Hey everyone... I need help with my central locking system! For the next few months (at least,) it's unlikely I will be able to afford the expense of taking the car anywhere to have it repaired... so if anyone can help me out, I'd really appreciate it! 
That said, as some of you may recall, in August of '07, my transmission died, and for the next 12 months, Toby sat immobile, waiting to get fixed. Since then, following a few repairs, the car has been great... but there are a couple gremlins that cropped up sometime during his year out of service that I have yet to be able to resolve!
The problem I seek to address here is with the central locking system, specifically the passenger-side door. While the keyfob still works fine (turning the interior lights on when I hit Unlock,) the locks themselves do not respond under any such circumstance. The only way I can lock or unlock the driver's side door is to insert and turn the key manually. The lock switch in the center stack does nothing.
The hatch does not lock at all, and neither does the fuel door. After my transmission was replaced, the hatch (and fuel door) were stuck locked, with the car experiencing several other electrical problems (namely, the headlights were stuck on, and the windows, wipers and turn signals did not work) due to the sunroof leaking into the interior all winter. I took the car to an electrical shop near my work at the time, and after the battery and a certain corroded wiring harness in the dash had been swapped out, all of the problems were resolved except for A) the radiator fan (and consequently the A/C fan, and presumably the power steering fan) no longer working, and B) the central locking system.
What did change after the repair was that the hatch had (very fortunately and mysteriously) unlocked (and has been unlocked ever since!) I have (of course) been able to unlock the fuel door through the driver side storage compartment in the boot (thank goodness!) The real problem here is that the passenger door is stuck locked—any passenger I have must climb in through the driver's side. Quite embarrassing and annoying to say the least!
For a time, I thought perhaps the cable had detached from the interior handle of the passenger door, since it doesn't unlock the door either (!!!,) but if one pulls the exterior handle and the interior handle at the same time, you can feel the two mechanisms working "against" each other, so I know they are both engaging. I have concluded that the passenger lock is electronically frozen in the locked position, and without an electronic signal to unlock it, locked is how it's going to stay!
I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. The only result has been the fuel door locking the first time I turn the key in the driver's side door to lock it, and not unlocking after that. After I reached through the boot to manually unlock the fuel door, the fuel door stays unlocked. The passenger door stays locked, and the hatch stays unlocked.
When the electrical shop swapped out my wiring harness, they could not figure out what it was that was screwing up the locks... I am assuming that the wiring for the doors in in a separate harness that they could not find, and/or there was another electrical component somewhere that was damaged.
So, all that said, if anyone has any idea how I can unlock my passenger-side door, I'd be really grateful. I don't really care about the central locking right now (although it would be nice to have it,) I just want to get that door unlocked!!
Any crazy ideas? Anyone?
That said, as some of you may recall, in August of '07, my transmission died, and for the next 12 months, Toby sat immobile, waiting to get fixed. Since then, following a few repairs, the car has been great... but there are a couple gremlins that cropped up sometime during his year out of service that I have yet to be able to resolve!
The problem I seek to address here is with the central locking system, specifically the passenger-side door. While the keyfob still works fine (turning the interior lights on when I hit Unlock,) the locks themselves do not respond under any such circumstance. The only way I can lock or unlock the driver's side door is to insert and turn the key manually. The lock switch in the center stack does nothing.
The hatch does not lock at all, and neither does the fuel door. After my transmission was replaced, the hatch (and fuel door) were stuck locked, with the car experiencing several other electrical problems (namely, the headlights were stuck on, and the windows, wipers and turn signals did not work) due to the sunroof leaking into the interior all winter. I took the car to an electrical shop near my work at the time, and after the battery and a certain corroded wiring harness in the dash had been swapped out, all of the problems were resolved except for A) the radiator fan (and consequently the A/C fan, and presumably the power steering fan) no longer working, and B) the central locking system.
What did change after the repair was that the hatch had (very fortunately and mysteriously) unlocked (and has been unlocked ever since!) I have (of course) been able to unlock the fuel door through the driver side storage compartment in the boot (thank goodness!) The real problem here is that the passenger door is stuck locked—any passenger I have must climb in through the driver's side. Quite embarrassing and annoying to say the least!
For a time, I thought perhaps the cable had detached from the interior handle of the passenger door, since it doesn't unlock the door either (!!!,) but if one pulls the exterior handle and the interior handle at the same time, you can feel the two mechanisms working "against" each other, so I know they are both engaging. I have concluded that the passenger lock is electronically frozen in the locked position, and without an electronic signal to unlock it, locked is how it's going to stay!
I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. The only result has been the fuel door locking the first time I turn the key in the driver's side door to lock it, and not unlocking after that. After I reached through the boot to manually unlock the fuel door, the fuel door stays unlocked. The passenger door stays locked, and the hatch stays unlocked.
When the electrical shop swapped out my wiring harness, they could not figure out what it was that was screwing up the locks... I am assuming that the wiring for the doors in in a separate harness that they could not find, and/or there was another electrical component somewhere that was damaged.
So, all that said, if anyone has any idea how I can unlock my passenger-side door, I'd be really grateful. I don't really care about the central locking right now (although it would be nice to have it,) I just want to get that door unlocked!!
Any crazy ideas? Anyone?
6th Gear
I see no way around it, you are going to have take you door panel off. Not terribly difficult, but a easy job is made difficult by the fact that you cant get the door open, which would generally need to do in order to have space to complete the job.
Quote:
Thanks for the reply Some Guy!Originally Posted by Some Guy
I see no way around it, you are going to have take you door panel off. Not terribly difficult, but a easy job is made difficult by the fact that you cant get the door open, which would generally need to do in order to have space to complete the job.
...If my car is the same as this car...:
...Then I'll be able to pull the panel straight off after unscrewing it. Is it before the 04's that the door panels can pulled straight off (and not out, up, then off,) or after? The above post is the only I've ever seen saying that the panel could be pulled straight off, and not out, up and off. Straight out would be easy, because I could begin by unclipping the panel from the top edge.
Then, assuming I did get the panel off, what would I do then? How would I force the lock to release? No matter what it's pretty hard to get to.