mystery: light switch makes a click sound inside the door?!

Hi all,

I discovered yesterday while trouble shooting a short in my car (91' civic
hatchback) that when I turned on the light switch, it made a clicking sound
that was coming from somwhere inside the driver's side door! I swear! Its in
the door, what could it be?? Is it a relay ? but in the DOOR? what the hell
is happening!
Is my car haunted?
akn

ps. recently got my seatbelts changed under warranty. relevant?

 

Do you have power door locks? Honda has often put the control module
for the power door locks inside the driver's door, and that module has
relays in it. Don't know what would make it operate with the head
lights, but it is the only relay I can think of inside the door.

Turning off and on big loads like the head lights can cause popping
noises in the stereo (someone in the VW group experienced this even with
the stereo off) but if the sound came from the speaker I'm sure you
would have localized it to the speaker.

 

OK I did some more tests and found that the noise is coming from the end of
the door away from the hinge where the speaker is located. And no, no power
door locks either.

I also discovered that the noise doesnt actually come from the headlight
switch. It actually was happenning when I disconnected the negative battery
cable and was touching it momentarily to the negative terminal of the
battery -- it would click inside the door.

My bad to think it was the headlight. (because the lights were short
circuited on)
Still , wtf?


btw, is a 300ma current ok when everything is off? I even tried pulling all
the fuses under the dash but the current draw stayed constant at 300ma.

 

Only thing I can think of is the satellite tracking device that the NSA
installed in your car, they are known to make clicking noises.

 

This sounds like a relay stuck on. Don't know, but is
it the cigarette lighter or headlights relays? 90 Accords
and up use relays for both. What ever the relay, you
must be able to pinpoint it, swap it or bench test it to
see if it's the problem.

There's no easy fuse to pull for the alternator. The
300-ma drain probably just the relay.

 

I did some snooping and saw that the clicking noise came from the extreme
end of the driver door opposite from where it is hinged. I looked inside the
passenger door to find that there is some sort of a switch in a transparent
plastic which keeps tripping when I move that door beyond a certain point. I
also noticed a bunch of wires entering close to this plastic box.
This same noise does not come from the drivers door by moving it, but by
disconnecting and connecting the battery.

Well my question is that is the seatbelt mechanism battery powered????
Thats weird! I never thought it was, I thought it was purely mechanicall
based on accelerometers.

And now I think the honda mechanics did this mess up when they installed my
seatbelts. The worst part is that I noticed, the seatbelts dont even lock
when pulled quickly. Thats a safety hazard and I should probably sue them
for incorrect installation of such an important safety feature.

Oh and the 300ma current draw is also related to the door. (But no it isn't
the interior light, its off, and I checked the door switch also, jiggling it
doesn't affect the drain ) I was checking the current drain with the driver
door open unfortunately. But this is still a problem, because the passenger
door doesn't cause it. Now I am convinced that clicking sound is somehow
related.

 

Fascinating. Does you car have (or has it ever had) the motorized,
automatic seat belts that car makers put in when they were too cheap to
put in air bags?

You'd probably have a good case, but it may be more effective to just
make them fix what they did wrong. With the liability involved, they'll
probably be quite motivated to get this right.

 

Nope plain car simple manual seatbelts that one puts on. No automatics of
any kind.

Also I realized that the seatbelts may use a different (pendulum type)
locking mechanism, which only locks when the car decelerates. I will be
testing that next, braking in parking lot.
I jumped because I saw that the rear belts quickly lock when pulled. But
maybe they use a different mechanism for the front.(inertia type)

 

All cars sold in the US after Sep 1 1989 were required to have a passive
restraint system. If your car did not come with air bags, it must have
had automatic seat belts when it was new. Are you in the US? Are you
the first owner of the car?

I am thinking that perhaps a previous owner got rid of the annoying
automatic seat belts and put in a pair of manual ones, leaving behind
various vestiges in the form of relays and switches.

 

Negative. No such history. Yes I am in the US, but this car may have come
from canada. I am the third owner.
There should have been tracks or something like that visible. Plus this is a
very basic car, I dont expect it to have had those anyway. There are no
related fuses etc that I ever found either.

 

More likely the sound is from the belt retractor solenoid. This solenoid
is design so that in case of an accident, rescue teams will be able to
open the door. Without this solenoid, door mounted seat belts cannot
release and rescuer cannot gain access to cockpit due to the seatbelt
keeping the door from opening. But when the door is ajar just
slightly, the solenoid released the belt and door swing open. The
switch responsible for the triggering is probably located inside the door
latch mechanism.

Yes, but not all. The one referred to is the solenoid. Modern seat belt
comes with a tensioning device to pull back the seat belt, and thus
keep the occupants away from the air bag.

This isn't a design flaw, it's made for convenience. Try slamming on
the brake and pull the belt to check them. Honda belt system is truly
reliable, other than foreign material falling into the buckle, jamming it.
It even comes with a free lifetime repairs.

 

What you said makes sense. So I went and tested if it works as you said. I
buckled the passenger side seatbelt and tried to open the door from the
outside. But the seat belt remained buckled and didn't come out even when I
pulled the door open halfway.
How is it supposed to work for the rescue crew?
Oh and this switch is not related to the latch at all, it clicks (on the
passenger side at least, assuming the drivers side is faulty) when swinging
the door only.

Also if its battery powered and the car crash breaks the battery or severs
the wires, how is it supposed to work? Do they really design such safety
devices with such failures possible?

 

I don't know if the VIN tracker would reveal the country where the car is
first sold. It does reveal the country of origin.
http://www.autobaza.pl/ab/en/web/productaa0100

On the 2003 Civic, a VIN serial number starting with 8 is a Canadian model:
JHM ES9 5 5 * 3 S 000001 US Model
JHM ES9 5 5 * 3 S 800001 Canadian Model

 

Your experiment is done correctly but instead of unbuckling, it's suppose
to release the belt "tension". Regrettably, I left the word tension out. Let's
say your seatbelt retracting mechanism is located on the door, as some
Hondas do (not referring to power seatbelts.) If one tries to open the door
after a collision when the solenoid is activated, the door can't open because
there's tension on the belt on the door. The belt tension releases when the
solenoid deactivates or the battery is damage, or the door cracks opens, for example.

Hmmm... I'm confuse but here goes nothing. You said connecting the battery
causes a click inside the little clear plastic box which hold the belt retraction
mechanism. If the so, the switch that tells the click to go click is faulty. I
believe a switch is closing when you swing the door, either that or the wire
loom at the door jam. This is where wires are moving and binding.

Yes. but I don't have information on that until I get my books.