Hi everyone, so last week was a really bad week for my 1996 Vette. On Saturday a guy hit it while it was parked in my parking lot at home. And then on Tuesday I woke up to find the alarm going off for no reason. And then on Wednesday the alarm randomly went off again during the day and drained the battery. So this past weekend I jumped the car, and then this morning I woke up to find my curtesy lights on, again, requiring the car to get jumped.

I'm thinking the problem with the lights and hopefully the alarm is the door adjar switch. The guy hit me on the driver's side door, and part of the quarter panel right below the rubber trim piece, pretty much on the same level as the switch. The damage looks to be just a decent sized scrape, just paint damage from what I can tell.

Will a failing door adjar switch cause the alarm to go off? From what I can tell the switch is pretty fragile, so I'm thinking the door getting hit broke it, and I know I should have his insurance company pay for it, but I can't keep jumping the car or having the alarm go off all day. I figured $20 or what ever they cost will be worth just taking care of it. Thank you!

Vinnie

 

Mine did.

The nipple on the end of the switch on my passenger side door didn't push all the way out when released, resulting in my alarm going off and the courtesy lights in the door panels turning on and off, too, when driving.

I replaced both switches and it fixed the problem.

 

Same thing on my 92.

 

Thank you for the replies. I went ahead and ordered one from RockAuto, hopefully I'll see it in the next couple of days. Thanks!

 

It is likely the door ajar switches.

Presume since the 'accident' that the lights/locks cycle occasionally while driving too, true?

However, it sounds like it might be two problems --

one is the plunger/nose is no longer depressed sufficiently to always 'open' the circuit when the door is closed (this could actually be fixed by gently prying out the self adjuster/nose and placing 2-3 very small o-rings behind it to keep it extended.

However, likely the other issue might be water intrusion/corrosion/physical damage in/to the switch, which can cause sporadic 'closure' of th circuit.

The good news is the switches can be replaced right through their hole, without having to take the door apart.

If you have an FSM, it's documented in it -- if not, just post back and we can look up the procedure for you...

 

I actually haven't been able to drive it because the battery drained, so I don't know if it cycles as I'm driving. All I know is that it'll be fine when I walk away, and sometime overnight or during the day the lights or alarm will randomly go on.

I am really hoping it's not getting water or anything like that into the switch because that indicates realtively serious damage. The damage to the door really seems to be cosmetic (getting the estimate done today, so I'll know more then). I'm thinking (hoping...) that the plunger is not being depressed enough when the door is closed. I was doing some reading yesterday and read that even slamming the door might make the switch "adjust" itself too far, causing it to stay open. So I was thinking that maybe when he hit me, it was like slamming the door and it readjusted itself. I jumped it last night and put a couple of little pieces of duct tape on the striker plate that the switch hits to build it up and depress the plunger a little more. It seemed to have worked, I didn't have any issues this morning when I started it up. It's a very ugle and temporary fix, I just have to wait for the new switch to get here so I can fix it correctly.

I read that it's pretty easy to install, the hardest part is keeping the backing plate in place. Someone posted a precedure using a longer bolt so that you can remove and install the switch with a bolt holding the backing plate in place at all times. Is there anything else I need to be concerned about?

 

I read that it's pretty easy to install, the hardest part is keeping the backing plate in place. Someone posted a precedure using a longer bolt so that you can remove and install the switch with a bolt holding the backing plate in place at all times. Is there anything else I need to be concerned about?

No. If you follow the FSM, it's a simple, plug-n-play procedure.