Sliding door closed but showing as open [Resolved]

[Harry_t6]

I have a manual sliding door on my van and the door is completely closed however it is showing as open on the dashboard. I’ve cleaned out the channels but still have no luck.. the van door opens, closes and locks so the mechanism seems to be in tact? Any ideas as the beeping noise is driving me crazy when driving, seems to be intermittent when going over bumps.. cheers

 

[Ayjay]

We're camped near Troyes, France on the way to Ancona in Italy and a ferry to Greece next Tuesday. Earlier today, we stopped at some services, opened and closed the side door once and when I started up saw that the MFD had decided to tell us that the sliding door was open (which it's not!). Ordinarily, I might be content to leave it but the warning notice just doesn't go away and I can't access any other data in the MFD (ie. fuel consumption, trip data etc.) - it doesn't matter what MFD navigation buttons I press, the display remains on 'open door' - see picture below. Apart from the fact that it's just another worry when we're trying to get into the holiday spirit, my main concern is that any other warnings like AdBlue and engine check or any other critical warning (false or otherwise) just might not show while the MFD screen is locked on 'door open'. Is there a chance that, say, the MFD might not show a low AdBlue warning and I'll therefore unknowingly drive it until it will no longer start? I ask that particular question as I reckon there's at least 3500 miles in the AdBlue tank but we've had a false screen message before, albeit it corrected itself 30 odd miles later.
I'm also concerned that the alarm and motion sensors aren't being set properly when I lock the van (with the remote) - even though everything locks, the lights don't flash to say so (but do flash twice when I unlock).
I've read about microswitches sticking and other stuff on here but I'm not really berry keen on the idea of a DIY approach to this. I'm minded to head for the nearest VW Van Centre when we set off tomorrow morning but fear that their potential lack of English and my poor French might be an issue even if they are better that the average UK equivalent.
Any advice would be much appreciated before I hit the panic button.

 

[Scruffy]

Daft as it sounds, have you tried switching the ignition off for a few minutes?

 

[Ayjay]

@Scruffy - First thing I did - no good though. I'm wondering whether to disconnect the battery for a while to see what happens but I'm worried as I've read that can introduce other problems.

 

[AdL]

Clean the door contacts...

 

[Ayjay]

@AdL. Thanks for the suggestion but that was the second thing I did. Still no good though (I’m assuming you mean the three shiny strips in the centre of the door and 6 oppos in the door frame. That said, I only rubbed them with isoprop on a tissue and don’t really want to be more ‘invasive’.

 

[Ayjay]

Well, fingers crossed, I seem to have sorted it. This morning, I gently eased out the shiny sprung connections (or whatever they're called) in the middle of the door frame with a slim pen knife blade, closed the door and remote locked the van - it gave the ‘alarm armed’ flash (and beep) and a quick look at the MFD once the van was started showed it all back to normal. Touch wood, we can now start breathing normally again and crack on with the trip. That said, about an hour into the drive today, a small orange engine light came on that a quick google tells me was something to do with the emission system. That was confirmed by Carista and after I googled the actual fault was content to just clear it (and see if it comes back!!!!). Fecking VWs - I'm really beginning to wonder what all the fuss is about them (please don't start shooting me down and telling me how wonderful they are!). When mine works properly it's great but when it doesn't I begin to think that if VWs really are the best van out there, the rest of them must be truly shite.
These are the connections that I played with to sort out the original issue with the sliding door:

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