Good afternoon everybody!

I have a 2001 Stilo and for some time the sensor indicating the (right) door is open isn't working anymore. That means I open the door but neither the door light nor the ceiling lights won't come on. Also, after a few seconds the car automatically locks (not knowing the door is actually opened). The good thing (I think) is that if I spray contact spray inside the lock mechanism (the part that locks the door onto the door pillar (I'm sure it has a name but I don't know what that is ) it starts working almost instantly but the problem reappears after some time (from minutes to a few hours). I believe there's an oxidized contact or something, otherwise it wouldn't work after spraying it, right?

The question is what can I do? What am I looking for, how can I get there and how could I fix it? Obviously, the contact spray only works for a very short time. I considered something more oily like and electronic board cleaner spray that also lubes a bit but I'm not keen on trying that without some opinions first.

What do you guys think?

Thanks alot! :worship:

Where exactly are you spraying? There's nothing electrical immediately visible from the outside. Maybe your lock is simply sticking and needs some lub

in there. also, that's the spray i'm using.

I'd use some silicone spray grease on the door latch not contact cleaner. Contact cleaner will make it worse and dry out any lubrication

The door latch contains electrical contacts. Sounds like your spray is temporarily freeing them and allowing them to work as they should. Remove the latch, take it apart and clean it. Grease up the lock parts but avoid getting grease on the electrical contacts.

Guide on how to do that here.

There's nothing electrical on the outside where you're spraying.

As you can see from this latch, the working parts exposed to the weather get corroded and resist movement. The latch is sticking and isn't getting to the fully open position which is why your internal light doesn't come on. By spraying something in the latch then you are temporarily freeing the latch but using the wrong stuff as contact cleaner will dry off very quickly

Try some silicone grease

Whilst you're there, now is the time for a quick spray around all the door seals to prevent your doors freezing shut

I bought a MoS2 oil spray from Sonax today (couldn't find silicone spray anywhere:| ). So far so good. I sprayed the latch around noon time and it's still working (7 hours later), while the other sprays I tried usually only lasted for an hour or even less.

another question (on a different topic)... i have an irregular idle revolution. I've dismantled the air intake valve, cleaned it spotless and also replaced the loop that holds the air hose in place (it wasn't air-tight) but the problem didn't go away. what else should I check (spark plugs or smth?)?

thanks a lot! :beer:

Hi Alin,

Could you please advise where you have bought the Sonax spray? I'm also from Romania and could really use one of those.

I also have irregular idle revolutions on one car while the other one is just fine. Curious thing is the idle is irregular only when the engine is warm (needle in the center of the dash).

bought it from an auto-parts store. the sad part is that just now i've noticed it stopped working again (after more than a day), so I sprayed some more. hopefully it will be fine after it gets fully lubricated. being an oil-based spray i fear it will retain dust and get stuck again. therefore if you find 100% silicone spray go for that.
http://parconsrl.bizoo.ro/vanzare/43690/Spray-Silicon-400ml-Weicon

one more thing.. i keep getting from time to time 'antipinch sensor fail' for the right door. most of the times it happens when i hit speed bumps or other holes, but i've also noticed it tends to come on even if the music is louder and there's a lot of bass, so i suspect a faulty contact. how much from the door do i need to remove in order to reach that contact?

thanks!

LE> that idle irregularity is most evident when the engine's warm at mine too.

I believe it's about time you stopped using all that lube and started dismantling the door cover to see exactly what it's all about. The antipinch sensor is probably either soaked in oil or has a bad linkage due to the contact spray you've put in.

Either way, a permanent fix would be to open everything, take the sensors out, clean them thoroughly and put them back, putting the lube where it needs to be and not on everything.

Then you know it's a clean job and you get to be a happy owner again.

Edit: Have you checked my link in post #6?

The answer is: kind of the whole door. But it should be an easy fix anyway. Do you have a 3 door or a 5 door? What engine?

3 door, 1.6 petrol engine. the antipinch thing started going wrong long before i sprayed stuff into the latch so i don't think they're related. i'll take the car to a guy who sets up alarms and other electronic stuff. you're totally right about the 'clean approach'.

i checked the dismantling thread but i'm not that into taking this kind of things apart. better let the pros do it

i'll keep you posted.

zenzaman said:

3 door, 1.6 petrol engine. the antipinch thing started going wrong long before i sprayed stuff into the latch so i don't think they're related. i'll take the car to a guy who sets up alarms and other electronic stuff. you're totally right about the 'clean approach'.

i checked the dismantling thread but i'm not that into taking this kind of things apart. better let the pros do it

i'll keep you posted.

Click to expand...

As I said 3 days ago(post 5) dismantle, clean and lube is the best option. You can check the other problems while your at it.

In my case the problem was a dirty connector. Solved it with contact spray. WD49.

OldMan said:

In my case the problem was a dirty connector. Solved it with contact spray. WD49.

Click to expand...

Hi! I think I'm having the same problem. Could you please tell me how to disconnect the connector? Looking at the pics it seems straightforward but I don't want to break anything. Thanks.

Okay so I disconnected the door sensor and sprayed some contact cleaner to the connector. As soon as I plugged it back in the sensor is working again.

Sad part is that I managed to broke off some of the plastic because I thought I have to grab the bottom part of that blue thing with my fingernail. So if anyone is wondering how to disconnect the plug: just grab that blue (mine is gray though) thing from the top with two fingers running each side and pull it upwards. It will slide the connector out and it will stop with a little 'click' on the end. After that the connector can be pulled without any force. Installing it back is the same but reversed of course, plug it back in (it wont go all the way so don't force it) and slide the colored ring downwards, it will automatically close the remaining gap as it contains some kind of rail system on the inside.

Just a quick update. I went to the car this morning and the sensor was down again. I'm not sure but it might be the cold weather as we're having some freezing nights here in Hungary (some nights are below -5°C). I'll probably leave as it is and lets hope that the weather will ease up eventually..