Interior light playing up

[acepower84]

When i leave te switch on for doors and open the door, the lights dont come on. If i mess around with switch, sometimes it takes a while for the main light to come on if in just sat in the car with all the doors closed. Anyone had similar problems to this and have you managed to solve it. Car is a Mk1 Vrs Octavia, 53 reg.

[kentphil1]

have you checked the bulb is ok in the lamp?, I've had festoons start to separate in the past and cause this. are all 3 bulbs not coming on when switched manually?.

[acepower84]

If switched on manually they work fine. Just dont understand why they do not come on when doors are open yet work ok when activated manually.

[kentphil1]

Do you get a door open warning lamp on the dash when any of the doors are open?.

[acepower84]

The sign on the dash is displayed when the boot, bonnet and doors are opened.

[kentphil1]

I will check this out later to be sure, but I am 99% certain that the switch makes/breaks the earth to operate the lamp, so I would check that the earth track on the lamp is intact and not cracked. The earth and live to the main lamp must obviously be ok as the lamp works manually.

 

The pictures in robs thread should give you an idea what you are looking at http://www.pimpmyskoda.co.uk/RearInteriorLights.htm

[acepower84]

Cheers for that, will try and take it out over the weekend.

[Bowders1]

hmm i suspect the door lock is probably causing issues as it is that that drives the interior light and door open lights. It is probably when you are sitting in car the door lock may of made contact and started to work. Lot's of threads on door lock issues and i made a guide of switch replacement.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/126257-octavia-1-replacing-door-latch-microswitch/

[kentphil1]

This may be my fault for misleading op, as I thought I asked if he gets a door open light on all the doors, which I thought he said he was getting, therefore confirming lock switches as functioning.

 

I was looking at the wiring diagram last night on Elsawin, and as far as I can see, the interior lamp switching seems to act on individual doors while the lamp uses a collective earth, but I may be wrong, you have much more practical experience than me in this area Mark.

 

If I have confused anybody with my diagnosis trail, then I apologise.

[acepower84]

No need for anyone to apologise, i am completely new to the scene so my apologies if i havnt diagnosed it properly. I can see what bowders has mentioned and looked at his link. It does make sense that this could be a faulty part and i will order what he has mentioned and have a go at replacing it. Many thanks to you fine people for giving me clues and possible answers to my problem. I will update on here on my progress.

Thanks again.

[Bowders1]

This may be my fault for misleading op, as I thought I asked if he gets a door open light on all the doors, which I thought he said he was getting, therefore confirming lock switches as functioning.

 

I was looking at the wiring diagram last night on Elsawin, and as far as I can see, the interior lamp switching seems to act on individual doors while the lamp uses a collective earth, but I may be wrong, you have much more practical experience than me in this area Mark.

 

If I have confused anybody with my diagnosis trail, then I apologise.

 

Hey no worries buddy......

 

All is good.  

[acepower84]

hmm i suspect the door lock is probably causing issues as it is that that drives the interior light and door open lights. It is probably when you are sitting in car the door lock may of made contact and started to work. Lot's of threads on door lock issues and i made a guide of switch replacement.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/126257-octavia-1-replacing-door-latch-microswitch/

Many thanks for this, it makes sense and look like I will have to purchase a good unit to replace it.

[acepower84]

Well, stripped door lock mechanism off the car and checked microswitch. Appears to be fine and switch is still pressable. Put another working unit on the car as well and that hasnt made a difference. Going to try the interior light unit itself.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Quick one which may or may not help.

 

My neighbour has a Mk. 4 Golf. Essentially the same car, electrics wise. His interior light stopped working too, although it appeared that everything else was fine.

 

After a bit of fiddling around and multimeter testing, I discovered that actually it was just a blown fuse...

 

I can't remember which number it was, but we then also found out that it is the same fuse that covers the brake lamps (so those weren't working either).

 

After some more faffing and fuse failures when trying the brakes, it turned out that one of the brake lamp bulbs had failed internally, causing a dead short. 

 

So, new bulb and fuse, and at last - working interior lamp.

[acepower84]

Checked the fuses and none are blown. Have found that interior light is only affected by drivers side door, works fine on all other doors. Also,when drivers doors makes contact but is not fully shut, the light does still come on. Tried changing the door lock mechanism for a good second hand unit but that didn't work. Also stripped the micro switch from my existing mechanism and the switch appears to be working fine. Stuck for ideas now.

[pikpilot]

Also,when drivers doors makes contact but is not fully shut, the light does still come on. 

 

This suggests you have a broken wire in the loom where it goes through the gaiter on the door hinge line. Not unknown.

Pull out the rubber gaiter at the car body end and check all the wires in the loop carefully for rubbed insulation and an actual break in a wire.  

[acepower84]

I will look at that later on today pikpilot. Its started a new thing where whilst the car is stopped at they key, the interior light comes on and stays on. Open the drivers door, goes off after a few seconds. Close the door again, stays off.

[Raf_]

Light should come on when the key is removed, if it's doing it with the key still in the ignition then there's something faulty in the ignition

[lovemaskoda]

If the light comes on when the door is half closed, check for wear on the microswitch plunger.

When checked across the electrical contacts everything will appear ok, but the plunger wears down over time and 

doesn't press down fully when the door is closed.

Hope this helps. D