Driver's door central locking switch intermittent.

[murcod]

Has anyone else had the problem of the central locking switch in the driver's door (the one on the same panel as the electric window switches) failing to work intermittently?

I've had the problem before and pulled the panel assy apart as much as possible. I discovered the actual rocker part you press on to lock/ unlock isn't a rocker switch at all. That part has some plastic tabs on it that operate two tiny microswitches that are mounted on a printed circuit board underneath it. Needless to say it's not surprising that those tiny switches fail after a while.

It is also impossible to get to the switches without doing some major desoldering and disassembly. Last time I forced open the panel assy and managed to spray in some contact cleaner. That fixed it for a couple of months.

[murcod]

It's baaaaaaaack!

I pulled the entire control panel apart this time - the hardest bit was getting the window lockout switch top off to gain access inside.

Below is a pic of the circuit board, that little black square thing just above the steel ruler (in the bottom right hand corner with "swb lock" written next to it) is the lock switch. Yes, it's microscopic and measures all of around 5mm x 5mm. No wonder it failed!



I've ordered a similar replacement microswitch- but it won't be a straight swap. Standby for the outcome....

[XL7Limited]

mines fine but I am prolly gonna be doing this someday

[murcod]

I don't know if I was just unlucky? That switch in ours does get used a fair bit- especially when the wife drives with our baby in the back.

I tested the switch and it was barely working- it would sometimes just work at the full travel of the plunger (unlike the unlock switch which worked every time and sooner in the plunger's travel.)

I've found some similar sized replacement mircoswitches made by Omron (D2MQ-4L-1-R), but won't be able to solder them directly into the board due to them having a different pin out. I've got an idea on how to do it by mounting them into the top section directly below the switch itself. I should be able to rig something up that will work.

[murcod]

It's fixed.

I ended up mounting the above pictured microswitch into the plastic top panel that contains all the plastic buttons/ switches that you press with your fingers. The rocker switch lever hits on the new microswitch nicely (I've wired it in place using stainless wire through the two mount holes in the switch body and drilled two tiny holes though the panel to wire it through.) I then ran two wires externally and soldered them into the PCB where the broken switch was located.

It sounds messy, but you wouldn't know it's modded because all the stuff I did is hidden inside the switch assembly or under the door trim- and it works just like new.

I can upload pics if anyone is interested?

Fingers crossed that it's a long term fix.