red door lights

[Graham F]

ah the joys of the Excel, two new tyres, new door seals (maybe stopped the leak we will have to see) sailed thru the MOT - could it be better? With the sun out I thought lets take the old girl for a spin - nope - flat battery! She's charging up right now but I suspect it is the wee red lights in the door staying on. Sounds thick but how can i get them to go off because to date they keep staying on the whole time? All help gratefully received - Graham

[amarshall]

If they're stuck on - the main suspect would be the push to break switches near the door hinges - apparently they can stick, but your interior light would usually stay on if that was the problem.

Simplest way to get them off is to remove the bulbs until you have time to investigate the switches.

It could also be faulty delay unit in amongst the relays, but these tend to fail "safe" when they fill up with rust and water.

[Graham F]

thanks Angus, the interior light stopped working after the alarm was fitted - so ney joy there! but having fiddled for a while I think the problem is a sticky switch on the drivers side, it goes in and out Ok but doesn't always work - in the sort term I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it is always off before locking the car up! Many thanks - Graham

[mds666]

alarm fitters alwase put a blody scotch lock in the light circuit... take a look see if they have ballesed it up...

[Tanz]

I had the same problem when I got my Excel and looking at the cars history - so did the previous owner (history of flat batteries). The door was not pushing the plunger switch in enough to switch off the light. I tried to adjust it by turning the nut to make the swithc come out more but no joy. The problem is the door card /trim is used to push the switch in. The round plastic 'button' on the trim gradually gets pushed into the soft trim so it dosen't push the switch properly. As a tempory measure (1 year so far ) i cut some bits of insulation tape and built up a thick layer on top of the plastic button in the trim to make it push the switch in further. No problem ever since. What I need is a black plasic counter the same size I can glue on top of the old one,

Cheers,

Phil

[amarshall]

Phil - what about removing the button from the door and then packing it from behind with a washer or similar ? ISTR it's just a push fit trim button anyway.


i.e.
+
+ | )
======|= )
+ | )
+ button head
door washer
card

[Tanz]

Cheers Angus! I will have a look at that. It only needs to come out about half a mil. I will let you know how I get on,

Phil

[Graham F]

sounds like a plan off to find a plastic wasjher tomorrow

[AndyC]

My lights have a delay module, could that be why you think they're not going off / switch is not always working?

Andy

[redbeetlepaul]

I was having this problem up until about a week ago, my battery would constantly drain.... overnight. I spoke to a guy at SJ, he was very helpful and suggested i replaced the relay rather than the door switches. I did this and now i dont seem to have a problem!