Central locking slowly dying...

[JoeNose 0]

I had a small fault in the central locking system grow suddenly a lot worse in the last month. It's operation became more and more erratic, but it would still work OK about half of the time. I've now reached a point whereby the system does not work at all when trying to unlock the car; and works about 1 time in 5 when trying to lock it. Like I said, the deterioration has been progressive and has taken about 4 weeks...

 

Whilst Vince advised it's easier to wait until the system breaks altogether for a quick diagnosis of the problem, I feel I'm so close to that stage now I may as well do something about it. Does the description of the symptions I'm having narrow the field of potential culprits down at all?

[Supercharged 2]

Is it from both doors??? - may just be the wiring on one of the door handle switches, if it affects both then the pump is going, its expensive but I think its a mk2 part so you should be able to get one from a scrappy...

[corradovr6sc 0]

There's usually a central locking pump for sale on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 21841&rd=1

[thorpey 0]

mine had same problem and was a pain but i inspected the pump in the boot and found the tubes/pipes were not in properly and so pushed them in with a pair of pliers and it has worked perfectly since which was 3 months or so ago

[fla 9]

mine had same problem and was a pain but i inspected the pump in the boot and found the tubes/pipes were not in properly and so pushed them in with a pair of pliers and it has worked perfectly since which was 3 months or so ago

Thorpey's right, check the hoses attached to the pump first and try it again. Alos try resetting the c/l - some thing like opening the doors and boot and opening and closing the fob (do a search, someone has a thread on this). Pumps are available from the scrappy for between £15 & £30 as well as on ebay and other forum members. Its an easy changeover too. I believe an old Audi 100 pump will also fit (IIRC)- plug and play and its more powerful too and quieter. Finally if you have Bentley there is a mthod of isolating where the problem is using a multimeter by checking power to the pump and current flow through the switches - you will need someone to turn and hold the key in the lock for this though. its not a major problem, just fiddly.

 

HTH and best of luck.

[gibber 0]

I got a pump you can have cheep, and I know it works!!!!

[JoeNose 0]

Thanks for the replies, I'll check the pipes, but will prepare to replace the pump I guess.

 

Gibber u have PM!

[Baz2004 0]

I've a similar problem but the car locks itself when I turn the key to take it out of the door handle? I've always used the zapper for the alarm so I didn't notice the problem before but I disconnected the alarm recently doing engine work and its a pan in the ass every time I want to open the doors, will this problem be solved when I reactivate the alarm?

[fla 9]

Baz2004, ? U got Bentley? If so, have a look under the section covering the central locking pump as I've mentioned above. Get a multimeter and I'm sure you'll be able to diagnose the problem. Bentley is quite comprehensive in the interpretation of the readings.

 

Good luck.