electrical lighting windows craziness

[janejb]

ok, this is complicated, but here goes....

I have a 2002 golf, and everything went haywire a few days ago. The right rear running light had burned out so I went to the auto store to replace it, I removed the burned out bulb and took it with me, and then tried to lock the car with my remote button key, which didn't work for the first time. (the light on the remote key still comes on so it's batteries are working)
I replaced the bulb and started the car, the door ajar chime started even though there were no open doors and then when I turned on the headlights it went into a solid beep. meanwhile we checked the lights to make sure they were all working and the left rear brake light had just burned out. so back into the store, replaced that bulb, the noise happened again when starting the car, but all the lights were working so drove home, the noise went away, but now none of the windows work at all. And the car continously unlocks itself. I have to use the physical key, but when I go to lock the car I turn the key once and all doors lock and immediately unlock, the second time I lock it the drivers door locks and the rest remain unlocked.

Does anyone have any ideas about what might be happening?

 

[TDICADDGUY]

Time to call an exorcist?

In all seriousness though, I think the problems you are having are separate issues that just happened to occur all at once. It sounds to me like the switch/sensor whatever that indicates the door is open is not functioning correctly. All behaviors you describe are consistent with normal behavior when the drivers door is actually open.

Aside from my general car and mechanical knowledge, I know nothing specific about problems that crop up on these cars. But I doubt the main problem you are experiencing has anything to do with the bulbs that burned out and were replaced.

Good luck.

ON EDIT: I just re-read your post and just noticed that you stated the windows were inoperative. Do they not work at all under any circumstances? Not sure what would cause that but your other problem still sounds like a door sensor gone bad.

 

[puter]

Also check for coolant creep. From what I understand it can cause all sorts of nasty electrical anomalies.

 

[jockk]

i had something similar with windows going up and down, turned out to be a bad earth at the battery,

 

[janejb]

thanks! I was wondering if it was a coincidence that everything went all at once,
I have a couple of questions about some of the advice-
"coolant creep" I'm assuming you mean leaks, but do you actually mean leaking and wicking into electrical wiring components- any specific places in the engine I should check?

thanks again!

 

[dieseldorf]

Jane:

 

[puter]

thanks! I was wondering if it was a coincidence that everything went all at once,
I have a couple of questions about some of the advice-
"coolant creep" I'm assuming you mean leaks, but do you actually mean leaking and wicking into electrical wiring components- any specific places in the engine I should check?

thanks again!

like dieseldorf was hinting with his picture, if you pull the connector on your coolant res. and look at it, it should be dry. If it is wet or there is coolant pooling, you have coolant creep. It's definitely not good news, it is a major repair.

 

[janejb]

hi -

thanks again - i checked the coolant connector this evening and it looks very clean and dry-
but.... i drove this evening to do a few errands and noticed that none of the interior lights work either, all of the exterior lights work, but none of the interior- to which mystery error would this be more likely to be connected to? I'm guessing the door lock, since I found a post on this forum about a switch in the door that seemed to be related to locking issues and interior lights.
my mechanic thinks it'll be ~300 parts and labor to replace the driver door mechanism, can I expect that to fix the interior lights as well?

thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it and it's helping me to learn and understand a little bit more about how my car's put together- if it's not too much trouble could someone explain briefly how the coolant creep could cause mystery electrical problems?

 

[Woody86]

Sounds like its a microswitch in one of your doors. Mine went a couple weeks ago in my hatch. Identical symptoms. Power windows not working, constant beep with lights on because the vehicle thinks the door is open. This is also why you can't lock the doors from the fob, it thinks the door is open so it won't arm!

Interesting coincidence.. mine happened when I was replacing a taillight bulb as well

Mine was still under warranty so I took it in and watched VW fix it, the most popular DIY option seems to be http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=77648&highlight=door+microswitch

If you are doing it yourself, also check the wiring harness as I've read of a few cases where the switch was fine, but the connector itself had corroded and was causing similar problems

 

[janejb]

hi again- I thought I'd let you all know.....
this was seeming like a job beyond my capabilities so I took it into my mechanic, and it was a fuse. Just not one of the one's I checked. But some large circuit that connected all of my issues.