Andreas B

In the past few weeks when I close my driver side door, the indicator in the instrument cluster thinks the door is still open. I also get the door open chime, and the console light stays lit.

I have to open and close the door repeatedly, sometimes 20 - 30 times before the sensor will finally detect that the door is closed. Additionally, I can tell when this happens if I'm outside of the car because arming the alarm will lock the doors, but will not beep, and the console light stays on. I've noticed that occasionally I will fail to notice that it's on, and it's slowly draining my battery.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that it's quite embarrassing and frustrating sitting in a parking lot opening and closing my door.

I've always been gentle with the door, and don't ever slam it.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, I found a few posts in the archives mentioning similar problems, but I don't know where the door switch is located to check whether it is intact or broken.

Thank you,
Andreas

quattrofrog

1.4t ???

Angry Alex

yo, answer you IM's dawg.

quattrofrog

whats up or wrong?

Andreas B

Erm, that's 1.8t... Mis-typed

quattrofrog

I think its actually IN the door. not on the door jambs like the rear doors

quattrofrog

Take your door panel off and its inside the door itself.

Andreas B

Thanks, I'll check it out.

quattrofrog

on the passenger side. use a screw driver to push the lock mechanism in the door closed...

I'm talking about the tooth that clicks into the U joint welded to the chassis that keeps the door locked shut.

CLick the tooth back to the locked or closed position as it would be when the door is shut.

DO this to the passenger side.... see if the car thinks the door is shut.

Try it with the drivers side later on, see if the car does the same ****....

Then you know if the car's sensor is on the locking mechansim and in the door.

Andreas B

When I push the latch in, it initially doesn't think the car is locked. It seems like the latch itself is not quite tight enough, it wiggles back and forth a bit. When I first tried locking, it didn't work. Then I moved the latch over about a millimeter, locked and unlocked, and it thought the door was closed. It looks like some of the black plastic around the latch is wearing down. Also, since I didn't use a screwdriver, my fingers are now dirty

At least I now know what the problem is, and will just have to get around to taking off the panel and trying to tighten the latch. It's a bit warm out here in Atlanta, and I don't feel like sweating at the moment.

Thank you very much for putting me on the right track.