1999 Passat Trunk Light

[70GTORAG]

Does anybody know what triggers the trunk light to come on? mine works intermittently. For example: A couple of weeks ago it did not work at all, which prompted me to replace the light bulb. It still did not work until the past Saturday when I was going to try to troubleshoot the problem, at which time it started to work. I opened the trunk and left the garage for about 5 minutes, when I came back the light was working. I closed the trunk and reopened it, the light went out and came back on within 10 seconds of reopening the trunk.I tried this several times and the light worked. Only last night when I opened the trunk the light did not come on at all.

[00Psst]

Sounds like a bad connection. Check the bulb holder and wiring to see if any is loose or if any of the wire sheathing is missing.

Since it works sometimes and not others, you can eliminate the bulb and the fuse as the issue so that leaves the wiring.

[chipyoung]

I have a 1998 Passat. My rear trunk light went out. I checked the bulb and wiring. I was able to ground out the switch to get it to work. I asked the dealer about this and he said that the rear trunk latch needs to be replaced. I'm still looking for one that I can buy for a reasonable price.

[70GTORAG]

I took the trunk latch apart and found a switch(electrical) mounted in the latch that comes out very easily. It basically operates with the position of the trunk latch, when the trunk is closed the latch arm contacts the switch arm to toggle it off(breaking contact or ground) not sure exactly what happens electrically because I am not an expert, however, I was at the dealership and have placed on order the electrical switch that mounts in the latch and is about $20 cdn. It should be here in 3 days. According to the parts department, they say that the switch can be ordered separately from the latch. I will let you know in a few days.

[chipyoung]

Thanks 70GTORAG. That's good information. I never did like my dealer. I think I will take mine apart and see if I can find a switch from a electrical parts place. I am having a alarm problem which is intermittent. The alarm will go off unexpectedly. I can usually fix this by putting my key into the trunk and opening it. I wonder if this is all related.

Please stay in touch.
Thanks again,
Chip

[70GTORAG]

Hey Chip. I just picked up my new switch from the dealership for $20 cdn as stated.

[ilona]

I have numerous intermittent problems with my 2000 Passat GLX, 45,000 miles. The trunk light is intermittent, and so are the following items below...

My car is in the shop right now. The technician wants to replace the door microswitch module first (see the following website for this: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1542461) , as he believes the rest of the things might be related, so I thought I'd mention them in case in case anyone else experienced multiple intermittent problems and perhaps it is all related to just "one component", instead of replacing numerous individual ones and then find the problems all come back again.

He said he will try cleaning the trunk light sensor as well.

- Driver door lock won't always lock with remote, have to unlock, then lock.

- If I enter car and leave door open, Doors sometimes lock within 60 seconds and alarm goes off.

- Sometimes the interior lights do not come on when I enter the car.

- Most times electric seats, windows, heater, door locks work as they should once I'm in the car, but sometimes they don't, or they don't begin to work at the same time, maybe 10 to 15 minutes after driving.

- Wiper variable speed stops after 10 minutes and speeds up fast and won't slow down.

- Cruise control sometimes does not work. Then the next day, it will kick in and speed up to 65 in a 35 mph zone, and won't kick off when I hit the brake. It caught me off guard and slamming on the brakes and holding with all my might wouldn't kick it off until 10 seconds later.

- Pressing down on the accelerator to speed up quickly can cause the throttle to stick. Same problem as above, braking won't stop it. Had to turn off the key.

- Sometimes when I stop the car and I move the shifter to park, the car will not allow me to pull the key out of the ignition. I end up having to restart the car, back up and pull back in. I notice the last time this happened, the shifter was very stiff moving into Park and I had to play with it a lot till it "felt right" and then it released the key.

- There are additional problems unrelated to the intermittent ones above, wants to go too fast when starting out, oil leaking from right side valve cover gasket causing burning smell, (but no oil loss as yet), Airbag fault light, and an intermittent whirring noise sometimes when accelerating and a load is put on the engine (replaced belt and checked hoses, but came back). No codes to assist, of course.

Just bought the car used in July and it worked perfectly then. Don't want to sound too cynical, but ... Was it possible for the dealer to clean the car's sensors/etc. up to get it working just till it got past the 3 month used car warranty???? This car is definitely costing me a pretty penny to maintain.

Ilona

[ilona]

-The windows and moonroof no longer close when I use the key in the driver door and turn it. This happened after the shop reset the computer when I first took it in for the door locks problem.

Question here: Should the car be notifying me with the bell alarm if I forget to close the moonroof?

- Bell notification alarm does not always go off when I leave the headlights on.

[chipyoung]

Well, it looks like there are a lot of things going on at the same time. I am waiting on the micro switch in the trunk that turns on the light. My dealer takes forever. I want to replace that before I try to tackle the other problems.

Ilona, I have the same intermittent probles that you have as far as the alarm and the closing of the windows and moon roof goes. My alarm will go off some times when I am sitting in the drivers seat for a little while. The ignition key triggers the alarm when I try to start it.

I have found that I can turn off the alarm by opening the trunk...amazing.

While I'm replacing my switch in the trunk I will also check for faulty grounds. This could be the root cause of all these problems (I hope).

Let me know how your front door switch worked in correcting the other problems. For now I am going to focus on the trunk.

Good luck to all.

[ilona]

Well, the door microswitch module was replaced at $540 which includes diagnosing the Airbag fault light (but does not include the part or the installation of a new airbag harness - poorly designed part that breaks over time from turning the wheel).

So far, the door locks properly with the remote, No intermittent problems as yet, but it has been only a few days driving. I am not happy with that price tag, especially since this was the 2nd time I've paid to have it serviced for that problem (not a VW dealer). The first time they reset the computer to work with the remote and asked me to replace the batteries in the remote, which didn't improve a thing. Labor was lengthy because of having to take the door apart.

I'm definitely going to keep an eye on any odd happenings.

[RICHARDSALE]

I Too had problems with my boot light- i am from the uk,
To fix it i took out the electric switch from the latch and cleaned it with some electrical spray. Also i bent out the steel lever so it would make better contact. worked a treat. With the doors i sprayed cleaner into the latches this too sorted the interior lights out. need to sort my air con now i guess electrical cleaner will not work on this.

[chicken18]

I have a bunch of those same locking issues. Not consistant on the trunk light, not consistant on the passenger rear door locking. Sometimes it will not unlock even though the lock pull is obviously up and in the "unlocked" position. Have to lock and unlock for driver door to unlock with the remote. Did you say that replaceing the microswitch module fixed it?

[veedubmechanic]

VW has alot of problems with the door latch microswitches which are unfortunately part of the whole latch assembly (120-140usd) The rear trunk latch also has the same problems but the latch assembly is alot cheaper (40-60usd).