348 door light control switch broken

Was working on my vehicle yesterday and closed doors. Came back to garage and noticed interior light and circular red door courtesy lights had not gone off. Checked and found that drivers side door switch had come away from body shell and could be pushed into cavity.

I can't access the switch from the outside and its located close to the bolts which hold the door hinge on to the car body.

I guess I can gain access to the rear of the switch from inside the car, but it looks as though I need to peel back some trim and carpet.

Need some advice how to gain access to the rear of the switch before I start tearing things apart. I have taken the globes out of the interior lights and the doors. I have the vehicle connected to a permanent trickle battery charger so lucky I spotted the lights on or I may have burnt them out.

Once I get to the back of the switch I will be able to push it back out but has anyone re-fitted a switch to the body work.

I will PM Daniel at Ricambi for the part(s) once I am clear what I need and what to do.

Any assistance re the above would be appreciated.

 

Ricambi has the correct switch part. I have placed an order. Looks like it just clicks into the bodywork. I hope its that easy.

 

Received the on/off door interior/courtesy lights switch from Ricambi this week and fitted it into the body cavity where the old one was, plus connected the wiring.

I then re-fitted the interior globes and was fitting the d/s door courtesy light globe but it shorted out. I obviously blew a fuse....duh!

Can someone tell me where to locate the fuse (a pic would help) for the interior light and the door courtesy lights.

Everything else electrically is working OK and yes .... I should have disconnected the battery before I fitted the globes ....

 

All good. I found the fuse box at the driver's side footwell, found the blown 15A fuse and replaced it. Lights work now.

 

The door light/interior light cut-off/on switch is located right up the front end of each door near the bottim door hinge. It's very hard to get at because the door won't open far enough to get a front on view. My son helped me take the old switch out and fit the new switch as he has better eyes and coordination than me.

Here's the story without boring you all - the drivers side switch broke as I had stuffed a flexible object between the switch and the door when I was working on the interior. I did this so that the interior and door lights wouldn't stay on and get hot. Somehow the edge of the switch broke off (they are only made of plastic) and thus the switch partly disappeared back into the cavity and the interior and door lights were permanently on.
I took the globes out of the interior light and the door courtesy lights to save the battery plus save the globes overheating and blowing.

Luckily after some tight manouvering, I was able to pull the old switch back out from the door cavity. If the switch was to have disappeared back into the cavity it would have been 'game over' as it is behind a solid panel (to answer your question - no way can you access the switch from inside the car).

Once I got the old switch out I took the wiring off the back (not easy, given the confined space) and re-fitted the wires to the new switch. The next part was simple, merely pushing the whole switch back into the cavity and it virtually clicks into place.

All you need to do the above job is plenty of patience, a good set of pinch nosed pliers and a good light source as it's pretty dark at that part of the car.

Switch was only $30 from Ricambi.