Interior light / door switch on 96 wrx
 

OK so facing another new electrical issue with this disaster cheap purchase lol.

The interior light triggers on the drivers door as normal but recently all other doors when opened don't trigger the light on. Is set in correct position and have replaces the door switches to make sure but alas still no joy.

The alarm has the same issue in that after call it 1min the Clifford arms itself and if the drivers door opens the alarm goes off. Any other door it just screams as if there is a proximity warning.

Any ideas?

If it's not the alarm itself that's faulty (I'm guessing if it's a Clifford it must be quite a bit newer than the car, so not that likely), then you probably either have some bad wiring in the one of the circuits connected to the alarm (my guess would be in the driver's door somewhere), or a failing/faulty door-control relay module. The door-control relay module on a classic is a black plastic box a bit smaller than a pack of cigs, and sits in a recess at the very bottom of the A-Pillar (just above floor level) on the passenger side, and has a 10 or 12-pin multi-connector for wiring. They can just fail with age, but also they're positioned as standard with the multi-plug pointing upwards, so tend to fill with condensation if the car's ever had a damp problem, which will then rust the solder tracks and circuits. Not expensive from a breakers, so easy enough to replace and see if that fixes the issue.

Have just pulled the apple at the bottom apart and found the "timer door lock" which is as you described. But seems to have no issues. I know I have a spare somewhere so can replace that and see. I have had a lot of water coming in the passage footwear and may have found the issue..... should there be some sort of bung here (see pic).
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...ca30f518f7.jpg

It's not very clear where that is on the car, or where in your picture you're suggesting there might be a bung.

Generally though, the most likely places you might get water ingress in the passenger footwell are:
Through the heater fan (due to missing or badly sealed trim-clips for the cowling over the wiper mechanism).
Through missing bungs/grommets at the front/engine-bulkhead side of the footwell.
Down the inside of the A-pillar (poorly-fitted windscreen, or corrosion along front edge of roof-line).

Have you taken the circuit board out of your timer door lock and checked for signs of corrosion, or cracked/dry solder joints?

I meant to upload the badly annotated photo. It's within the passenger's footwell where I found the door timer lock. Discovered today the boot triggers the alarm and light also but not other 3 doors. Didn't look to be any bad circuitry and the pins were actually positioned pointing down. Have noticed the windscreen has been fitted badly and some slight corrosion on the a pillar where windscreen seals so chances are the combination is letting in water when it buckets down.

Have placed a rubber bung where you are able to see day light and has got rid of a terrible wind rush at speeds so regardless I think that will be staying :)
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...d2facba85.jpeg

Checked the circuit board and looks fine. No corrosion and no cracks in solder. Not sure where to turn now :/

The fact all 3 passenger doors are affected, but not driver door and boot, suggests one of two things. Faulty alarm or alarm loom, or faulty ring-circuit linking the passenger door-shut switches back to the alarm or back to the door-lock timer. No easy fix for any of that, just lots of time and concentration tracing the fault with a multi-meter and a good pair of eyeballs (much like most car electrics really).

I'll grab a wiring diagram and a mate who I'd good with electrics. I bloody hate electrics lol. Cheers for a starting point tho x

Bit of an update...... the interior lights have started working and alarm also on all 4 doors and boot. I did nothing other than replace a faulty abs motor relay??
On that note the abs light still won't go out, anyone know how to reset the abs moduleon v1/2 my96? Tried the plug and remove 3times in 10 seconds of ignition on

Question 1. What's an ABS motor relay?
Question 2. What makes you think the ABS module on one of these cars needs actively resetting?

1) On the v1/2 the abs motor has the relays situated in a small plastic fuse box like design next to as part of its bracket. Am assuming as it's a relay sends the signal from the abs sensors and switches it to power the abs a cording to which wheel needs what.

2) the abs codes that are read by the grounded plugs will continue to read an error code in the same way the ecu codes are stored and needs resetting in order to clear the fault code....

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...13f86fee3b.jpg

If the relays are powering anything, it will be a pump or a solenoid, not a motor, but anyhow ...

That's kind of the whole point. With the main ECU, if a CEL triggers for whatever reason, the warning light will go out by itself after a pretty short time, unless whatever fault condition that originally caused it is still present. I've owned and driven a MY96 UK wagon for 9 years, so I should know (an obvious and easy example to test, disconnect your MAF sensor then start the car for a couple of minutes - CEL comes on. Cut engine, reconnect, start up again - CEL gone, no need to reset the ECU). If you translate that to the ABS ECU, if yours is continuously showing a warning light, that would have to mean there's a permanent fault with one of the sensors or some other part of the system (or the ECU itself is toast).

OK Yeh I clearly meant the relays power the abs pump not motor. ...

As for resetting the abs code I am only going on what I was told by members on here and the subaru garage that gave me the diagnosis after days of looking. I've renewed abs sensors and they have diagnosed the rind and sensors are all fine. I was just told that once I replaced the relays I would need to reset the codes but agree that the continued light suggests a fault and yet if a subaru garage can't sort it where do I turn.....

Decent Scoob specialist?

This is meant to be a subaru specialist. Any suggestions in South Wales area?

I'm nowhere near that area, but just out of curiosity, what error code(s) is the ABS ECU showing?

Is reading 1 1 which is as far as I'm away normal? But the light just won't go out and with mot on the horizon Im getting stumped.

Yep, 11 would be normal. According to this, if you have a code 11 but the light's still on, it's just a matter of keep poking the pin in and out of the connector over and over until you see the light go out. A second pair of eyes, or a well-placed mirror might be useful though, given the location of the relevant parts.

I have tried but can't seem to turn it out. Have you don't this on yours and if so can you confirm it's the same plug as is used to get the error code. Any ideas of how many times and if the pin needs to be inserted before ignition on.....I've tried nearly every combination but to no avail.

I've never had to do this on mine, the only times I've ever had ABS warning lights come on, they've gone out again as soon as the underlying issue (broken or disconnected sensor) was fixed.

I can only tell you what it says in the link I posted - exact number of times pin is inserted doesn't seem to matter, nor which pin.