Drivers door on 2000 Jetta won't lock properly

jrip

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2005
Location
Fort Worth, TX
TDI
Jetta, 2000, Blue, TOTALED, Jetta, 2002, Green
I have a 2000 Jetta TDI and am having problems getting the door locks to operate correctly.

When I shut the drivers door the interior lights remain on and the buzzer keeps sounding. Even after I start the car.

When I shut the car off and exit the vehicle everything seems fine except the interior lights remain on. I can also not lock the car with the key fob.

If I slam the drivers door when shutting it everything works like it should. I would assume that the door switch is loose, but when I look, I cannot find a door switch.:confused:

The key fob will always unlock everything if it's locked, but will not always lock unless I slam the drivers door.

Can someone please explain how this system works and where I need to be looking to fix it.

Thanks in advance for all the good info that I know will come pouring in.
 

tdi_allan

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2003
Location
Chicago, IL
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon, 2003 Jetta Sedan (Lemons racer), 2010 Touareg
Your car has microswitches inside of the door latch mechanism instead of an old-school door swtich. The door switch is telling the computer the door is open when in fact it is not. You can do one of two things:

1) replace the driver's door latch, which contains the electronics that tells the computer the door is closed. The latch is a little pricey, so if price is an issue, go to option 2...

2) search for "Stupid door latch $3 fix" or something like that for a comprehensive post about how to fix this common A4 VW problem. This post also has (or has links to) the procedure for removing/replacing the door latch. Its not as simple as it could be...you have been warned.

I chose option 1 and had help (lots of it actually, thanks MiksTDI!) - as a bonus my somewhat misaligned door is now a lot less misaligned and doesn't annoy me at high speed anymore.

Hope this helps...
 

jrip

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2005
Location
Fort Worth, TX
TDI
Jetta, 2000, Blue, TOTALED, Jetta, 2002, Green
tdi_allan said:
Your car has microswitches inside of the door latch mechanism instead of an old-school door swtich. The door switch is telling the computer the door is open when in fact it is not. You can do one of two things:

Hope this helps...
Allan, Thanks so much. It looks like a big pain in the rear, but not something that is better left to others. I'll be heading to Radio Shack first thing in the morning for the switch, and then to VW for the window clip repair kit. I'm not having a window problem yet, but I can just imagine how slamming the door is helping the window clips. Might as well do the whole thing in one swoop and be done with it. :D
 

posterChild

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Location
Michigan
TDI
2000 Black Jetta GL
For the curious, like me, here is the forum post discussed in solution #2. I'm having some wiggy behavior with my doors sometimes not locking so, after finding the link, I figured I'd post it for anyone else who wanted to read up on the options.

Cheers,

posterChild
 
Top