Radio and interior lights won't turn off...

Not sure if anyone else has had this issue but here's my problem and how I fixed it. I couldn't find anything online about this so hopefully this will help someone else out!

I drive a 2004 z71 Tahoe. I noticed that upon removing the key from the ignition then opening the driver door that the radio would continue playing music and the interior lights would not turn off. I would have to get out, close the door, open the door and then close it again for the anything to turn off. When I would open the driver door the interior lights would not come on. The door ajar warning wouldn't react... etc.

After looking over some wiring schematics I narrowed the root of the issue down to a component of drivers door latch assembly, the mini wedge switch. This door switch is an input to the BCM telling it that hey I'm open or hey I'm closed.

I removed the drivers door latch assembly which has three harness connectors that plug into it. The connector with the dark blue and grey/blk wiring is for the mini wedge switch. I disassembled the latch assembly and quickly realized the root of my issue.

Here is the complete latch assembly


Remove the metal strap from the top and the two small screws closest to the top


Pop free the yellow arm


Seperate the the two pieces


Remove the white plastics backing plate


...continued.

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Remove the gear


Very gently pry off the black plastic plate behind the gear


Once the plate was removed the cause of my concern was clearly evident


And as you can see I had some nasty corrosion built up preventing the switch from functioning properly


I used 400 grit sandpaper, rubbing alcohol and a couple q-tips to clean up the contacts.


Assemble in reverse order...

Once I had it all back together I plugged the latch assembly back into the harness and tested it using a screwdriver as the "door striker". Turned the key to off and "opened" the door and everything worked beautifully like new.

NOTE: the drivers door module is unplugged in order to remove the door panel. The module must be plugged back in in order to properly test the function of the door latch assembly!

Hopefully no one else experiences this problem but if you do I hope this helps!

So it's just gunked up and needs to be cleaned? Or did you have to replace any of those parts. My 2006 is doing it every once in and I need a solution.

Bigbeardenali1992 said:

So it's just gunked up and needs to be cleaned? Or did you have to replace any of those parts. My 2006 is doing it every once in and I need a solution.

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Just needs to be cleaned! The contacts in the switch built up a bit of corrosion making poor/no connection, dissabling it.

Why buy a new one $$$ when you can just clean it.

Good info. Thanks for taking the time to make the write-up!

iamdub said:

Good info. Thanks for taking the time to make the write-up!

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I appreciate @iamdub! When I couldn't find any info on this I figured someone else may come across this issue and be completely lost. I like to pitch in when I can and if I can help save someone a headache, some time and money while doing so then mission accomplished!

That is a great picture/repair post .

Scooty said:

That is a great picture/repair post .

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Thanks man @Scooty

Did you put any dielectric grease on the contact parts? That will help with any corrosion build up in the future.

Danny3737 said:

Did you put any dielectric grease on the contact parts? That will help with any corrosion build up in the future.

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Absolutely! Thanks for pointing that out bc I failed to mention it but I figure that's a applied task lol.