Check Control Malfunction--"Door Open"

[Chris in Laguna Beach]

My Check Control warning occasionally comes on to report "Door Open" when all doors are closed. Is this a malfunction of the Check Control display, or should I look at the door sensors?

Also, the Check Control reads "1 Brake Light" when all the brake lights work.

Any ideas?

1991 535

Thanks.

[winfred]

usually the false door open message is due to a out of adjustment door latch/switch, figuring out which one can be as simple as pulling on doors while the message is on till it's goes off, you find the right door when you can control the message on and off by pushing/pulling on the door. brake light can be melted tail lights due to wrong bulbs (21 watt instead of 5 watt) or different style bulbs from one side to the other (21 watt on one side 5 watt on other or brass base on one and nickel on other) corrosion is another possiblity, if it's not melted too bad you can fix melted light housings, sometimes with heat sometimes by just bending the contacts on the bulb holder out a little

[Kalevera]

Check the door switch (by the hinges, IIRC). I'll wager that it's the driver door switch.

In terms of the brake light: get some Stabilant 22 or other good contact cleaner, pull all bulbs and clean the bulb holders/bulbs of corrosion.

best, whit

[Omega]

1> "Door Open" is usually caused by wear in the door lock/ pillar pin. Find the suspect door as Winfred states (I'll also bet it's the drivers door). You can either realign the door lock or wrap some black electrical tape around the latch pin on the B-pillar. This will increase the diameter if the pin and take up the slack in the door switch. I did this as a temporary fix 18 months ago. It's still there... :D

2> "Brake Lights" The check control system is very sensitive to fluctuations in voltage/current so check that the wiring at the rear lights is sound and then replace BOTH bulbs with a matched pair. If one bulb has blown the current is transferred to the remaining bulb which will cause this to fail pretty soon afterwards.

BTW the check control is a bit too clever for it's own good. Just after buying the car I was going out at night, turned on the lights and got a "LH Headlight Bulb" warning. As I was parked against a wall I knew that the lights were OK. Still, I got out of the car to investigate. I looked at the lights from the front, at which point the left hand bulb went "ping" and died..
:p