Driver's side door panel controls: electrical issue

[Brotherspoon]

Greetings,

In my 2023 GT1 I've been experiencing an intermittent electrical issue with the driver's side door panel controls.

1) The most obvious symptom is the entire control panel cluster back lights going dark and flickering at random, as if the entire common V+ or V- connection is affected.
2) Since the mirror positioning switch in the left position permits the reversing mirror function, this is also affected by this issue. The mirror position and reversing chime will switch back and fourth at random but following the (random) control panel flickering.
3) This issue also causes the car to think it's not in park when it actually is and the warning ringer will go off and it will instruct to set the vehicle in park in the dash.

I have disconnected the door wiring harness connector a few times. The last time I did, I inspected it and gave it a decent spray with Nu-Trol contact cleaner which did help immediately but the problem has returned.

When I had my '18 GT2 I had blue screen issues with the mirror cameras that could be temporarily corrected by massaging the wiring inside the same harness connector at the door pocket, but never had this problem before.

Anyone else have this going on?

 

[Snicklefritz]

In my 2023 GT1 I've been experiencing an intermittent electrical issue with the driver's side door panel controls.

Your GT1 is not a 2023. Just pointing that out for starters. Unless Canada got GT1 trim for 2023, which I never heard before. Educate me. Ha hah.
You have managed to muck up the connections somehow with your fiddling. I wish you success in finding out what is loosened or disconnected or hooked up wrong, whatever.

 

[Brotherspoon]

Your GT1 is not a 2023. Just pointing that out for starters. Unless Canada got GT1 trim for 2023, which I never heard before. Educate me. Ha hah.
You have managed to muck up the connections somehow with your fiddling. I wish you success in finding out what is loosened or disconnected or hooked up wrong, whatever.

Howdy. I find the cross-border trim level equivalencies to be confusing, could be me. For the sake of simplicity, I'm referring to an AWD GT1 as the non-limited version (canada thing?) of the GT (no hud, no 360 cam, no bending headlights, etc.) What I call my previous '18 limited, as the GT2, had those features.

Unseating and opening the connector was a step to remedy the issue I'm experiencing as this began occurring before I took it apart there, I didn't mention that specifically but I hope it's clear to all that I went there diagnostically.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Well, your braver than I am, and apparently more knowledgeable. Ignorance breeds fear. I would go "diagnostically" into my door panel controls via mechanic only. And not KIA first since there is no warranty possibility paying for this. You on the other hand are well under warranty. So, why are you thinking to do this yourself. Just curious about the thought process.

 

[Snowwhite]

if this is a '22 or later there have been known cases of the harness leading to the door cooking themselves and causing similar problems. check that for signs of burns.
reddit thread on this

 

[Brotherspoon]

if this is a '22 or later there have been known cases of the harness leading to the door cooking themselves and causing similar problems. check that for signs of burns.
reddit thread on this

Thank you for commenting on this. That thread had a link to this video which shows exactly what I am dealing with.

 

[Brotherspoon]

Well, your braver than I am, and apparently more knowledgeable. Ignorance breeds fear. I would go "diagnostically" into my door panel controls via mechanic only. And not KIA first since there is no warranty possibility paying for this. You on the other hand are well under warranty. So, why are you thinking to do this yourself. Just curious about the thought process.

To be clear, we're only talking about unplugging and plugging in a weatherproof wiring harness connector from it's socket here. And for what it's worth, high quality contact cleaners such as the one I use usually offer excellent results for grime-related electrical continuity issues. However, there seems to be deeper issue here as demonstrated in the youtube video I mentioned in my reply to Snowwhite.

 

[Alpinesting]

Since you asked, no. Is it possible that someone damaged the wiring that enters the door?

 

[Alpinesting]

Has the car been modified? This a classic symptom of a shorted wire or component.