Fabia 1 drivers door micro switch?

[jibberwobble]

In the week my drivers window done the crunching and getting stuck thing, came on here, bought some parts and have the window regulator all fixed but....... since I have owned the car (only a few weeks) the drivers door doesnt normally fire up the interior light, kerb light or headlight buzzer. So whilst it is in bits I may as well get this sorted too.

 

OK when the plug is connected the various lights arent triggered by opening  the door most of the time nut occasionally they do work, when the plug is connected, if I wiggle it the interior and kerb lights come on and go off. If I wiggle the plug a little bit I can get the interior light to stay on but can also hear relay(s) clicking on and off but dont see anything physical hapening?

 

So My question is:

 

Is this a normal situation for a faulty micro switch or could this be a bad connection of some sort? (bearing in mind the plug looks fine and have given it a good squirt of WD.

 

Also whilst I'm on the subject of the door and some odd side affects. My power steering is also US, I have not investigated this yet but have always felt it just to be a wiring or sensor issue after having grilled the previous owner and done some reading. The car has had two sensors in the past at fairly even mileage intervals and is now at a theoretical sensor change interval once more. I am reluctant to just buy a sensor before fully investigating though, On the day my window fubarred it's self and was busy chewing everything up inside the door it came to a point where it sounded like the motor was being overloaded and at that point all the switches in the door inc their lights shut down, flicking the door lock button brought it all back to life. I had now arrived at work so dragged the window up to the top, jammed it there with a plastic spreader and left it to sulk.

 

When I left work I got in and started up, in auto pilot mode I hit the window switches to lower and raise them (clears the dew away nicely) and was reminded of the failure by more crunching and then the switches cutting out again. at this point I noticed out the corner of my eye something changing on the dash which I think was the normal PAS light coming on but usually it comes on with ignition and stays on, there was nothing else to see so concluded the light wasnt on until I messed with the window. Then I moved the steering wheel and bugger me if the PAS hadnt popped into life! Dash light was still on and the door was brought back to life by flicking the lock button again, power steering still working  :wonder:

 

PAS worked all the way home and all the way back to work that night, next morning was buggered again and hasnt worked since. So given that the PAS fault is quite often a wiring/connection related thing I cant help but think all this door trouble has caused a temporary re-connecting (maybe through arching etc) of a poor joint somewhere? At least I now know that there cant be anything that terrible wrong with the PAS!

 

Just thought I'd throw that one out there as someone may have some similar experience.

 

Sorry for the long story but being thorough will save many questions I'm sure 

[mogwye]

Maybe the battery earth onto the front near side suspension turret needs cleaning and greasing or maybe the battery is on it's way out, I would check both those first.

 

DB.

[jibberwobble]

Just had a quick look between other things, the battery is a Bosch silver 75ah and looks quite new. Puts out 12.6v, Alternator looks quite fresh also, getting 14.6v with the motor running. Earth looks fine and no corrosion to be seen anywhere but will give the fixings all a clean up when I go back out. 

 

Unfortunately I'm not a sparky and need to work out how to understand resistance?? My meter has quite a few ranges and I dont know what setting I should be using?

 

Really wanting to get the door back together so if anyone has any comments on my first question in post #1 regarding the micro switch that would be rather smashing

 

Power steering is still US with nothing on the door connected at all.

[jibberwobble]

OK leaving the steering til I can have a day of not pulling it to bits in the rain knowing it's all got to be back together in time for work. Next w/e reserved for that one.

 

Gonna pop in to a couple of breakers today and pull a couple of door lock mech's out. The breakers local to work will only charge a couple of quid for items llike that so even if it doesnt work it'll give me a chance to repair the switch in one whilst leaving another in the car (only get a short window each day). I dont know if it's the switch or not but not having anything else to go on I may as well change it or at least look at the old one before hunting for bad connections.

 

So does anyone know if other VAG cars use the same unit? this would give me quite a wide range of potential donors.

 

[60greyhound]

The 9n polo does I think. My door switch does the same thing. I'm told by a friend that is into his vws that it's fairly common, there's a bad solder joint that will need repairing. He's gonna show me when I get chance to pull it apart.

[felicia16v]

Sometimes with higher use cars it is the plastic cam that wears away so it doesn't push the switch in fully. Or the switch itself is fubared, steering fault sounds like it needs session on vcds to check before spending money on the wrong parts, could be the sensor, could be the rack full of water where the sensor fits, could be the wiring to the pump, or the pump itself,

You must have strong arms to keep driving it without the pas tho ;-)

[jibberwobble]

OK got some bits done yesterday. At the breakers I found the lock mechanism in a much newer car laying on the seat with bent arms so rescued the micro switch but then found another car straight away with only 66k on it and retrieved the whole lock mechanism. They let me test it in the car park. Paid a tenner for it with a small pile of other little bits n bobs.

 

Lock in, door carrier sealed with silicon, window reattached to the fixed regulator, door card on. Then fixed the broken fuel flap/release. All works perfect so well happy with that. Got the other doors to seal up yet.

 

PAS has popped back into life briefly on start up a few times recently. The guy I bought it off said it came up with fault codes for the pump and sensor which seems to be fairly common even when the pump is ok so with a bit of luck It'll just be wiring or sensor. Didn't get an more info than that though so if I cant see anything obvious I'll get the codes read again myself. Don't plan on buying anything for it without being reasonably sure I need it though.

 

My plan of attack is to start by following some wires about and checking connections plus finding the sensor and asking it kindly to behave it's self. Yes rack full of water has got to be a favourite it would seem.

 

I'm not finding it that bad driving without PAS tbh, it's only parking and tight junctions that take a little longer, I have strong elastic bands in my skinny arms!

 

Pump attack next w/e......

 

[JC85]

Have you got a picture of the micro switch as mine is playing up and I'm not sure what part I Need from my scrappy

[pulse]

Glad to hear you got the lock sorted. Does your door carrier have bolts or rivets?

[pulse]

Are the door switches connected to the pas in any way? Because my passenger side door has been playing up for a while (not always locking when you drive off, Puddle and interior lights not coming on when opened etc). But I was just parked up while the Mrs popped into the shop and the door was pushed to so it latched, but not fully shut, but each time I moved the steering wheel a bit, the lights came on along with the 'door open' light on the dash???

[jibberwobble]

Back this avo with some pictures and guff, sorry gotta run just now :(

[jibberwobble]

Apologies for the delay life is busy!

 

Firstly I'm no expert in any of this so you're likely to get better advice from others on here!

 

I dont think the door electrics have any direct influence on the PAS. My PAS has continued to do similar random things sinse the door was fixed and even with the door completely unplugged. I'll have a go at replicating what you are talking about with the door not completely shut Pulse but at a guess wonder if that coulod be just the switch in limbo at the on/off point? steering just causing a slight movement of the car or somethiing, god knows.

 

I am pretty sure my switch was ok and it was the dry solder joint that 60greyhound mentioned above.

 

Pics of the switch, it's just clipped in with that metal tab that coveres it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jibberwobble]

Size of the switch is 20 x 12.7 x 6.4mm Or approx 3/4 x 1/2 x 1/4"

[jibberwobble]

This is Octavia but may be of some help to you for reference - http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/126257-octavia-1-replacing-door-latch-microswitch/

[pulse]

Nice one mate. Was it hard to remove? And i think you're right about the pas and the door (I know it sounds daft asking if they be related but it was weird how it was coming on and off). I couldn't get it to do it again either lol, may have just been on the on/off point and just kept making contact like you say. Looks like I may have to get searching for another micro switch!

[pulse]

You have to take the metal inner door carrier off on the fabia don't you? How did you do it if so? As that guide you linked doesn't really say much about it, I know it's for an Octavia, maybe they're a different set up?

[jibberwobble]

Yes had to remove the carrier, mine is bolted I found a guide when looking for info on the broken window regulator, let me know if you cant find it and I'll go look.

 

To remove the carrier I think you'll need to detach the window and all that guff to get decent access to the lock unit. In a breakers yard not having to worry about being able to put it back together it was only taking about 4 - 5 mins to get the mechanism out.

 

My lock mechanism definitely had water in it but oddly the one I used from the breakers was dry.

[pulse]

Ahh fair enough. Mine is riveted :-( was wondering if I could seal it back up with a load of decent self tappers, not sure. Cheers for your help!

[jibberwobble]

Take it you havent got access to rivets/pliers then? Rivnuts would work a treat to convert over to a bolted system but then if you could put them in you'd most likely be set up to just rivet the thing in the first place. Very quick job if you have rivet pliers though.

[JC85]

cool cheers. I'm going to breakers later. would it be easier to take the whole mechanism and sort it out later at home or is it easy to remove the micro switch and ditch the mech.

[jibberwobble]

Sorry this is a bit late now but yes you can get the micro switch out in seconds