Bypassing the interior light switch

GTE

Hey all.

The switch that selects the operation of the interior lights when the door is open hasn't worked since I bought the car.

I have this plan in my head to rewire certain wires so that the switch is bypassed and effectively always in the "Light comes on when door is open" setting.

Im thinking of it as I type and it needs more thought then first realised so does anyone know of any way I could do this?
I thought I could snip two wires and connect them but that not going to do anything at all.

So now I think I need to put new wires into the switch area to mimic what the switch would do.

The car is a Mark 4 VW Golf.

Odd question I know but I thought I may as well ask.:pac:

Thanks

Slidey

Would it not be easier to just get a 2nd hand switch?

It might save a lot of bother. How do you know it is not the sensors on the door that are faulty?

GTE

Slidey wrote: »

Would it not be easier to just get a 2nd hand switch?

It might save a lot of bother. How do you know it is not the sensors on the door that are faulty?

It would be easier but not as fun haha. Im in the beginning of my 3 month summer holidays so Im itching for things to do.

The switch is completely gone. I think I have asked about it here before in relation to short circuiting, the switch is meant to be a weak design and I found my switch in the glove box, then there were constant fuse blowing problems and it turns out one of the metal plates in the switch housing had come loose and was shorting the circuit. The switch is defo gone at the very least, though I know the door mircoswitches arent wonderfully robust either.

muckwarrior

bbk wrote: »

I have this plan in my head to rewire certain wires so that the switch is bypassed and effectively always in the "Light comes on when door is open" setting.

Would that not mean that the light never goes off?

GTE

muckwarrior wrote: »

Would that not mean that the light never goes off?

No, I dont think so. If I can wire it a certain way it will do the same job as if the switch was in the "door open, light on" setting. The way it is now I have no switch since it fell apart.

Unless Im missing something.

Masada

You could do that very easily by soldering together the two contacts in the domelight switch itself. id rather fix it properly though and have it fully functional tbh.,

PADRAIC.M

yeah and that door switch is a single wire switch which earths through the body when the the door is open, another switch is only option really, leave it disconnected and light stays off,earth it and its always on..

GTE

Thanks for the replies.

I took it off and to my delight I saw a PCB with all the connections on it which I didnt expect. It was a simple case of soldering a wire to the two points needed as Masada said.

It took a minute or two of working out which one was which but with the switch mechanism gone as I said before I could see what was going on.

Finally, the lights work when the door open and they fade out normally and switch off after a minute after the keys are taken out.

Though, as I expected the front passenger door microswitch doesnt work so the lights dont come on with that door. Oh well. I wont go near getting that fixed because it seems to be a bitch of a job.

Thanks all


EDIT:

Btw, I was changing the courtesy bulb over the mirror in the sun visor and I blew the fuse. The idiot I am, I used the key to take the bulb out.

Oddly the Boot Open dash light came on in or around the time when the fuse blew. That yoke hasnt been working for months since the rear window washer leaked.

I just took the fuse out again and the dash light came back on and when I closed the doors of the car the light dimmed. It did this once before just after the water leaked from the washer and then it finally died.

Odd.