VikingTrad3r

86 / early c4 door ajar switch, the one by the door mounted hatch release buttons..... two questions:

1. the door ajar switch ( The plunger switches on the rear of the door, not the plunger switch at the hinges )has a plastic cylinder that pushes in and out. there is also a small button head looking thing in the center of that sliding cilinder. ive read im supposed to carefully pry out on these button heads and draw out a second, narrow shafted post that slides withing the larger diameter sliding cylinder.

is that right??? mine will not come out at all and im scared ill be ripping off the button head if i pull harder.


and

2. is there supposed to be any sort of striker button or plate that this door ajar switch contacts on the body of the car? on my 86, which was not put back together after a real cheap paint job, i do see some small indents behind the paint that look like there should be something mounted to receive the strike by the door ajar switches. i suppose its possible its simply a rivet hole that has been filled in and is in the immediate proximity of where my door ajar switches are trying to make contact with the body.

thnx guys all experience and comments welcome! pics if u have a chance on your car? im so close to buttoning up the interior on my 86 gonzo refurb.

Joe C

i'm thinking that's right - my 85 works the same way. about a year ago, I used a small, jeweler type, screwdriver to gently pry out the center plunger, and hit it with a small amount of silicone spray on the button shaft. that rejuvenated it for a while, but shortly thereafter went back to the stuck position. I have two NOS assemblies that i'll be installing at my next door panel teardown/repair. BTW, my door ajar switches have been stuck for as long as I can remember.


no striker plate on the 85 - just the switch button in contact with the painted door jamb.

a couple "show and tell" pics...

Joe C

update: since you brought this up, I went out into the shop, and used a small screwdriver to pry out the plunger(s). I used a piece of 1000 wet&dry, and cleaned up the button end of the shaft. I applied some silicone grease (not spray) and coated the shaft. exercised the shaft, and repeated the silicone grease. I exercised the button a couple dozen times, and seems to be working just fine. only time will tell...



note: do not remove the two screws holding the switch assembly in place. IIRC, there is a mounting plate internal to the door jamb and removing the screws will allow the plate to fall into the door cavity. you'll have to disassemble the door panel to retrieve and reassemble the screw plate/switch assembly.

VikingTrad3r

so you are able to pull out the small button head pin thingy from the larger diameter cylinder?

my button is right flush with the cylinder. i see yours has a 16th or an 8th gap there.

Cliff Harris

I have tried WD-40 on that switch and it only works for a couple of weeks. I recently put grease on it and it's been fine for several months.

I dropped my nut plate into the door. Since it has the harness going through the middle hole, it slid down the harness. I used a magnetic pickup tool to get it out (very fiddly). Here's what it looks like:



The way to do this is to loosen both screws and then take one out. Put that screw into the nut plate, going around the switch. That keeps the nut plate from getting away from you. Take out the other screw and remove the switch, pulling the harness through the hole.

In later years (I think it started in 1990), the switch was redesigned to accept a connector on the back:

Joe C

I'M WRONG - GO TO MY NEXT POST - #8

I'M NOT 100% SURE OF THIS, but i'm thinking the gap is caused by the center button being able to turn in and out, within the larger cylinder button housing. it MIGHT be some sort of adjustment to compensate for any variance or tolerance from door to door jamb, and car to car, but I don't know for sure. my drivers side has the gap, but my passengers door side does not have any gap. i'll have to dig a little deeper into this - stay tuned....

here's a pic of the RH door button -

Joe C

, no-go on the WD-40. (silicone) grease may be the answer. as I said, only time will tell.

Joe C

OK, just looked at one of my NOS assemblies. NOWHERE do I see anything being able to turn for adjustment, I can't see any relationship between the center button and the outer sleeve. nothing turns. I need to look at my original switches.

it MIGHT be a go/no-go thing where as the switch is installed in the max, full out, position, and the first time the door is closed, the center button moves in to a "normal" or "fixed" length distance, and takes up any tolerance gap from car to car. just a wild *** guess on my part.



note the horizontal lines on the button shaft - clearly designed to move in and out without turning. if my thinking is correct, sort of a clever design - a self adjusting gap switch -

Steve59

I believe when you remove that switch from the switch plate, you do the top screw first, twist the switch and replace the screw, holding the backing plate in place

VikingTrad3r

depends. on mine, i had the panel off anyway. also on mine the wire harness was fastened to a harness clip and would not have allowed me to pull the pigtail through.


im trying to pull my plunger out and there is no way its coming out. my plungers are not touching the door frame.

if joe's brainstorm about them possibly being a one way only adjustment, that would explain why i cant get them out.

but im sure ive read people pulling them out. argh!!!

my next plan of attack will be a noose loop on the end of a piece of fishing line to pull straight out. prying is damaging the button head.

LWesthaver

That's my understanding. It's a pretty clever way of handling dimensional variations from vehicle to vehicle.

Joe C

after a day of freeing up my switch plungers, I've got to say, my "door ajar" idiot light is working perfectly. hopefully, cleaning up the button end, the silicone grease, and the plunger exercise did the trick. still taking it day by day though -

JimLentz

Your guess is correct!

VikingTrad3r

are you saying that once that button is pushed in it's not designed to be pulled out again? Do you know if there is a way to track it? I have fishing line right now and an unsuccessful in getting it to come out

Joe C

according to JimLentz, the center button can move back out once initially set. good to know!

the outer sleeve moves in and out, making or breaking the electrical circuit for the "door ajar" switch. the inner button seems to be designed to take up any variance between the cars door and body jamb.




note on the outer sleeve, there a two small notches, 180° apart. you should be able to work a small jewelers screw driver in there to help free up the outer sleeve. once out, clean up the end with some fine wet and dry paper, and coat with silicone grease. exercise the switch several times, and you should be good to go. seems to have worked for me.

VikingTrad3r

gotcha on the notches.

my outersleeve plunges and slides back lut no problem.

these are used from a corvette parts yard and the pin heads are both pushed in all the way on both that i purchased. i assume that means the car they came from probably had worn out weatherstrip and the hap was super low so it pushed the pin in.

but i need it out!!

i tested it and its not touching the door jam on the body.

only reason my courtesy lights are not on is because my delay timer is faulty. which im anout to replace. and i know these door ajar switches not touching the body are foing to cause my lights to come on.

so either i find a way for the pin to get pulled out, or, i install a small clear rubber circular bumper on the door frame to take up the gap.



what about pulling the larger cylinder all the way out?? could i push the pin head out from the inside??

i know the large center does come out because my car came with the center plunger missing but the large housing was still screwed into the door.

A Peter C4

I just had all new weatherstrippng installed and the pass. door would set off the door ajar warning light with the door completely closed, so I put 2 layers of black duct tape on jamb were switch button contacts jamb and no longer have door ajar warning light on, I have not tried to pull out inner button on switch, this is the first I've heard about that adjustment, but I will try to pull out button center and see what happens with the tape removed. Also when driving with the door ajar warning light on it sounded like my door locks were trying to cycle. This is on a 94 coupe.

Joe C

be careful if attempting to pull out the inner button. I think, once the original, factory, set, is made, the center button cannot be pulled back out or reset. I could be wrong, so err on the side of caution.

JimLentz

Perhaps your switches are different, but I was able to pull the center pin all the way back out using a small thin screwdriver.

Joe C

so, it sounds like the center button can move (out) independent of the outer cylinder. did it come out with much effort? my outer sleeve freed up with little effort, but never really tried just the center button.