Central Locking Problems

[sjoyce666]

I am having a problem with the central locking on my 03 plate Alhambra

The drivers door will not completely lock or unlock when pressing the fob, all 3 other doors and the boot hatch lock and unlock correctly. The fuel cap is also mirroring the problem with the drivers door

The drivers door will lock and unlock but it does not do it completely. For example to start with all doors are unlocked. If I lock with the fob the drivers door will half lock, passenger and rears doors lock fine. If I then unlock the drivers door locks correctly but the passenger door and rear doors are now unlocked. Lock again drivers door half unlocks, passenger door and rear doors lock, unlock again, drivers door unlocked, passenger door and rear doors unlocked

I have had a new drivers door loom put in as the wires had been played with by a previous owner but this did not cure the problem. I then had a new drivers door actuator fitted, this also did not fix the problem

Has anybody had a similar problem ? If so what was the fix or any other areas to try. Have checked for fault codes and there arent any present

I am running out of things to check and change

 

[90landrover]

Have you tried to re synchronise the key to the car, this sometimes works.

 

[sjoyce666]

Thanks for the reply but I cant see it being a key out of sync as the motor and everything is working correctly it just does not complete its full function. The door is half locking/unlocking so it is getting a signal from the key to tell it what to do, it just isnt doing it for some reason

 

[Muttley]

I don't understand what a half-locked door looks or feels like. Can you give us a bit more to go on?

 

[sjoyce666]

I don't understand what a half-locked door looks or feels like. Can you give us a bit more to go on?

When a door locks the interior handle gets pulled towards the outside of the door, when it unlocks it pushes it towards the interior of the car

Every time I lock/unlock using the fob the passenger door does this in one fluid motion, the drivers door gets stuck half way and stays in its original setting either locked or unlocked. Pressing the button again the drivers door then carries on with its intended function and then locks/unlocks correctly however the passenger door is now the opposite

I will try and explain in a little table below, to start with all doors are unlocked, door status is in brackets text before it is the status of the interior handle

FOB BUTTON - DRIVERS DOOR - PASSENGER DOOR
Lock- Half Locked(Unlocked) - Locked
Unlock- Locked(Locked) - Unlocked
Lock- Half Unlocked(Locked) - Locked
Unlock- Unlocked(Unlocked) - Unlocked
Lock- Half Lock(Unlocked) - Locked
Unlock- Locked(Locked) - Unlocked

etc...

Excuse the layout above, it looks ok in the text editor but the forum cannot display it correctly, hopefully you can get the jist of it

 

[Muttley]

Its as though the lock motor is out of sync. The Alhambra has different locks to the Leon/Toledo that I have, and it appears that the central locking motor attaches to the mechanical lock assembly.

Which bit did you have replaced - the mechanical lock bit or the motor? I expect all the switches are packaged with the motor, and if they only replaced the mechanics it makes the motor a prime suspect.

The Golf Mk.4-based Leon and Toledo (indeed all Mk.4-based vehicles) have a weakness in the door locks - they contain four microswitches, and these can develop faults where they are soldered to the circuit board - this VW-Vortex forum thread gives all the details.

It may be that you have a failed switch in the motor assembly.

However, since the motor is separate, it may just be that the problem is mechanical synchronisation - i.e. the motor and lock for the drivers door are not mated correctly. Hard to diagnose without taking two doors apart and comparing locks - not a quick fix.

You could even swap motors between doors and see if the fault moves with the motor or stays with the door - that might narrow the search down a bit.

This is all a bit of guesswork though, as I've never worked on an Alhambra.

 

[sjoyce666]

On the Alhambra the actuator connects to the mechanical door lock, I have had the actuator replaced and this did not fix the problem. I have also had all the wiring in the drivers door replaced with a brand new loom so this should rule out any wire damage

I dont think it can be a microswitch problem as in the Leon/Toledo as it is getting a signal to lock/unlock but it is not completing the function, it is getting stuck half way each time

I'm starting to think it may be something mechanical rather than electrical as when I first looked at the car everything worked fine apart from an electric window switch in the drivers door, this was fixed by the dealer but I now have this locking problem which has only surfaced after the window switch has been fixed. I dont think it is a coincidence

 

[sjoyce666]

Problem resolved

Fuse 32, 5 amp, had partially blown. It completely blew and the trip and time on the dash would reset when the engine was switched off, also the voltage gauge was reading zero.

Replaced the 5 amp fuse and everything is working correctly

Thanks to everyone that helped diagnose it

 

[Muttley]

Partially blown? Fuses are not supposed to do that

Fuse 32 seems to protect several unrelated systems, including part of the central locking and the diagnostics port. I once had a fuse blow repeatedly and discovered the cause was the metal central pin from a 12v power adapter that had come loose and was shorting the power port/cigar lighter. If the diagnostic port is vulnerable to metallic litter (I don't know where it is on the Alhambra) it could be worth a check.

Mind you, you did say that the previous owner had messed with the door wiring, so there's the most likely cause.

 

[sjoyce666]

I think it was more the fuse than the door wiring but its fixed now so thats the main thing

Replaced fuse 53 this morning which controls the interior lights so they are all working again now as well. No idea what has happened to cause a couple of fuses to pop at the same time. Hopefully it is just a coincidence