When door is ajar, no buzzer or dome light

[ltvarney]

Hi guys,

On my 1991 TSi I get no warning buzzer and the interior and dome lights do not function when I open either door. If I pop open the hatch, the interior lights do illuminate. I've lived with this since I acquired the vehicle several years ago.

I've checked all fuses and believe them to be OK. In desperation, I ordered and have installed the door ajar sensors from the local dealer. These are the sensors I replaced:

http://www.machv.com/1gdsmdoajswk.html

Following that, I've just spent 2 hours searching here but have found no post that gave me anything else to check . One thing I noticed is that for some reason the car is still able to sense when the door is open and closed since the passenger belt will retract when that door is opened.

I'm open to and deeply appreciate any suggestions you may offer.
Larry

 

[turboholic]

-Did you check out the switches by the rear view mirror?

 

[ltvarney]

Yep, if I have the center switch activated (the one labeled with a dot), the dome light does function when the hatch is popped. The light around the ignition and the lights under the dash also illuminate when I pop the hatch.

 

[AWDPetmitsu]

Maybe there is a problem with the wiring for the door ajar switches.

 

[1992LaserRSAWD]

I have the exact same problem with my car. It would be nice to know the problem.

 

[1992LaserRSAWD]

Oh yeah and mine will work every once in a great while.

 

[Defiant]

The usual repair is just sanding the contact in those switches you replaced. If grounding that wire doesn't turn on the lights, check the instrument panel for a missing or burned-out bulb on the indicator, and make sure your dome light selector switch isn't in the "off" position.

Beyond that, you're down to schematic-reading and circuit testing.

 

[ltvarney]

Maybe there is a problem with the wiring for the door ajar switches.

That's what I'm starting to think. Problem is, the wires seem to run from the switch up into the body. From there, I don't know where they go to. Knowing where they meet the wiring harness would help me troubleshoot it or if I had to, run new wires.

 

[ltvarney]

The usual repair is just sanding the contact in those switches you replaced. If grounding that wire doesn't turn on the lights, check the instrument panel for a missing or burned-out bulb on the indicator, and make sure your dome light selector switch isn't in the "off" position.

Beyond that, you're down to schematic-reading and circuit testing.

Thanks Defiant. I'll give it a go and report back.

 

[turboholic]

That's what I'm starting to think. Problem is, the wires seem to run from the switch up into the body. From there, I don't know where they go to. Knowing where they meet the wiring harness would help me troubleshoot it or if I had to, run new wires.

-The wires run between the floor just a little bit then they come in under the carpet, they run along both side below the seat toward the front. PM me your address if you need the pictograph of how the harness is routed. I try to post them here but to meet the rule, I have to shrink them down too much that's unlegible

 

[ltvarney]

Everything seems to be alright as far as I can tell, so I am down to tracing wires now.

turboholic-you're getting a PM. Thanks man!

 

[turboholic]

Everything seems to be alright as far as I can tell, so I am down to tracing wires now.

-You got mails.

 

[crankbender]

I will try and dig into the electrical diagrams for my car (90) and see if there is a relay for the interior lights that is different for the hatch...

This is truly weird. Do you have the factory alarm and does it work? It may be your alt fusable link located under the hood frontmost link kinda in the corner of the box.

 

[mitch83]

well you just answered your on ? you think your door is a jar sheesh. I'm sorry dude I had to do it. I dont normally jack threads but I thought that was funny sorry again .
mitch

 

[punka44]

I'd the same problem witm my 91 Eclipse. I was trying found a problem by myself, but only spent hours to find the problem and no answer. I put my car to my electrician a he did it for half an hour. He sad, that the problem was in the wires, they have been wiring incorretct. It happened, when somebody (I'm not the first owner) connect the alarm. Good luck !

 

[ltvarney]

I will try and dig into the electrical diagrams for my car (90) and see if there is a relay for the interior lights that is different for the hatch...

This is truly weird. Do you have the factory alarm and does it work? It may be your alt fusable link located under the hood frontmost link kinda in the corner of the box.

I don't have factory alarm on this one. Still think it might be the alt fusable link?

 

[ltvarney]

I'd the same problem witm my 91 Eclipse. I was trying found a problem by myself, but only spent hours to find the problem and no answer. I put my car to my electrician a he did it for half an hour. He sad, that the problem was in the wires, they have been wiring incorretct. It happened, when somebody (I'm not the first owner) connect the alarm. Good luck !

Prior owner might have had an alarm on her. I didn't think about that. You've given me something else to check! We have a good electrical shop about 5 minutes from my house, I'll probably take it there if I have to. I'm going to do some more digging under the dash and under the carpet before it comes to that though since I hate people touching my car that are not DSMers.

I'll let you guys know once I figure this out. Maybe it will help someone else. I am going to have some time to spend on this Sunday after my sister's open house. I have to get a multimeter yet since I didn't take any mech classes this semester. Just once I wish I could have an easy problem to ask for help on like "driveshaft thump" or "moisture in headlight", or even "why is my engine ticking".

Thanks everyone!

 

[ltvarney]

I've still had no luck getting this going. Been finishing up the other 1G and now it finally runs, although I can't get the ACT2600 to disengage all the way. Is there some kind of junction box where all these wires meet up to different fuses or fusible links? I have a suspicion the doors might be wired together and the hatch separately but I can't find where they meet up and working under the dash is like playing with razors.

 

[Zenja]

I have the same problem, except that mine works on some days and not others. It's no big deal but I really don't like having things not working how they're supposed to, especially when I can't explain it.

 

[ltvarney]

I feel the same way about it as you. This would probably fix yours: http://www.dsm.org/menu.epl?item=336. When you close the doors enough times, it's probably knocking the corrosion off.

I am feeling a little better now since I now think my problem is the solenoid that the switches control. When my door switches rusted out they probably killed it somehow. Or maybe it just got old and died.

Anyway I followed all the wiring diagrams from turboholic and that looks like the only part that could fail since everything else works now (door ajar light, buzzer works now also). It's the part in the manual called "door light relay". I also notice that when I push the button, I never hear the solenoid activate. When I got home today I looked at my 2G and noticed when I push the button by hand, I hear the solenoid click.

I think this solenoid/relay is either in the trim panels in the rear or under the passenger seat. I can't really tell from the wiring diagram. When I feel brave I will dig in there and take a look.

 

[Aikouka]

Mine doesn't work all the time, but if I reach down and jiggle the sensor it will usually turn on. At one point, I jiggled it just right so it was working for a couple days in a row every time, but then it stopped working. The sensor's probably bad, but I'm not entirely sure how to take it out, and I don't want to ruin anything, so I've left it alone for now.