Faulty Rear Interior Light Repair

Had the same symptoms as Wilco explained.

Found my fathers old soldering iron and touched the exact same contact pin/joint with the iron. Problem solved!

Have been annoyed with this backseat-light that didn´t turn on automatically, so this was a great little christmas present :)
Thanks Wilco!
 
Noticed this the other day on mine too as the front always comes on but not the back.

Problem solved

Thank you Wilco
 
¡Done it!
I am as hamfisted as they come. My light has been out of the car for months waiting for the day (today) when I was confident to dig out my soldering iron (which probably hasn’t been used for forty years).
Thanks to @wilco184 and this thread I have fixed mine.:cool:
Andrew
 
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Massive thanks for the OP, had this issue and in under 10 mins fixed! Nothing like coming out at 5am to a car that is well lit :)
 
Just went down to check if mine works and it didn't when the door was opened ... but it does now, it wasn't even switched to the 'on' position ... almost seventeen years and never gave it a second thought ... somebody will be telling me you can dim the dashboard lights next ?
 
Yes Tomscar, if you look to the right hand side of the main rotating light switch there are two roller switches, .....................LOL ;)
 
Thank you Matt for your findings, followed in your footsteps and now my rear interior light actually works ?.
 

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This is brilliant, I’ve just soldered the exact same dry joint and now I have a working rear light which now operates when the doors open rather than just from the front switch.

Thanks Matt (wilco184) ?
 
I love this club, such an easy fix when you've been told how. My kids quality of life has just been improved in these dark mornings / evenings. Hopefully one day in the bright and distant future I'll be able to contribute something equally as useful. Thanks Wilko.
 
Hello.

I noticed recently that when opening any of the doors, only the front interior lights illuminated. The rear lights would illuminate only when the front light was set to be always on using the rocker switch, which is different to other cars and certainly does not seem conventional. I began attempting a repair by checking the wiring to the front light, but all seemed well. I then removed the rear light by gently prising it out, it is held in by 4 spring clips and simply pulls out from the headlining. Again, the wiring to the light seemed fine, leading me to the possibility of the rear light unit itself being faulty.

I examined the joints on the PCB on the back of the unit with a magnifying glass to see a small ring around a soldered joint, which seemed to be a dry joint. I have circled the offending joint on the following photo.

View attachment 17183

To fix this, I heated the joint with a soldering iron and added a little solder. I then put the light back in the car, and it worked exactly as it should. When a door is opened, both the front and rear interior lights now illuminate. I checked our other A2 as well, just out of curiosity, and I found that this rear light was faulty in the same way, and that the exact same solder joint had failed! Both cars had the same problem. I also repaired this, which also now too works perfectly.

I'm not sure if this joint is a known weakness as a forum search revealed nothing, but it's a simple fix if you have a spare 5 minutes!

Regards,

Matt.

Hello,

many thanks again to Matt for this suggestion. I did the same myself, having the same problem in all my A2s, and now the rear lights work perfectly. A brilliant suggestion to fix a small annoyance. Thank you!

All the best

Stefano
 
I can see a new thread here:

“Annoying things on an A2 that are known to be an issue, but can be easily fixed without distubing the very very busy but absolutely brilliant @timmus
 
Hello.

I noticed recently that when opening any of the doors, only the front interior lights illuminated. The rear lights would illuminate only when the front light was set to be always on using the rocker switch, which is different to other cars and certainly does not seem conventional. I began attempting a repair by checking the wiring to the front light, but all seemed well. I then removed the rear light by gently prising it out, it is held in by 4 spring clips and simply pulls out from the headlining. Again, the wiring to the light seemed fine, leading me to the possibility of the rear light unit itself being faulty.

I examined the joints on the PCB on the back of the unit with a magnifying glass to see a small ring around a soldered joint, which seemed to be a dry joint. I have circled the offending joint on the following photo.

View attachment 17183

To fix this, I heated the joint with a soldering iron and added a little solder. I then put the light back in the car, and it worked exactly as it should. When a door is opened, both the front and rear interior lights now illuminate. I checked our other A2 as well, just out of curiosity, and I found that this rear light was faulty in the same way, and that the exact same solder joint had failed! Both cars had the same problem. I also repaired this, which also now too works perfectly.

I'm not sure if this joint is a known weakness as a forum search revealed nothing, but it's a simple fix if you have a spare 5 minutes!

Regards,

Matt.
Just done this today!! Thanks very much for the post - my rear light now works. Amazing ?

Just one thing . The rear drivers side passenger door does not activate the switch. Does anyone know where the door open sensor is so I can check it???
 
Door open sensor is inside the lock and not easy to get at. If the door open switch is not working there will be no DIS warning for that door being open.
You MAY be able to get the switch working by cleaning, but if the switch has failed or the cam that operates it has an issue then the microswitch and or lock assembly will need to be replaced and that involves removing all the door trim, the aluminium plate the winder motor, disconnecting the outer handle unpluging the loom then removing the entire upper half of the door that contains the glass.
To TRY to clean it spray WD40 into the rearmost gap of the black lock assembly just behind the part that rotates to lock the door to the hoop on the chassis. The open microswitch is directly below this. Spray the WD40 for about 5 seconds then using a screwdriver close the door lock open it using the handle and repeat this locking and opening a few times, then repeat the WD40 flush followed by the locking opening cycle another say 6 times. If it is covered in dirt and grease the cleaning may work. Clean up the mess created and check for DIS and interior lights.
 
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