dfinnegan

Problem solved -- See post #28 below.

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I'm having problems with my door locks. I can not lock the doors using the key. If I try, the locks go down and then pop up again.

I can lock the doors using the center console button. I can do this from the passenger side and then close the passenger door leaving the car locked. The doors then unlock using the key from either side.

Having done this "trick", the alarm appears to be unarmed. I base this assumption on the fact that the led's do not blink.

Reviewing the threads here it appears that my problem is with a micro switch in one of the doors.

I'm just checking with everyone who might have knowledge of this repair that I have diagnosed this problem correctly/reasonably before I go ahead and spend a couple of hours in the sub-freezing conditions of my garage removing the door panels and trying to locate and readjust the micro switches.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Dave

ttAmerica RoadsterAWD

Hi Dave. Funny you posted this as I too am having door lock woes. My door does the same as yours, only on the passenger side i cannot open the door by squeezing the door latch....like it's locked. I notice that even unlocking using the center console does not fully lift the door lock stem. I think it's hanging up somewhere.

Any body can give us some insight into this??

thanks, Jaime (and Dave too).

Graham L

Sounds like the micro switch to me – I had this not long ago. I dismantled the locks to diagnose and it’s a real PITA frankly, particularly as I was only able to ID the problem, not fix it. Had the repair done at JZM while it was in for some other bits. There is a small flap that activates the switch and the flap is pushed down by a plastic sleeve on the lock barrel – I’d broken the top off the flap, so the switch couldn’t get hit. Once I had it in bits you could activate the MS with a screwdriver by pressing down where the flap should have been, and all was ok, so in my case it was definitely the activator part of the mechanism. V tight spaces to work in, frankly I’d pay someone else to do the work, unless you have a locksmith trained 10 year old hanging around the house.

dfinnegan

Graham,

Thanks for the input.

Are you saying that this micro switch is on the key lock side of the door, or is it under the lock button with the led?

It it is on the key lock barrel, were you able to get to the micro switch and this broken tab by removing the door card or did you need to remove the outside door handle as well?

Jamie,

I don't believe that you and I do have the very same problem as, mine is that I can not get the doors to lock using the key. Either side. The locks just pop back up again. And, my center console lock button works fine. Both lock buttons fully depress and fully rise up again. The problem that I'm having is purely to do with the key mechanism. Or so it seems to me.

It sounds to me like you may be having mechanical problems with your locks. Are the symptoms the same with key or central locking button?

There have been threads referencing a screw falling out on the bottom of the locking mechanism. Could be yours is loose and not quite gone. Apparently the screw drops off into the door and is difficult to retrieve. Might be worth pulling the card to check that everthing is secure. A simple tightening up might be enough. I'd start on the passenger side with yours.

Where as, I suspect that mine is more on the micro switch side due to the fact that it works just fine from the console, because the alarm does not appear to arm even when locking with the center console button, and because all of the rest of the mechanical bits seem to be working fine.

Not knowing, really, how the system works I was looking for some supportive input before pulling the door cards and spending a few hours in the cold looking around.

Any way, thanks Graham and Jamie for your input.

I guess I have another weekend project lined up.

Cheers,
Dave

Graham L

there's nothing associated with the pop up button at all, it's just on a rod runing from the lock to the button, the micro switch is in the lock barrel, and i had to take the whole door apart as well as taking the handle and lock barrel out. getting to the lock from the inside is the only way to do it, and it is very tight (and you need a 1/4 inch drive ratchet to get the handle off from the inside, v limited space to work, so needs a small socket set). You probably wont have to take the handle off, but dismantling the lock barrel from the inside is annoying, but, if you have the parts available, i think (and this was a few months ago that i did this) that you should just be able to undo the one screw that holds the barrel in, (this is the one that works loose and falls out the drainage holes in the bottom of the door), and a bunch of what i can only describe as 'toothed cams' will fall off (again, probably into the bottom of the door) and you can remove the lock. I had to strip the other door too, when it came to reassembly, because like a feckwit, i couldnt tell how the 'toothed cam' bits all went back together - take a photo!

All the operating stuff is on the lock barrel, not the button.

dfinnegan

Graham,

That helps. Thanks. And the picture idea is always a good one!

Jamie,

I'll try and take a bunch of photos when I get to this repair. Hopefully that will help you diagnose and repair your situation. Who knows, maybe it is just the micro switch adjustment. Wouldn't that be nice?

Cheers,
Dave

last toy

Graham is right, I had the same problem after I had my driver side door adjusted. This is a quirk in the locking design. The door panel has to be removed and the switch reset. I don't know the exact fix other than it cost me about $100 with my mechanic. I hate delaing with doors panels as I can never get them back easy. If you want I can call my mechanic and get the exact details. Don't lose sleep over it, it's just another little annoying quirk that is easily fixed. The only other fix could be the central locking switch but your problem doesn't sound to be that.

dfinnegan

Don,

Thanks very much for the offer. I plan on trying to fix this myself so I'll be opening up the door panel either way. I expect I'll figure things out as I get in there and either be able to fix it, or not.

I was really just looking for some confirmation that I was going in the right direction before investing the time. Sounds like I'm going to have to do it.

Thanks again,
Dave

ttAmerica RoadsterAWD

Cool, guys. Thank you very much! I'm gonna pull out the panel and check everything out too. Hopefully it will be something easy. Will post results.

Jaime

JasonAndreas

Dave,
Did you get your Bosch hammer? If you have, go to the alarm section and play around with the door locks electronically and read the fault codes before you take anything apart.

dfinnegan

Yes, I did get the Hammer. I've not yet had an opportunity to try it out, but this will defintely be the first. I was hoping it could tell me something about this issue before I start taking things apart. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Cheers,
Dave

warmfuzzies

I'd also check the door switches in the bodywork, when mine did this one of the switches under the rubber hat had lost its ground wire continuity.

kevin.

dfinnegan

I believe that I have isolated my door locking problem to the passenger door.

I think this is the case because I used the Hammer to diagnose the problem and learned (again) that the "drive position is unplausible".

I then did some testing with the "position switch" by locking and unlocking the doors using the key, the central locking button, and then manually all while checking the Hammer for indications. I discovered that manually locking and unlocking the drivers door can be detected with the Hammer, but that manually locking and unlocking the passenger's door can not be detected.

In the shop manual under Diagnosis / Trouble shooting alarm system, Input Signals, Position Switches at drive motors, display 4, 4a and 4b. I get display 4 when both doors are unlocked. This seems correct.

I get display 4a when the doors are both locked. This is an error as this display is indicating that one of the doors (don't know which one) is unlocked.

If I manually unlock the drivers door I go back to display 4 even though the passenger door is still locked. Seems the passenger door is not registering as locked.

If I re-lock electronically I get display 4a again. I then manually unlock the passenger door and I get no change. This also suggests to me that the passenger door is not registering the locked position.

This sounds like the micro switch adjustment problem I've read about here on Rennlist.

With this knowledge I went ahead and removed the passenger door panel, the passenger door handle and the drive motor. However, I was unable to find a problem, or fix one.

I did, however, discover that the door, beneath the card panel, has a padded aluminum covering stuck to it. Some of the screws to remove the locking bits were covered by this aluminum covering and had already been exposed by tearing away a bit of the aluminum covering over the hidden screws. It seems someone has been down this road before!

The shop manual indicates the "micro switch" wire in the door goes to the door handle. I followed this white wire to the door handle locking barrel and found more of a magnetic sensor mounted to the barrel of the key lock.

It appears to me that this is what senses the motion of the locking barrel, thus driving the power lock motor. This seems to work just fine. I just can't see how this is a micro switch, but perhaps I'm missing something.

I could not find an adjustable micro switch anywhere.

What am I missing?!

Could someone who has knowledge of this micro switch adjustment help me to understand:

1) where the micro switch is

2) if it is mounted to the key barrel

3) how the switch is activated

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures when I had the door apart

Thanks in advance for any input.

Cheers,
Dave

Marc Shaw

My driver's door is still apart (waiting for a power window regulator) so I can take any pictures you need.

Marc

dfinnegan

Marc,

That would be great!

I'm particularly interested in the switch which is described as being on the lock cylinder barrel. It seems there is a plastic flap over the switch which depresses and activates the switch when the cylinder barrel rotates.

I either don't have this setup or I'm being particularly dense!

If you are able to take a picture of this setup it would be a help to me.

Though, to be honest, I suspect that it'll be too much work for you as it is inside the door, at the lock, and is hidden behind plastic covers.

I expect I'll have to take apart my drivers door to see if I can figure out what's missing from the passenger side.

Cheers,
Dave