[A4] 1998 A4 2.8 Quattro - Problem with door locks

[Mitchell]

I know that the power door lock system runs off of vacuum pumps, not
electric solinoids, like on other cars.  I believe the
pump/reservoir/controller (whatever you call it) sits in the trunk on the
right side somewhere, near the gas filler and rear wheel (probably have to
pull back the side carpet panel to find it.

Since it runs off a vacuum, my guess is you either have a leak somewhere in
the system, or the pump/reservoir/controller thingy is broken, and not
activating the system.  

If you have a hand vacuum pump with a measurement gauge, once you find the
unit in the trunk and the lines that come out of it, you can probably
quickly figure out which is the problem, by splicing into the vacuum lines,
and either measuring the amount of vacuum when you activate the door locks,
or try creating a vacuum with the hand pump manually, and see if the locks
move.  

Sorry, I don't have any manuals or anything here in front of me to provide a
more detailed or exact answer, but this should at least be enough to get you
pointed in the right direction, I hope. 

This is one area I never really liked about the German design.  At least
with electric locks, if one fails, the rest still work.  But which this
vacuum system, if there's a leak in the lines, or if the single controller
fails, then the whole system fails.  Yes, there's less items to fail (one
compared to 5-6 with the electrics), but when it does fail, it fails
completely throughout the whole car.  

Just my thoughts on the design, I have never had a problem myself (knock on
wood) with the power door locks in my car.

Mitchell Segal 
2001.5 A4 1.8TQ


-----Original Message-----
From: a4-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:a4-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of
a4-request at audifans.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 3:00 PM
To: a4 at audifans.com
Subject: A4 Digest, Vol 70, Issue 2

Send A4 mailing list submissions to
	a4 at audifans.com

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
	http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/a4
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
	a4-request at audifans.com

You can reach the person managing the list at
	a4-owner at audifans.com

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of A4 digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1. 1998 A4 2.8 Quattro - Problem with door locks .. (Venkat Ratnam)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:16:06 +0000
From: Venkat Ratnam <venkat14 at hotmail.com>
Subject: [A4] 1998 A4 2.8 Quattro - Problem with door locks ..
To: A4 A4 Fans <a4 at audifans.com>
Message-ID: <BAY102-W39F0B40F062C66315B7A75C9FF0 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


Hello,
I have the following problem. When I press the remote to close all the car
doors, I hear the beep but the doors don't close or open automatically. Even
if I use the key to manually lock or unlock the doors, only the front driver
side door closes (and I hear the beep). I have to open and close all the
other doors manually.
I ran into a bigger problem now. The door to the gas tank doesn't open at
all for the same reason either with the remote or with the key.
Any ideas on what you think is the problem?
Thanks.
Venkat
 
_________________________________________________________________
With Windows Live, you can organize, edit, and share your photos.
http://www.windowslive.com/Desktop/PhotoGallery

------------------------------

_______________________________________________
A4 mailing list
A4 at audifans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/a4


End of A4 Digest, Vol 70, Issue 2
*********************************