Front Interior Light Wont Automatically Turn Off

[andycorb]

I have a real puzzler here.

 

I tried changing the interior bulb in my MKIII 2008 1.8 TDCi LX to upgrade it to an LED bulb which was a like-for-like swap. It fitted perfectly and worked like a charm, until I realised that now the Auto off feature does not work. With the switch in the middle even after staring the ignition it doesn't turn off. I can manually turn it off and of course the always on works, but I'll be darned if I can't get it to turn off automatically.

 

It isn't a door that isn't closed properly.

 

I changed the bulb back to the original T10 501 W5W bulb that I had removed and tested it. Turns on ok and turns off manually but not the auto off. The other two interior lights (row 2 and 3) work fine as they should.

 

I actually suspect it could be an issue with the switch rather than due to changing the bulb but I have not looked to see if I can dismantle it.

 

Anyone have any suggestions what could be causing it?

[andycorb]

So good  news, I figured it out.

 

It seems when I took the light cover off it brings down the rocker switch too. The switch is just a two prongs of coper which inside slide across some contacts to switch between the three modes. It seems that in my haste to remove the cover / switch I bent one of the prongs, widening the gap and as a result causing to to constantly contact the live, always on power even when it was supposed to be on the auto-off setting.

 

Pushing the prongs back closer to each other did the trick.

 

Btw, the LED interior light looks super. rather than the dim glow from the little W5W bulb it has a nice white light covering the dash and centre console.

 

Mystery solved...

[gregers]

thanks for updating.