Driver door hard to open
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 115
Likes: 2
From: New Orleans
Driver door hard to open
My 06 with 66000 miles drivers door is hard to open. I have to just keep pressing the button until it finally opens. Sometimes after a minute or so I give up and open it through the hatch with the wire.
Do I need to replace the switch? Or is there any tricks to fixing it etc...
Do I need to replace the switch? Or is there any tricks to fixing it etc...
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 191
Likes: 5
From: Indiana/Texas
You an replace it easily, just 2 screws. But it is also usually pretty easy to make your factory switch work a lot better on your own. Just open it up, use some fine sandpaper to lightly clean the corrosion off of the contacts (the corrosion will be obvious), smear some dielectric grease on it and put it back together. Five minute job per side. There was a good writeup somewhere on the site before with pictures, but if you just take the switch out you'll understand what needs to be done.
Racer
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 257
Likes: 29
From: The Sunshine State
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 21,502
Likes: 462
From: Southern Utah
Because you live in a humid place, the door switch (rubber pad) likely has corrosion. Cleaning it yourself is better than a new one because you can also coat the contacts with a corrosion inhibitor to stop it from happening again. As stated above, you can open it up and do it yourself in a few minutes, then end up with a better switch than a new one. Be careful not to let the wiring harness fall back into the door...this can make the process MUCH longer. To test the switch, you can switch driver and passenger sides and test. They are both the same part.
