Electrical Problem

[Mark and Cath]

Our new Verso has a rather strange electrical fault in that the courtesy lights do not function but the switches and bulbs are OK.

When you open a door the door ajar indicator shows on the dash so the door switch is working and when you turn the lights on manually they come on so the bulbs are OK but no lights from just opening the door.

Any ideas or can anyone point me to a wiring diagram.

Cheers

[Devon Aygo]

I am asuuming you have the later 2009 > Verso & not the earlier 2004>2009 Corolla Verso, if so then I suspect this may be your issue:

Technical bulletin ref: BE-0068T-0811

DESCRIPTION OF PHENOMENON

Some customer may complain that when they open one of the doors the interior light is inoperative even though the

room lamp switch is in the door mode position.

PRODUCTION CHANGE

The design of the interior light switch has been improved.

Basically there was a possible fault with the rocker switch in the lamp assembly, there are multiple choices on the modified switch depending on which type of roof lamp you have. If you can PM me with your chassis number I can give you the modified part number, fitting is fairly simple as Toyota only give 12 minutes to a dealer to change it.

If you have a warranty you may just want to pop into your dealer and mention the bulletin number above.

[Mark and Cath]

Chassis number sent by PM, thanks.

Does the switch clip out first or do you have to take other bits off to free it?

Thanks

[Mark and Cath]

Just rang my local Toyota dealer and they have said you can't buy the switch only the whole module for over £400.

Are they right?

[Devon Aygo]

You need part number 84170-0F040, the reason your dealer cannot find it is they are looking at the parts catalogue which shows factory fit parts, this switch is a repair part only listed on a repair bulletin

[Parts-King]

You can buy the switch as the above part number, PM me for a price delivered

Kingo

[Mark and Cath]

Thanks Devon Aygo.

The price just came down to £40 which is a lot for a switch but better than over £400 :-)

Only thing to check is how do I remove it? I have hinged down the panel in front of the switch but levering the switch isn't working. Is it screwed in from behind or just a really tight clip?

Cheers

[Parts-King]

That cannot be right either, the switch costs more

[Mark and Cath]

Toyota know how to charge LOL.

First things first I need to pop the switch out and see if it can't be fixed. It has never moved since it was knew so it can't be worn out and must just be a bad connection.

[Mark and Cath]

Well I will take some photo's and try to do a tutorial tomorrow but basically it is 30 seconds to get to the so called switch and the design is just terrible. Fortunately the fix is dead easy and my courtesy light is working again.

The only thing I can think is that Toyota employed some Renault engineers to do the electrics.

Mod Edit

That is excellent news, a write up will definitely earn you some kudos points...

[Mark and Cath]

OK here goes for my write up.

To get the switch out you need to remove the lighting module from the roof lining, this is easy but you need to be brave and just give it a good pull. It is located on 4 guide pins and held on 4 clips.

Once out there is one plug to the vehicles wiring loom, press the tab and release the cable and the entire lighting module is in your hand. This lighting module also includes anti theft sensor and what Toyota want over £400 for.

Next you need to get the faulty switch out of the housing. At the rear you will see 2 plugs and you just gently lever these out, there are no clips.

The switch comes out complete with the the bulbs and everything except for the lens covers. To remove the lens covers gently lever from the inside corners and they will pop out.

Now to remove the rest there are 4 clips to push in and the whole lot slides out forwards. The clips are circled in the photo below.

Once out you will see the excuse for a switch that has been fitted, unlike most toggle switches there are no springs to take the movement stresses out off the mechanism instead the switch just bends the arms every time it operates. Metal fatigue anyone ...

Mine had 2 faults, one probably caused the other but here goes.

In the auto position the 2 inner most arms must be connected by the little metal roller. Here is mine before and the air gap is clear to see on the left hand arm.

Here is what it looks like after you bend the arms back up again.

Now it works in Auto and I have lights when I open the door but the On function still doesn't work . This is because the little metal roller has come loose of its carrier and isn't aligned properly anymore. It is loose because the arm has broken and there is now only 1 tab holding it in place. See the picture below.

Rather than risk it coming off again I elected to super glue mine in place. The problem with this is that instead of rolling the roller now simply drags across the contacts. I am aware that this will ultimately wear the contacts out but I seldom ever move the switch from Auto so I am happy it will last. In fact I can set the lights to On by just using the individual switches anyway.

On in now working and the inner arm is shorted to the middle arm as pictured below.

The Off function is exactly the same only the roller moves the other way.

I am a happy bunny because my lights work again and hopefully this will help someone else save a few pounds and fix their own car. If your switch is completely unrepairable you can just connect the 2 inner arms together and leave it in Auto, after all this is where it spends 99% of its life anyway.

I haven't seen the new switch but I am guessing Toyota have done away with this rubbish and simple fit a standard toggle switch, if someone has seen it let me know what you get for your money.

Toyota if you are reading this.

The reason most of us pay extra money to own a Toyota is the bullet proof reliability of the engineering, this is shockingly poor example and you need to address a number of issues. (1) Your dealers try to charge £400+ to change everything to fix your poor design, this is not on and (2) the 'upgraded' part (that is only offered if you know the part number and specifically ask for it) should be supplied at cost because there is no justification for you making extra profits out of your customers on the back of your own poor design standards. Poor show indeed.