308 GTS door light issues

You really have touched on a sore point here!

Yes, I have had this problem in my '84 QV...

Here is what I have come up with:

1. The 'door jamb switches' are currently NLA
2. The switches are fragile: Don't mess with them (too much, anyway)!
3. The wires that connect to the switches must be free to move 'in and out' freely as the button goes back and forth when the door is opened and closed. These are old and stiff so they actually stress the switch (by not moving)
4. The springs inside these switches get 'tired' and you cannot access them without modifying the switch
5. The rubber 'tunnel' bit that the wires are in has a hole at the SIDE and not the back. As such, the wires don't really go straight back and forth.
6. You can reach around and work these wires without major disassembly, but you need to have hands like Sergei Rachmaninoff and the wires are very stiff!

I've yet to come up with a fix that I have actually used (still debating the options), but my thoughts are as follows:

- Add a small washer to improve the contact
- Replace the wires with something that is very flexible and will move back and forth easily
- Rework the switch (several folk have done this... Notably "Martin the Handbrake LED guy") so that you can take it apart and improve the spring

As my car is a US model, I have two switches on the driver's side: The lower one has very flexible wires, the upper, very stiff... Not sure when this happened or if it is original.

Attached are some photographs that may help.

Best,

John.
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Similar problem on my QV. Left door light doesn't work. However, when I open the right door, the left door light comes alive

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So... it's the left switch that needs attention...

My driver's side switch has been giving me trouble for years and, after having a close look at it, I had the feeling that there would be a lot of other 308 owners facing the same problem.

A 'cheap and cheerful' solution would be to insert a piece of very flexible wire between the original stiff wire and the switch which should allow it to move back and forth freely. The trick in doing this would be to pull as much of the thick wire as possible back into the rubber to make room for the additional wire extension (there is not a lot of room for a bunch of wiring there).

My intention is to address this in coming weeks as time permits, so I will keep everyone up to speed in how I get on. Additionally, I would be very interested in what others come up with...

Best,

John.

 

Same issue here. I have to manually turn the white plunger on either door for my dome light to go on. Buzzer not working at all so not sure if buzzer or switch. I don't even know where this buzzer is located to start with that.

 

Being a tad detail orientated, I shall ramble on a bit...

Martin and I conversed on this and I mentioned some details on another thread, but shall save anyone interested the search and recount the critical bits here. Martin shared some photographs which I shall also share.

First, the washer...
- The benefit I see is to make better contact (OK, that may be questionable), but it also decreases the effective working distance such that a weak spring doesn't 'run out of steam' at the end of its travel to make electrical contact.
- How to mount it? Dead easy... First off, you get a split washer made of a conductive material and use two small pliers to open it up (bending the ends at the split up and down, as opposed to opening the entire washer). You then push the switch plunger completely in, i.e. as if the door was shut on it, rotate the washer 90 degrees such that the shaft of the plunger can be forced through the opening of the split, and finally use the pliers to clamp the opening you've made in the washer closed again (i.e., flatten it). Key to success is to find a washer that is the right size.

Modifying the switch...
- I managed to bugger one of mine, but not too badly. Basically, the metal bit with the tab broke away from the plunger bit that it is held to by the two bits of insulated material. In my own defense, I believe that this was already deteriorated by constant opening and closing of the driver's side door working the part against the very stiff wires. Repair was relatively simple via applying superglue to the shards of the insulating material and holding the metal bit against it. This worked however the tab no longer rotates.
- Martin shared a solution which I believe to be far better (see attached pictures and many thanks to Martin for sharing them with me). Looking at the attached, it should be fairly straightforward to see what has been done. The key advantage to this set-up is that you can disassemble the switch to stretch the spring when it gets tired.

Wiring...
- As mentioned, either someone replaced the wiring to my lower switch (the one that US cars have to operate a buzzer, which I have never heard go off in close to 25 years of ownership either!) or it came that way from the factory. This was red in color and moves back and forth easily, whereas the upper switch connected to a black wire (two actually that come together at the switch, making it even more rigid) which is extremely stiff and the main cause of the problem to my mind. A thought here is that perhaps the current drawn on the light circuit required a heavier gauge wire. In any event, all the switch does is to ground the circuit.
- With respect to accessing the wires, you have a couple of things working against you. First off the wire is stiff and not easily accessible and secondly, it enters the rubber at an angle (the hole being on the side). It is hard to describe how to reach around and get ahold of the wire without major disassembly, but it is possible. A hint is that it is possible to reach behind and grab the wires, working them carefully towards you by bending the rubber piece they go into. I can only imagine that the rubber piece would not be easy to remove without major damage to it.
- My thoughts are to use a flexible piece of wire as an extension between the connector on the original wire and the tab on the switch. Once I have it attached, I would work the wire from behind and pull it out of the rubber as far as possible to make enough room for the tab to move back and forth freely.

Another angle...
- If the wire is stiff, then it will not flex with the switch. So what if it doesn't need to flex, but must simply be able to move back and forth while keeping its rigidity? In this case, anything that impedes its movement is the source of the problem and needs to be fixed. This could be as simple as putting some suitable grease on the wire itself and around the hole in the rubber through which it passes. This is actually the next thing I plan to test...

Hope all the above helps those suffering the usual twiddling of the white knob, pushing, pulling, rotating, etc. to get the bloody thing to work properly!

Best,

John.
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Been a problem since the cars were new. The wires are too heavy a gauge for the spring to overcome reliably. Splice in a several inch long section of a lighter gauge wire, say a 12 gauge, pull the existing wire back far enough so that the spring only has to flex the smaller wire to work and the problems are over.

 

It is comical how we are willing to work for hours on the smallest of parts regarding our cars.

One of my switches (buzzer) has broken in half. I still have all the pieces and need to fix it.

I searched for Martin's repair thread but could not find it. If someone could post the link to Martin's thread, I'd appreciate it.

 

Brian C.,

These were my original thoughts...so the logic isn't flawed this time? Must be the one percentile...

Best,

John.

 

I do not think that Martin posted anything on this. I got into this as it was tangential to another thread and then took it off-line with Martin directly (not wanting to hijack that particular topic).

If you look at the picture that I got from Martin, you can see how he basically did some clever remanufacture of the original switch so that it could be disassembled.

 

On my 85 QV the buzzer is located behind the passenger footwell. I replaced it when I replaced the module to get the interior lights (delay) to work, but I still have never heard it.

 

There is a switch on the bottom of the steering lock to detect if the key in in the switch. 90% of those are either disconnected or removed. Also many have had the lock replaced. For some time the European locks were cheaper and often used. On the European lock there is no provision for that switch.

 

Makes sense. I have never seen wires on my steering lock other than the ignition switch on the back. Any idea what the European locks were? I would love to replace mine but the Neimans are all but impossible to find.

 

Spent many hours on this - mine had a broken wire on the RHS from flexing at the terminal. Fixed with solder, but the final piece of the puzzle was a good spray with silicone lube in the grommet. So far, so good...

 

Patrick,

Thanks for the input... This jives with "anything that impedes its movement is the source of the problem". Looks like I need to break out the silicone lube.

Best,

John.

 

I worked on this again today and thought to share...

- With the cover off and switches removed, I pulled the wires out a bit and sprayed the inside of the rubber tunnel/grommet liberally with Silicone Spray Lube.
- I then worked the wires in and out and they moved a LOT easier (through the hole at the back side of the rubber tunnel/grommet). Sprayed again and repeated the movement of the wires.
- When I was satisfied that there was a substantial difference such that the wires would move freely with the switch, I assembled everything.
- Pushing the buttons in by hand was a lot easier and the switches seemed to operate flawlessly.

As Patrick said, "So far, so good...".

Additionally, I firmly believe that adding the washer makes the switch a lot more reliable in making ground contact (especially with a weak spring). I still think that Martin's conversion is ultimately the best solution as it allows access to the springs to refresh or replace.

Best,

John.

 

I am going to try this. Do you know the diameter of the split washers you used?
If this doesn't work then I will try the wire extensions.

 

The buzzer is on the driver side. The lower one of the two switches.

 

maybe it´s the switch ... but also check the ground wire going through the lower door part
mine was broken somewhere in between, found the broken part only with a 12V test lamp by pinching the wire step by step ... until my lamp suddenly lit ... literally

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Sorry but I don't know the actual diameter.

- What you want ideally is a split washer that has an external diameter that is the same as the switch body (remember that this effectively becomes a part of the switch and it must fit through the hole in the cover!).

- The inside diameter of the washer must be sufficiently large to go around the 'plunger' bit of the switch that moves back and forth

To be honest, I had this lying around in a tool box with several others, so would imagine it to be a fairly common size.

Good luck with this.

Best,

John.

 

To catch up on this post, 'manually turn the white plunger' is what I had to do as well, but the plunger was very stiff (didn't want to move in and out). In turning the plunger, you will eventually get it to make contact and the lights will come on, etc.

So I saw this as two problems: constriction so that the plunger did not move and contact not that good. The latter is compounded by the former and also the spring getting old.

 

Thanks John for mentioning my thoughts on this topic.
As you remember, this switch 'rebuild' was a quick trial on a Sunday evening. Since a few days I have a little less time for Ferrari things - you probably noticed it by e-mail frequency - but I may come back with this.

Once more a lathe is needed for my rebuild of the switch, because the knob is custom made to take the stem and spring.

Best Regards
Martin