Verifying door latch failure

Hi All
I wanted to verify this is a door latch failure on a 15 Passat - most of what I've read here and elsewhere says that this is common in rear doors, but I havent seen much in passenger side front doors, where my issue is. The symptoms are similar, but not exact...
1- dome lights won't turn off unless I lock the car while it's parked. The doors do lock.
2- When I put the card in drive, the dome lights don't go off until I hit a certain speed, and again, the doors do lock.
3- Every so often, the door switch shows closed on the MFD (where it usually shows open)
4- The remote works


Is there anything else I need to know before diagnosis? Also, is this the part? How hard is it to change? Would I need a VagCom tool?
https://www.idparts.com/door-lock-module-right-mk6mk7nms-p-10723.html

Thank you

The symptms you mention definitely point to door latch. The picture you posted looks like a door latch, but I'm not sure if it's the right latch for the one giving you problems. Can you tell which door is the issue?

A scan tool will allow you to "see" all the microswitch positions in all the doors. That is really the only way to verify the problem. Unless you want to take everything apart and start checking circuits pin by pin, and even then you'll at some point hit a dead end since there are low voltage (signal) checks you'll be unable to do anyway.

If I had to guess, I'd say the latch, but I wouldn't want to guess on something that expensive and that time consuming to replace.

roni024 said:

The symptms you mention definitely point to door latch. The picture you posted looks like a door latch, but I'm not sure if it's the right latch for the one giving you problems. Can you tell which door is the issue?

Click to expand...

I've isolated the door to front passenger door by opening and closing all of them several times. Is it possible that another door is the issue?

Oilhammer, I think it's time that I invest in some sort of scan tool. I know your a pro - is there a model that you'd reccomend for an owner who falls in a "less than hobbyist" but "more than casual" category?

VCDS.

Cheap, easy to use, works great, nothing else like it for the money.

www.ross-tech.com

I wish I could have a scan tool software of that level for every make I service.

Does your info center show the front passenger door as the one being open/closed when it is not? If so, that's your culprit. There is no VCDS coding required to replace the door latch, but, as oilhammer mentioned, it would assist in troubleshooting.

As far as replacement procedure, get a set of plastic prybars made for working on car interiors. Remove the interior door panel (a few screws and some clips that will most likely need replacement), the door handle and the door jamb lock screw. Then, you can maneuver the latch out. I would say it's more tricky than difficult. I'm sure a quick search of this forum would yield a good tutorial for you to use.

also shut off that "automatic door lock feature", it's prematurely killing your switches.

740GLE said:

also shut off that "automatic door lock feature", it's prematurely killing your switches.

Click to expand...

740, I just spent some time looking through the owners manual looking for automatic door lock. I couldn't find it, I did find automatic unlock settings (for example, unlocking all of the doors when the unlock button is pushed on the fob). Is that something I need to get the VCDS in order to code?
Thank you

It is something you need VCDS to code out, disable the seat belt chime while your at it!

Also disabling the auto lock will extend the fuel door lock actuator which will fail at about 5 years/60K mile. The cheap fix for that one is just unplugging the cable to the actuator so it never locks in the first place.

All: Thanks for the help. Confirmed bad latch assembly. My car has 39K, VW covered the part under warranty after talking with them. Dealer hit me for a hundred and change to swap it out, which I believe is fair. My garage isn't heated, and with my fairly low skill set I was a little nervous about breaking the plastic in the cold.

More importantly - Oil, I'm ordering the $199 version of the VCDS later today.