Dome light does not come on when I open the drivers side door

[dae06]

I just had a local auto body shop repair all the rust on my car through the VW warranty. When I got my car back (one month later), the dome light would not come on when opening the drivers side door. It does come on for the other doors though. The auto body shop said it is most likely the micro switch on the latch, but because VW says that this is a very common issue, the shop doesn't feel its something they should have to fix it. They contacted VW and the dealership can fix it for $375.00.

Prior to the rust repair, I had no issues with the dome light, however I have had issues with the drivers side window prior to the rust repair and am hoping someone here can tell me if this is switch related also.

When I lift the window up lever, there are 2 stages:

1. Half way up I can control when to start and stop the window while going up.
2. If I pull it all of the way up for ~1 sec, the window should roll all of the way up by itself. This is the function that I have been having issues with. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. Could this also be switch related?

I've seen the 46 page post on this from back in 2004, but is there any other option to fix this? I'm still unsure how to replace the micro switch and not even sure if the replacement is still available along with the fact the post is referring to MKV-A5 vehicles. I'm not sure these are the same as the MKV-A5's.

Would it we easier (but more expensive) to replace the whole latch? I'm hoping someone has done this repair on a MKV-A5.

BTW, I had my drivers side door wiring harness replaced 3 months earlier and noticed when I got the car back from the auto body shop, that the rubber boot that attached to the A-pillar of the car was broken. They did fix this since they had taken the doors off, but I'm not quite sure how they did that.?.? It is now tight to the A-pillar again. I'm just hoping they didn't cut any wires by accident.

Any help on repairing the door latch or micro switch on the MKV-A5's is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[chudzikb]

Door Harness is a known issue, I would start there.

 

[tdiatlast]

Even thought the shop "fixed" the rubber boot, I would agree that you should check out the door harness first.

 

[dae06]

Door Harness is a known issue, I would start there.

It was replaced 3 months ago. Did you see that in my post?

 

[RioWilson]

My money would be on the switch in the door handle itself. Known to fail on these cars. Mine has been intermittent for a long time. Sometimes the dome light comes on, sometimes it doesn't. I have learned to live with it...

 

[dae06]

My money would be on the switch in the door handle itself. Known to fail on these cars. Mine has been intermittent for a long time. Sometimes the dome light comes on, sometimes it doesn't. I have learned to live with it...

I can definitely live with it, but I've heard of issues with the alarm going off incidentally and the door not locking or unlocking, one of the two(?). If this were to happen, I guess I would need to get it fixed.

I would hate for it to be the door harness, that was a lot of work to get fixed. Let's hope it's not

Thanks everyone.

 

[farfrumsanity]

Do you know for sure the harness was replaced? My drivers window acted erratically, then went down and would not go back up. I found the wire in the harness broken by pulling the individual wires, none of the insulation was broken, fixed the wire and the window works but now the drivers door does not see it is open, no dome light and it locks with the door open after accessing the trunk. The harness can have multiple failures, and if I recall there are 3 upgraded harness numbers.

 

[dae06]

Do you know for sure the harness was replaced? My drivers window acted erratically, then went down and would not go back up. I found the wire in the harness broken by pulling the individual wires, none of the insulation was broken, fixed the wire and the window works but now the drivers door does not see it is open, no dome light and it locks with the door open after accessing the trunk. The harness can have multiple failures, and if I recall there are 3 upgraded harness numbers.

Yes, I did it myself.

When the boot was loose, I did check for any loose wires and did not see anything cut or loose.