Door lock button

sr.944man · Oct 10, 2015

Hi all,

When I put the car away and locked it up today, the red flashing door button on the driver's side didn't start flashing as usual. I unlocked and relocked, checked the glovebox, bonnet etc, then noticed that the passenger side button flashes away exactly as normal... so I think it's just the bulb / LED or whatever is in the button. Has anyone had this happen? I Googled it and searched the forum but can't see anything about it. I don't know if they're available (I'll check with the local Porsche Centre) or repairable. Any ideas?

Monkeythree · Oct 10, 2015

I would suspect the microswitch on the drivers door lock mechanism.

Riverside · Oct 11, 2015

I had a similar problem a few years ago & replaced the pin (it unscrews from the metal rod and has two wires attached). Not a big job but now each door flashes at a different rate which is annoying

sr.944man · Oct 12, 2015

Thanks for the replies!
The door locks ok, it is just the red flashing light that failed - Malc, where did you get your replacement pin, do you remember? The parts diagram seems to show it attached by wires to a module in the door, as if they come as one piece...?

Riverside · Oct 12, 2015

I bought a dressed door for several parts, not just this. You may be right about the box, but it's just clipped to the inner door pressing so whether the plug is before or after the box doesn't really affect the difficulty of changing it.

Any specialist breakers should be able to sell one (or a pair), I don't think they are handed but they are often broken.

Monkeythree · Oct 12, 2015

sr.944man said:
Thanks for the replies!
The door locks ok, it is just the red flashing light that failed - Malc, where did you get your replacement pin, do you remember? The parts diagram seems to show it attached by wires to a module in the door, as if they come as one piece...?

If it's the microswitch that is gone, the door will still lock OK but the alarm module won't know that the door is locked and therefore won't initiate the pin flashing. The microswitch is quite expensive though so it's definitely worthwhile swapping out the led pin for a known good one before going further.

zcacogp · Oct 12, 2015

Is the microswitch genuinely expensive or is it one of the standard type ones that costs pennies from RS? The one on the boot mechanism certainly fits that description ....

Monkeythree · Oct 12, 2015

zcacogp said:
Is the microswitch genuinely expensive or is it one of the standard type ones that costs pennies from RS? The one on the boot mechanism certainly fits that description ....

I was in Sweden when I changed mine so went directly for one from my OPC (Gothenburg!) rather than traipse around the Swedish equivalents of RS trying to find an equivalent part. So the answer is I don't know. I seem to recall it had the look of a bespoke part to it so my working assumption is that you would have to get a Porsche (or perhaps VW??) part.

scam75 · Oct 12, 2015

Riverside said:
I had a similar problem a few years ago & replaced the pin (it unscrews from the metal rod and has two wires attached). Not a big job but now each door flashes at a different rate which is annoying

I have different flash rates also after swapping out a button! Glad it's not just me!!

Also I must add that there are two types of door button out there. One that flashes itself, and one that is prompted to flash by something somewhere else (I think!). I ended up inadvertently with the wrong one and it was constant red light, not flashing. Swapped again and all ok............although it may be the one that didn't flash was faulty......who knows........worth posting though in case someone gets same thing!

Stuart

sr.944man · Oct 13, 2015

Monkeythree said:
sr.944man said:

Thanks for the replies!
The door locks ok, it is just the red flashing light that failed - Malc, where did you get your replacement pin, do you remember? The parts diagram seems to show it attached by wires to a module in the door, as if they come as one piece...?

Click to expand...

If it's the microswitch that is gone, the door will still lock OK but the alarm module won't know that the door is locked and therefore won't initiate the pin flashing. The microswitch is quite expensive though so it's definitely worthwhile swapping out the led pin for a known good one before going further.

Hi Tom, and all who have replied. Thanks again for all the good info. I went out to do battle with the door card yesterday, and lo and behold, it was flashing away happily. Don't you just love intermittent faults! If the problem recurs I'll look deeper and post my findings.

bmnelsc · Oct 15, 2015

About that microswitch- I was looking for an electrical connector from my 91 S2 which had a VAG (Volkswagen Audi Group) part number. Being as both VW and Audi dealers are closer to home than the Porsche store I tried them first. Neither could look up the part using that number or cross ref to any "classic" VW or Audi model. Today I was looking for a specific retaining clip at the Porsche store and the parts man told me that only Porsche maintains a cross reference to other VAG vehicles (meaning they can look up which other vehicles used the same part) - VW and Audi don't. Very interesting. I'm not sure your Porsche specialist would tell you if you could get that microswitch at the VW dealer for half the money but it sure would be nice

P.S. - electric motor windows for 944s are also used by Mercedes (based on Brosse part number lookup) - oddly enough they are C$250 at the Porsche store (when C$ and US$ were par) but you can get Mercedes motors for close to half that....