Boot light not working (electric gremlins again)

[dvance]

Yeah, you're right. However, sometimes, after it's relocked itself, I would close the boot and the alarm would go off, so I have the feeling it might be a loose contact in there, or a broken solder point (as from the pictures I've seen there's a couple of them sort of exposed). Anyhow, I'll give it a go on the weekend, take pictures and write a DIY if you guys think it might be beneficial for somebody else

 

[Slimy]

OK, managed to have a poke around for you. With the boot closed IE the light off, both sides of the bulb read around 11.8 volts. Considering the engine was off, that sounds about right to me. With the boot open and the light on, the side furthest from the connector reads 0v, and that's where the light comes from.

I've also had a poke around on the lock and took some photos. At rest, it looks like this;

Using a nearby tool or appendage, you can operate the lock to make it think the boot is closing. So just before the light switches off, I have this;

Then just after the microswitch operates, I have this;

(You should be able to see the light in the background so hopefully they'll be the right way round)

Between the second and third pictures, there is a definite 'ting' inside the boot lock, it's the sound of the microswitch operating. If you've ever played video games with a microswitched joystick, you know the 'ting' I'm on about. I could get it so that a millimetre movement on the lock switched the light on or off. If you can hear the 'ting' but nothing is happening, and it doesn't result in the one connector switching between 12 volts and zero, that suggests the contents of the lock needs looking at.

There is a little 'nubbin' on the right hand side of the catch (most clearly seen in the first picture), but it appears to be just the locking mechanism. Pushing it in made no difference to the light. Only pushing the entire latch in caused the light to go off. Having said that, it didn't actually have to latch for the light to go out.

I also did have a quick look at the boot lining, it's not carpet like that link you put up, but hard plastic. Two screws behind the light cluster covers and two either side of the lock were the only ones I could see.

Hope that helps.

 

[dvance]

Top job, thanks a lot! Yeah, the boot lining is indeed hard plastic. Will try not to break it too much as I take it apart

I assume I don't get the complete 12 V on the ground side due to the microswitch being busted (potentially not disengaging completely is my guess). I'll take it out and see if I can fix it or I'll have to order a new one from SEAT or the breakers.

 

[Slimy]

I agree, if the microswitch has failed you could be getting a nice mix of 12 volts and 0, depending on what it was feeling like at the time. You might strike lucky and find a dry joint inside the lock, so it's worth stripping it down before forking out for an entire new unit.

 

[dvance]

Right, just fixed it. Pretty straightforward, I'll post quick pics in a little bit, unfortunately my proper camera was out of battery so I had to use my phone (haven't looked at the snaps yet, but I assume they're properly bad ).

 

[dvance]

So we start off by removing the screws next to the lock itself (they're under a couple of pieces of self adhesive material that makes things look nicer).

Next are a pair of screws on each side under the light clusters' covers

There's two more screws left -- one in each handle of the plastic liner. Out it comes

These buggers were a bit harder to pry out -- just need to pull straight out for them. They're on the bottom part of the boot lid (once it's closed that is). The upper part has regular plastic clips.

The exposed lock

Out it comes -- nice to see it's the same one as the one on the VWs and Audis

Doing this

Results in

The switch itself was working fine. If you have a look on the link I posted earlier -- there's a metal spring that gets pushed in and activates the switch once the boot is closed. Basically mine was stuck pushed it in, playing with it a bit seemed to work things out. I assume it was stuck somewhere inside the latch, and not being able to spring out once the boot's been open.

Overall, takes about 30 mins to take everything out, fix it, and put it back in, very straightforward. Pretty happy with the results, fingers crossed it keeps working now

 

[Slimy]

Nice one! Isn't it nice when the fix doesn't cost anything more than a bit of time?

 

[dvance]

Yepp It seems that it still gets caught now and then (did not turn on a couple of times), but it's much better. I'll spray some WD40 in there to see if it's going to help things along.