Hello, my 2012 monte carlo interior light doesnt come on via drivers door being opened, because of this it desnt show up on the dash as being open and it doesnt warn when the lights are left on, as my mrs found out last week, returning to a flat battery.  Is it a switch priblem or the wiring issue. TIA. 

2 hours ago, Leep17 said:

Hello, my 2012 monte carlo interior light doesnt come on via drivers door being opened, because of this it desnt show up on the dash as being open and it doesnt warn when the lights are left on, as my mrs found out last week, returning to a flat battery.  Is it a switch priblem or the wiring issue. TIA. 

 

This is happens on almost all VAG cars, Polos, A3’s, Cordobas, you name it.

It is usually caused by a tiny switch in the latch for the drivers door. When the latch hits the wotsit on the door that it latches onto (I can’t think of what it’s called at the moment), the latch pushes the micro switch down. Over time, this can wear down the switch causing either to not contact the latch, or cause it to stick, which is why you’ll commonly find threads about people whose door light is constantly on. 

Another cause is that the wires going to the latch go brittle and break, meaning the car receives no signal from the switch. 

 

I have the exact same issue on my car because I’m too tight to get it fixed, and so does my Gran with a Polo, and so does someone else I know with a Bora. 

 

Some advice for you until you get it sorted, (if you do):

- The car has an auto lock function which means the car locks after 30 seconds if a door isn’t opened. However, because the car doesn’t know that the drivers door has been opened, it still locks after 30 seconds, even if you did open the drivers door. This means that it is easy to lock the keys in, or, set off the car alarm. To stop this happening, when you unlock the car, open the back door before opening the front. This disables the auto lock. 

- When you turn the car off and get out, make sure that the indicators are off. When the car is off, the indicator switch is used to turn on the parking lights, on the side that the indicator is turned to. Obviously, the car won’t beep at you anymore to make you aware of that. 

- Be aware that the safelock button, the red backlit one on the drivers side b pillar, won’t work anymore when you want to lock without activating the alarm interior motion sensor, like for if you were leaving a dog in the car on the ferry. However, unlike some VAG cars, Fabias allow you to turn off the interior alarm by double pressing the lock button. 

 

It’s difficult to say whether it’s the switch or the wiring, but if the windows and electric mirrors still work, then that indicates that the doors wiring loom is intact. 

Edited 24 November, 20196 yr by CS45

Very informative,  cheers mate. 👍

Any idea how much the microswitch is please. 

2 hours ago, Leep17 said:

Very informative,  cheers mate. 👍

Any idea how much the microswitch is please. 

 

My local Skoda stealership quote £90 just for diagnosis, even though they know full well what the issue is because they fail so often. 

The switch is part of the latch, so the whole latch would need to be replaced. 

They did say though that if the micro switch was to blame, it would total up to £250 for them to replace it. 

 

Some have had success with spraying WD40 into the latch. Other than that, I’d recommend going to an independant VAG specialist.

Ouch, £250 , thanks for the info tho, much appreciated.  

DIY repair instructions.

 

 

30 minutes ago, 26DIPP said:

DIY repair instructions.

 

 

 

Excellent,  cheers for that. Looks a bit complicated  but worth a shot.👍👍

...Unless, of course, its a snapped wire in the door loom! Don't overlook a free, simple-ish test to find out.

Funny you should mention that, as a few days ago while getting in the car and closing the door, i thought i seen the door open pop up on the dash display, so i tried opening and closing the door  a few more times and at a certain position, it was briefly showing up.  Would it do this if the wire is broken? And briefly touching each other at a certain position 

Then you are looking for this:

 

Driver door contact.pdf Driver door contact_2.pdf

Brilliant, thanks very much, i will have a look at the connector 1st as its a cheaper fix. Hopefully. Cheers all.