Door Switch Fix (Alternative)

I ran across this thread a couple of days ago. It goes into detail about installing a switch inside the door. If you are particular about your car then this may be the way you want to go.

I've decided to go into detail about the way I fixed my switch, yes it seems to be .50 cents more but if you can afford it, this may be the way for you.

I made a trip to Radio Shack and purchased a pack of momentary on/off switches. Part #275-1548. This is a normally closed switch, meaning when the switch is "up" the connection is made. When it is "down" there is no completed circuit.




What you will need:
Momentary On/Off Switch
Ground wire:18 gauge (about 6 six feet)
Electrical Tape
Drill with bit slightly larger than the switch.
1 Self tapping screw.
Wire snake (coat hanger, mechanics wire) for easier wire routing.
No soldering iron is necessary but if you're an overachiever have at it.


Before disassembly eye ball the gap between the door panel and your dash, choose a prime location for your switch, if you aren't making any contact with the door panel your switch is useless, if you make too much contact you can end up with a broken switch or cracked side panel. I found a couple of washers that fit the diameter of the switch to act as shims in case I needed to mount it more toward the inside of the vehicle (in order to make ideal contact). It is always easier to place shims to "shorten" the switch, if you try installing it and find you don't have enough contact you will probably have to relocate your switch.


Disassemble your door panel


Notice the light socket and the two wires running to it. The driver's side ground on my car is brown...ish. Splice your ground wire into this wire, just strip a little back and wrap the stripped end of your ground around it, then tape.




You will be running your ground wire through the hole in the door where the bundle of wires comes through from the interior. (Yellow Circle)

(I took this picture from some other post, the guy was installing door speakers and showed his passenger side. I flipped to image so it all makes sense.)




Pry back the little rubber boot at the door hinge.




Pulling it back is easy with your hands just grab a side and work around it until it lets go. (Note: This picture is taken after the wire has been run through.)




Now run your wire through the hole and pull through.

(Note: At this point I went ahead and tested the ground to ensure the door light worked again...I then reinstalled the door panel to make adjustments to the switch a bit easier for later. (example: eye-balling the gap between the panels, before mounting switch)

Relieve your car of the under-dash panel to gain easier access by removing the torx screws holding it on. (The two directly beside the OBD-II port do not need to be removed.)




I don't have a picture of the panel removed or this next step because I'm writing this after the fact.

Notice where your wires run from the interior of the car and out. it's probably easiest to go from the inside to the rubber boot then pull the wire through.

You will be drilling a hole through the side dash panel in order to install the switch.

I mounted my switch about mid/top of the panel. I also placed a washer on the back side of the panel, this moved the switch inward a little so the door doesn't crush the switch when closed, only making enough contact to disrupt the connection.




Pop the panel off and install your switch.

You will then be connecting two wires to the switch: One coming from the light socket ground wire and the other will be going to bare metal to make the ground. (It doesn't matter where the wires go on the switch, just that they aren't making contact with each other)
I dilled a small hole and wrapped some stripped wire around the end to make my ground. (If you live in an area with high humidity, or if your sunroof drain tubes have failed before allowing water into your vehicle and you find light rusty coat on the metal, you may want to sand the area down where you are mounting the screw for optimal contact.)




Strip the two remaining ends of your wires and connect them to your switch, wrap your tape around making sure no contact is made between the two wires.




Test switch by pressing it down with your finger and watching the light turn on and off.

Reinstall your door panel if you have not done so and under-dash panel. And enjoy your working door.

will this impact at all the car's tendency to think the doors are open or no and resulting alarms issues? Is that triggered off the switch in the lock assembly?

It is my finding that when a working door is open, the latch in the lock assembly triggers the microswitch and a circuit is completed, effectively grounding out the system allowing the door light to come on / door chime to work, etc. If the microswitch is broken it does not allow the circuit to complete because it cannot "ground out". The door pin method seems to be a bypass of the microswitch, still acting as the microswitch was originally intended therefore having no adverse or negative impacts on the system. If at some point in time the microswitch begins to work again they will not interfere with each other because they are both just ground circuits.

YESSS... finally what I have been looking for. I glued my window because I had it drop in the door so the other switch fix would not work for me. This is what I need!!

Thank you!

Nice fix, good work.

spooge1 said:

It is my finding that when a working door is open, the latch in the lock assembly triggers the microswitch and a circuit is completed, effectively grounding out the system allowing the door light to come on / door chime to work, etc. If the microswitch is broken it does not allow the circuit to complete because it cannot "ground out". The door pin method seems to be a bypass of the microswitch, still acting as the microswitch was originally intended therefore having no adverse or negative impacts on the system. If at some point in time the microswitch begins to work again they will not interfere with each other because they are both just ground circuits.

Click to expand...

very cool. taking apart that door is a royal PITA..

well done!

yes.....finally a door switch that makes sense....american style, i really hated them dam micro-switches, this is just a simple door switch, not over engineered......k.i.s.s (keep it super simple) THANKYOU

FYI, i used one of those switches for a while as the on/off switch for my onboard computer.

It wore out rather quickly.

im sure any american door pin switch could be used in its place, they are designed for repetative use???

puter said:

FYI, i used one of those switches for a while as the on/off switch for my onboard computer.
It wore out rather quickly.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I primarily used this switch because Radio Shack is just around the corner, it comes in a 4 pack, and the panel is easy to pop off in case the switch needs to be replaced.

zukvw said:

im sure any american door pin switch could be used in its place, they are designed for repetative use???

Click to expand...

Good Point, just make sure you have enough clearance between the panel other dash components, a quick search pulled up these door pins a majority of them seem rather lengthy.

either way, this is definitely easier than ripping your door panel off, every time theres a problem...

This should be a sticky...

So the interior lights now come on when you open the door? I'm just a little surprised that with that wiring the car is really recognizing the door state.

I'm confused.


Does this mod only operate the puddle light? What about the interior lights? What about the alarm? What about the nifty window down feature using the key?

I don't think this is a replacement to the actual fix.

NB_TDi said:

I'm confused.


Does this mod only operate the puddle light? What about the interior lights? What about the alarm? What about the nifty window down feature using the key?

I don't think this is a replacement to the actual fix.

Click to expand...

I think the best test is the interior lights. The alarm can appear to be functioning, when in fact if you had a break-in thru the affected door the alarm would not sound, and the window down feature will work with a switch reporting closed continually because the lock module still works (at least, mine did for years).

I too, however, believe this is a convenient partial band-aid unless I'm missing something...if the ECU indeed doesn't know if the door is open or closed, someone could take the on-off switch idea a step further and refine the wiring.

Everything will still work as if it were new with this method...if your driver's door is open you cannot lock the car, you can still operate the windows with a key in the door, if your lights are on and the door is open your car will give you the "flat line" chime, and your interior lights will work accordingly as the door opens and closes. If the door is closed and locked and the door is opened the alarm will sound.

Could you possibly pull the puddle light from the door panel and tap a wire from ground to metal so it always shows as door closed and make an even simpler (but not correct) fix?

i would even go so far as to lose the puddle light altogether if it meant the doors signaled always closed (I don't care about the lights or buzzer).

gcodori said:

Could you possibly pull the puddle light from the door panel and tap a wire from ground to metal so it always shows as door closed and make an even simpler (but not correct) fix?
i would even go so far as to lose the puddle light altogether if it meant the doors signaled always closed (I don't care about the lights or buzzer).

Click to expand...

Actually grounding the wire would make the car think the door is always open. With a working door in the closed position the factory microswitch is in the "open" position, not completing the ground circuit making the car see the door is closed. When the door is opened the latch contacts the microswitch completing the circuit and the car now can see the door is open. If your microswitch has gone bad, just simply don't do the fix. Hope this helps.

spooge1 said:

Actually grounding the wire would make the car think the door is always open. With a working door in the closed position the factory microswitch is in the "open" position, not completing the ground circuit making the car see the door is closed. When the door is opened the latch contacts the microswitch completing the circuit and the car now can see the door is open. If your microswitch has gone bad, just simply don't do the fix. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I'm having the door always open issue with my new beetle. I was able to fix the issue by pulling fuse 14 - this killed the interior lights and the remote locks but everything else works.

So your switch solution causes the switch to close, thus grounding out the circuit? If so, is there a way to eliminate the switch to keep the circuit complete and the door "closed"?

I hope that came out clearly.

Sounds as if your microswitch may be stuck constantly grounding, try spraying some lube down at the bottom portion of your latch, open and close it a couple of times, this may release it, otherwise you may have to track down and snip the wire that runs to the switch. Then your door would be "closed" constantly.

My issue started with the door signaling open while driving - any large bump on the road would trigger the lights and buzzer. Usually unlocking and locking the door would help, but that wore off and now it's stuck buzzing. The area you are talking about to spray - is that on the side of the door when opened? When people say lock I think where the key goes...

Also, would cutting the ground wire to the puddle lamp do the same thing as cutting the micro-switch wire? It seems to be the same as what you are doing with the pushbutton, but just permanent instead of with a switch. I'll have to figure something out as pulling the fuse #14 also killed my power windows (didn't check that yesterday...grrrr).

Also, would your solution even help? If my micro-switch is stuck grounded, how will "ungrounding" another location over-ride the stuck micro-switch?

Assume the only problem is a stuck micro-switch, each switch as two wires, if one of the two wires gets cut the switch will no longer be grounding out to anything. To the car, your door will no longer be "open". I have not tried snipping the ground to the light, although it does make sense if it is all tied together. You really have nothing to lose if you want to cut the ground after reinstalling your fuse to see if this fixes your problem since you don't mind not having a light or chime etc...

I'm at work and I don't have access to any electrical tape to make any repairs if do any snipping - how about just pulling the plug on the puddle lights? Does the positive wire still need to be attached? My knowledge of electrical circuits leaves much to be desired.

Greg

Here's a status update - Yesterday I put back in the fuse #14 (interior lights/power windows/door locks) - door was back to normal. Removed the puddle light modules from the drivers door. Drove and acted normally. Today I hit a bump and the chime went off until I hit the lock/unlock button. I'm guessing the passenger switch is the faulty one.

I noticed that the puddle light module has a diode (1n4004?) across the leads of the unit. I'm guessing the VW was aware of the grounding issue and installed the diode to complete the circuit if the bulb blows or if removed. So I removed the bulbs and removed the diode (pried up one leg of the diode and folded it back) from both puddle lights. I then reinstalled the puddle lights. I'll updated everyone if there are any issues.

I think with the fact that my door is triggered by bumps, I have a loose wire or bad solder joint that can be knocked loose when driving. Not sure if installing the door switch to complete the circuit can over-ride the fact that the circuit can be broken from bumps.

I just did this on my girl friends car last night. Had a few hiccups as the #14 fuse was misplaced (need to get her some spares) so I cant verify everything yet. However, when I tested all the switches, the trunk/gas switch did not work. Could it be that I switched the connections for those switches when putting the door panel back on? Or would that #14 fuse control those switches as well?

I dont have a Bentley and have not owned a Jetta in 2 years sadly, so my skills are rusty.

As my post above stated - I replaced the #14 fuse I removed. The power windows and remote lock would not work. I would guess the gas filler cap would not work either as the switch is located on the door (controlled by the #14 fuse).

I did a slight variation of the method discussed in this thread, except I did not install a switch - just allowed the ground to be open. I have had less problems but I still get the occasional glitch.

I looked at the car again today when she came by. I replaced the #14 fuse and was able to get the electronics working again, but the "door ajar" buzzer is still there and no remote locking ability (because it thinks the door is open). Any suggestions? I have been rattling my brain around it and would hate to take it to the shop. We dont have much free time and the shop may be our only option. Any help would be really really appreciated so as not to spend more $ than needed.

Most likely a constant ground somewhere, most likely in the microswitch inside the door frame. If you have to go inside the door you're better off just changing the microswitch anyway. Sorry

spooge1 said:

If you just want the car to think the door is always closed (beware that keys can be locked in the car this way) just splice into the ground wire on the vanity light and ground it to the body.

Click to expand...

I tried that and nothing changed. I ended up having the dealer swap it out due to future mother-in-law visit (I had no time). I asked the tech about the original lock/actuator and he said that the switch was broken and that the circuit board was shorted out. They already threw the old part in the dump before I got there to see for myself

Alternate method works great!

Thanks Spooge, this fix is just what I like. Quick, easy, and very effective. I recommend it highly!