Dwayne

The passenger door pin switch on the '84 had stopped working some time ago. I open the passenger side door and no interior lights come on and I can't operate the hatch release either. After jiggling the pin, the lights come on only part of the time and the lights were really dim. I'd touch the head of the bolt that secured the pin to the body and it was too hot to touch!

So this afternoon I decided to take a look at it and snap a few pics since I'd never done this repair before. I used the following:

10mm socket, 3/8" ratchet and 3" extension
Sandpaper, small mechanics pic, wire brush for cleaning
Spray electronics cleaner

First, disconnect the negative battery terminal. Then locate the wire feed to the door pin switch. On the '84 passenger side, it exits the body cavity above and behind the L-Jet. It should be brown with a white stripe and after it comes out of the body cavity, it goes into a large harness connector located above the L-Jet. The brown with white stripe means it's a switched ground (just learned that fact here on Rennlist today!). Locate the wire and ensure it has plenty of slack and is not in a bind. You will need to pull the slack in the wire through the opening at the door pin switch when you remove the switch.


Next, you will need the 10mm socket to loosen and remove the door pin switch from the body. After the bolt comes out, carefully pull the switch with ground wire attached through the hole. If it resists, locate the other end as above and help push/guide it through....


...Once you have the switch out from the body enough to grab the ground wire, you can pull on the wire and take up the slack so you can work with the switch. Here's a pic of the switch. I could see that the threads were corroded (clean threads are required for a good ground connection with the body) and the contact point at the end of the spring was also dirty.


I cleaned the threads by using 150 sandpaper folded over and running through the thread slots. If this doesn't work, you can use a wire brush or small mechanics pick


Next, I tried to clean the threads at the body with sandpaper. This met with marginal success but did get the threads cleaner.


I also used a small mechanics pick to scrape out corrosion between the threads. This helped a little too (but not a lot).


Then I cleaned the threads on the switch and the contact point at the end of the spring with electronics spray cleaner....


....and the threads at the body. The cleaner worked pretty good.


Now the switch is ready to go back in. Feed the wire back through the hole and pull from the wire's exit point at the L-Jet to take out the slack.


Use the 10mm socket to snug down the switch to the body. Then reconnect the battery and check it out!


Unfortunately, the threads at the body on mine were pretty much stripped. I was able to get a semi-snug fit but not like it should. It will probably come loose when I don't want it to. So, I'll probably look for an aftermarket switch with SAE dimensions (about 3/8" ought to do it) and tap out the hole to the next size up and fix it permanently.

As for the results of this job, it works perfectly now. The interior lights come on when the door is opened on the passenger side, the lights are bright and the switch no longer burns when touched. And I can use the hatch release from the passenger side now!

Feel free to comment or recommend improvements. THANKS for reading!

Skiviking

Great Job! Tomorrow I will look at mine and see about doing that...figure it really can't hurt! Thanks for the tip!

concor

In my car the plastic pin fell out of the metal holding clip that is soldered to the end of the brown-white wire. Of course the whole thing fell into the body so I had to fish it out first. I used a screwdriver and some pliers to grab it once it came a bit out of the hole. I reattached the plastic part to the metal clip and it works fine again.

Landseer

The problem with mine was the switch surfaces were corroded.

So, in your third picture there are some crimp connections.

I used a pick to open them, hence disassembling the switch itself. Then used a dremel with wire brush to clean the mating surfaces as well as the interior and exterior threads.

Its also possible to re-solder the wire without melting the plastic when the unit is disassembled.

Just some different techniques that might help somehow.

Great documentary!

Hi Ho Silver

Ive done this job, instead of sandpaper I used a fibre glass abrasive pen that you can purchase here in England at Maplins. They are great for getting at all the hard to reach places and bring everthing up nice and clean. They also have fibreglass pen refills, they are great.

pcar928fan

VERY TIMELY! My '92 drivers door pin quit working at the GTG in Austin this past Saturday! Thanks for the write up! AWESOME!

concor

I forgot to mention. VERY nice photo report Dwayne, quite helpful indeed. Great to see such guides on the forum here!

michael j wright

Nice work as always Dwayne! if you do decide to change out switch to an SAE I used one out of a mid 70's GM that worked quite nicley- used a 3/8 tap to enlarge hole - even though it didn't take to much out. Again nice write up, and keep up the good work! At this rate they will give you a thread to yourself, I can see it now "Dwayne's repairs and How to with pic's"

Dwayne

Thanks for the additional tips and comments. Great info - and improves the quality of the original post. THANKS!

tlsmith1999

Dwayne,
Anyway I can sent one of my cars to come stay with you for a few months??

Great write up. Every time I see a new post from you my first thought is; get out the list, Dawyne is going to show you some more work you need to add to it.

Rob Edwards

Any additonal tricks for fishing 'lost' door contact switch wires back out of the bowels of the front door frame? Ask me why I'm asking....

Leon Speed

Flexible grabber tool? Not sure it will fit.

martinss

I use a hemostat - I bought a range of sizes on eBay. A long, thin one is great for that kind of 'fishing'

Rob Edwards

Followup- I had a roll of solder in hand while installing one side's contact switch, and it occurred to me that I could make a hook out of the solder. Just the perfect stiffness for pulling wire. I literally had the 'lost' wire in hand in about 30 seconds. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good....

Rob Edwards

Followup #2:

You may notice that there's a red fiber washer (900 031 001 60) between the contact switch and the door frame. Well, if you install the switch without that washer, the switch when fully threaded in lies far enough 'forward' that when the door is closed, the pin isn't fully pressed, and the door chime will operate forever and drive you freaking mad.

Fail: