C4 chassis remote lock help

[Larry C Leung]

Hello,

Looking for collective list wisdom on some lock issues on my
new to me 95.5 S6.

The remote locking (radio type, two button) had been working
with the car correctly until this past Friday where it simply failed
to lock the car. I locked the car manually (pushing the plungers,
didn't know about the power lock toggle on the driver's door
until later) and noted that the trunk did NOT lock, apparently
correct if I pushed plungers. I guess I expected things to work
like my 200Q (1.8 bar, H+R's, still for sale), so I was surprised
that pushing the driver's plunger didn't work the power locks. 
I assumed the remote's battery had failed, and had to wait until
after work to get a new one, once I got home to find out what
the battery was (2032 CR Lithium, in case anyone wants to know)
as there were no tools at work.

Later, upon getting home, I locked the car using the passenger's
plunger, trunk was open at the time. When I closed the trunk,
the alarm armed. It was then I noticed the first problem.

1.         Has anyone with a C4 car had great difficulty getting the key
            into the lock cylinders? Is this just a lack of use issue, or
a
            central lock issue (would be interesting if the car can
prevent
            the key being used if the alarm is set off. Super Security),
or 
            perhaps possible vandalism. I finally got the driver's and 
            passenger's doors locks to accept and turn with the key, but
            it took a lot of forcing, scraping with a pick and lube to
get
            things to work. I STILL can't get a key into the trunk past
            halfway. I have noted the storm flap over the key hole
doesn't
            appear to be there. I did scrape out some dried looking grey
            stuff, but the feeling of the key being blocked felt more 
            mechanical rather than dirt or worse still, super glue....   

            Note, the keys for this car are the internal cut kind.
2.        The second problem is, even with the new battery, the remote
           seems to have absolutely no effect. It doesn't activate the
locks,
           the alarm, nor do any lights flash in response. The alarm does

           arm now that I have the keys working to lock the car. 

Things I did to reset the remote:

1.        Totally disconnected the battery for close to ten minutes. No
effect.
2.        Taka M used VAG-COM to pull codes on the car. There apparently
                are either no codes w/rt the central locking, or there is
no way for
                VAG-COM to access central locking.
3.        I tried Fred Munro's procedure to resynch the alarm and the
remote.
                No effect, mostly because the remote seems to be doing
nothing. 
                (at least I think it's doing nothing).

Anyone have any ideas what to do next to:
        Activate the remote?
        Access the trunk lock?

TIA, sorry for the long post.

LL - NY