as opposed to the remote), then the door doesn't autolock at all and there seems to be no danger of being locked out.

My biggest fear (until I can look at the door lock mechanism), is that my wife will open the door and then toss the keys on the seat (or even put the keys in the ignition and not turn it a click, (if you do this then the car doesn't autolock) and then wander over to park the supermarket trolley and return to the car to find it locked.

I have two questions?

1) Does the fact that the convenience lights work OK and that everything works well when using the KEY (not the remote) point to anything other than a micro-switch problem?

2) If I remove the battery from the remote, then the wife can only open (and close) the car with the key (and the car then works as it should). Is this an OK temporary workaround or can you forsee problems with doing this?

Maybe 2) will affect the alarm? - If so, I live in a very rural area and so I am not too worried on a temporary basis.

Any comments?

Cheers, Terry

Edited 9 December, 2012 by scotsgent

[Guest BigJase88]

Mines does the same guess your headlight buzzer also doesnt work?

New door lock micro switch req! Pig of a job to replace aswell! Puddle lights still work on mine too

[scotsgent]

Correct! - no headlight buzzer!,

So, since one of your components works (the puddle light) and one of mine, (the convenience light), then it would seem that the micro-switch can perhaps slowly degrade over time, (but maybe in a variable sequence?), gradually affecting all the components it feeds?

.

Actually, if the workaround (using the key only), can work without any issues, then it removes any pressure for me to fix things until the better weather comes around.

I really don't mind using the key - it still centrally locks and unlocks.

Maybe you can try your door with the key only and see if it also disarms the auto-lock on your motor?

Cheers, Terry

Edited 9 December, 2012 by scotsgent

[Keirravn]

the switch is really just on/off, you know that when you hit unlock or remove your key from the ignition that the courtesy lights come on ye?

the only degrading as such that happens with these is that the little rubber cover wears through and so the switch button/pip no longer makes contact, that might give you intermitent functioning of the microswitch but I dont think it would give you (for example) 30% functioning if that makes sense.

Also yes, it is a total bastward of a job to replace lol

[Guest BigJase88]

I believe in the door switch there is 4 microswitches. So possibly any combination can fail. Its something to do with weak circuit board soldering. Theres an in depth guide on vwvortex forum i think?

Google is your friend, thats how i found it!

Im just going to leave mine to the spring! Too cold to be arsing about right now

[Keirravn]

Hmm, unless you mean 4 microswitches in the entire car (as in 1 per door) then no not really.

The microswitch is just a small switch, there's one per door latch mechanism so in your drivers door there is 1 switch that controls everything.

Inside of it is just 2 metal arms with a little spring, the button on the switch pushes against the spring causing 1 of these arms to touch the other arm and this completes/closes the circuit.

I know because I opened up the old switch when replacing to see how it worked.

[Keirravn]

Also - because the button is pressed/released by the rotation of the latch you sometimes get 'flashes' of connection, for example if you gently close your door so that it's half open/shut then try to push it open without pulling the handle the switch might work, but the switch itself will still need replaced

[Keirravn]

whoops, double post

Edited 9 December, 2012 by Keirravn

[Guest BigJase88]

Heres the thread i was on about

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?1542461

[Guest BigJase88]

And there is 4 in the one lock

[scotsgent]

So, how is it that my micro-switch seems to work without fault when I unlock using the key rather than the remote?

Is there a logical reason?

EDIT! - Sorry, the peripherals; (buzzer,dash illumination, puddle light, etc.) still don't work.

BUT the self-locking effect, (either properly when the door is unlocked but not opened for 30 seconds or when exhibiting the fault of locking after 30 seconds EVEN if the door has been opened) seems to have been disabled when using the key.

This is what I need - ie protection against the door locking with the key inside - I'm not too worried about the minor stuff.

Cheers, Terry

Edited 9 December, 2012 by scotsgent

[Guest BigJase88]

Mines also self locks! If i dont turn the car on within a set period of time the door locks and alarm turns on!

Theres no way of getting round it apart from changing the switch

[Keirravn]

Wow so there is! I stand corrected

Scotsgent that would explain why it's ok when you unlock it with a key, as it operates its own switch which I didn't know, still sounds like you need to replace the stand alone micro switch though that detects when the door is open/closed, there's a sticky guide for it you've probably seen?