Door Switch not working

[mnkyman]

My right, front door switch does not recognize when the door is open. (LED won't turn on while other doors do and the car allows me to lock the doors when the door is open). I couldn't find a fuse specific for that, so I called up my local stealership to see if they could help. The service guy basically said it's either the switch or the circuitry and that there is no fuse for the circuit (something I find peculiar and possibly incorrect). The switch is a little difficult to get to since it's behind the rubber grommet and the guy noted those are easy to tear so I didn't want to go full force on it. He also said it would be about $100 for parts + labor to fix it...ugh

The switch went out after I was screwing with the LED and shorted across the LED socket leads with a screwdriver, therefore, I'm guessing it's not that the switch or circuit has gone bad, but a fuse has been blown.

Can anyone provide some insight on this? I really don't want to pay the $100, but I cherish the safety factor of knowing when a passenger hasn't fully closed a door.

[Rushzer0]

You checked the fuses and didn't find anything wrong...so i say replace the switch and see if it works, if not troubleshoot from there. It's $12 from the dealership. It's just a screw or two holding it on, super easy to do and cheap. That's what was wrong with my car.

Also that guy is bullshitting you, your probably not going to tear the grommet. Buy the switch and try it out

[mnkyman]

Well that's the thing, I don't know if there is a fuse specifically for that. I did check a few of the fuses that I thought might control that down by the footwell, but they were all good. Well if I can get to the switch, I can just shortwire across the terminals to see if it is working. So have you actually done the replacement? And did it work after that?

The grommet seems like it might be glued to the vertical door frame. There is one large bolt however, so maybe I need to remove that first. But ya $12 wouldn't be bad at all, $100 sucks...do you have the part number for the switch? If it is the switch, my guess is that it has a built in fuse or relay that blew when I shorted it.

[Rushzer0]

Sorry I dont have the part # I just went to the dealer and they had one in stock.The door switch is located on the door frame it is a little button that gets pushed in when you close the door. Your in luck because I have two photos from a while back when I changed mine here is the door switch



And if you pop up the little grommet..



You will find the single bolt/screw holding it in. Remove this and pull the switch out, wiggling maybe needed but don't yank it out as there is a connector with wires connected to it. Disconnect the connecter BUT BE CAREFUL letting the connector fall back in the hole and retrieving it can be a pain. Plug in your new switch bolt it back on, push your grommet back over and your done.

Honestly I would just buy the switch and try it. It's cheap and your problem sounds exactly like mine was.

Edit: Yes I have done this, with great success

[timot_one]

Sam, we gotta get you up to speed on some stuff.  You're familiar with the Chinese proverb, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.", right?  It's time for you to learn how to fish.

Whenever I need to find a part number, I go to the Majestic Honda site (even though I don't buy anything from them) and find the part number that way.  They started using Honda part numbers, so it's a good place to search for stuff.  It's pretty self explanatory, but just go to www.hondaautomotiveparts.com and put in the info about your car and start searching.  It shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to look up.  That's how long it took me.  (Hint: look under "Combination Switch")

You should know that there is no fuse for the door switch.  It is a switch that grounds to the chassis and completes the circuit to turn on the light.  The switch only requires 2 tools to remove, and a 1-3" piece of 20-16 gauge primary wire to test it.  It will only take about 5 minutes to test and replace.  The tools you need are a small flat blade screw driver and a ratchet with an 8mm socket.  Here we go:

1. open your door and locate your door switch in the b pillar
2. open up the rubber flap that's covering the screw with the small flat bladed screw driver

3. use the ratchet with 8mm socket to remove the screw (don't use a phillips head screw driver because you may strip the screw and have to buy a new one)


4. remove the door switch from the b pillar

5. disconnect the wire harness from the switch (hold on to the harness so it doesn't pull back into the hole, the wire is short)



6. take the piece of primary wire and slide it into the connector of the wire harness


7. ground the other end of the wire to the chassis where the screw hole is

8. turn your key switch to the on position and see if the light works
9. if the light works, it's the switch, and replace it with a new one and follow steps 1-5 in reverse.

[mnkyman]

Edit: Yes I have done this, with great success

Nice, I've gotta try this out

Sam, we gotta get you up to speed on some stuff.  You're familiar with the Chinese proverb, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.", right?  It's time for you to learn how to fish.

LOL ya man...I'm kinda lost on car stuff...haven't done anything to my car in so long and just got back into it.

Forgot about Majestic's site, it's nice! I went ahead and ordered the switch (along with wiper blades i've needed...tired of waiting for autofair and majestic's prices were better than everywhere else).

Thanks for the pics man, this might as well be a step-by-step diy! Did you end up having to replace your's and just end up taking pictures? lol
As I noted above, went ahead and ordered the switch (at ~$4...not worth fretting over). Will try the wire trick tomorrow!

[timot_one]

As it turns out, Ryan at AFH was on vacation.  He got a hold of me Sunday night to let me know.  That's why he hasn't gotten back to you.  I still haven't gotten my price quote for the parts I need yet either because he's been busy catching up.

As for the pics, I saw this thread and know how easy it is to replace, so I just went out to the garage and did it to take pics.  I've never had to replace my switch.  It was just so easy to do that I thought I would take pictures to post in here.  Took me about 10 minutes to pull everything apart and put it all back together while taking pics.  This stuff isn't that hard Sam.  Just have a little confidence in your abilities.  Don't make things out to be harder than they actually are.

[mnkyman]

As it turns out, Ryan at AFH was on vacation.  He got a hold of me Sunday night to let me know.  That's why he hasn't gotten back to you.  I still haven't gotten my price quote for the parts I need yet either because he's been busy catching up.

As for the pics, I saw this thread and know how easy it is to replace, so I just went out to the garage and did it to take pics.  I've never had to replace my switch.  It was just so easy to do that I thought I would take pictures to post in here.  Took me about 10 minutes to pull everything apart and put it all back together while taking pics.  This stuff isn't that hard Sam.  Just have a little confidence in your abilities.  Don't make things out to be harder than they actually are.

That was nice of you! Thanks man I really appreciate it! Ya, I just like having as much info as possible going into a project; especially after a stealership says don't break that piece or it will cost $100 lol. The other thing is at my current apartment, the parking situation sucks (it's outdoors and the spots are tiny) so just to do what you did above, I would have to move my car down the street to be able to open the door far enough lol. I actually already went ahead and stripped some wire to test the switch tomorrow morning when, hopefully, my neighbor has left for work.

[timot_one]

Sam, I know how it is.  For years I worked on my car outside when I lived in MA.  The reason why I took the pictures is because I wanted to show you how easy it was to test and replace the switch.  If I can do the work, take pictures, and write up a DIY in like 20 minutes, it's a good sign that it's easy to accomplish for anyone with thumbs.

[mnkyman]

Thanks man! I could have probably figured it out but the picture tutorial was nice!

I tried the short method to test the switch this morning to no avail . Are y'all sure there is absolutely no fuse for this? Also, must the LED part of the circuit be complete for this to work (ie: in series or parallel?) I had the LED in but it might have been backwards (ended up flipping it and trying again and still nothing). I also attempted to measure for voltage across the switch circuit and the frame and the voltometer showed nothing, but it's batteries are dieing so I can't say that for certain. This is getting quite frustrating...

I'm quite certain I shorted the circuit originally, which would lead me to believe I blew a fuse or equivalent electrical component (such as the switch)...but so far searching for the blown part of the circuit has give me no results.

[timot_one]

I don't have an 06-07 service manual, but I can check the wiring diagrams that I have for the 03-05.

[mnkyman]

I don't have an 06-07 service manual, but I can check the wiring diagrams that I have for the 03-05.

that would be great! At the moment, short of pulling and checking every fuse, I'm at a loss of what to do. The one thing I haven't checked is the underhood fuse box...but I doubt that has interior electrical components hooked up to it.


edit: also dropping this picture in here for future reference (i did check fuse 8 and it was good...to further confirm, the rest of the door locks went out when that fuse was pulled)

Looks like the trunk cathode diy never made it over to this site from g7a (http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9635)

[timot_one]

I'll search through that stuff later tonight when I have time.  Following the wiring diagrams in the service manual is somewhat tedious and time consuming.

[mnkyman]

I'll search through that stuff later tonight when I have time.  Following the wiring diagrams in the service manual is somewhat tedious and time consuming.

Thanks man! I appreciate it!

[mnkyman]

Any headway on this? Anyone have any other ideas? Haven't been able to work on the car...been down pouring last couple days.