[s-cars] Continued Electrical Problems - Door Locks/Alarm

[tony.curran at sympatico.ca]

Mike,

I have this problem too. It happens when either of two conditions occur.

1. It's about -10deg. C (14F) outside temp.
2. It's been raining for a few days, ie damp.

I was actually locked out of my car once. I started it, got out to clear snow off and it locked. Arrh! I started to carry the spare key with me.

The central locking can get in to a mode whereby the vacuum pump/controller continually locks the car, locking at about every 15 seconds or so - thats the noise you hear in the rear, the controller/pump is under the passenger bench next to the battery. Last summer the controller/pump blew. Got a used one from a scrapped A6. Used $80Cdn, new $600Cdn

I appear to have an odd situation which I have yet to figure out. I have a controller/pump for an IR central locking system. BUT I have a '96 S6 which have RF remotes. I do not have receivers in the B pillars. Bently describes RF central locking on '97s and up. So I have an antenna somewhere but don't know where. There must be a RF receiver somewhere too, but where?

In some instances, I can open the car with the remote but can not lock the car. The symtoms suggests a relay or IR receiver (but I don't have one) or RF receiver is stuck in the closed position - hence the continually lock actions.

If you have IR receivers in the B pillar, may be give them a clean - these are expensive to replace - $500Cdn.

I would really like to figure this out soon because I don't think I'm going to be so lucky if the controller/pump blows again.

Tony
'96 S6


> 
> From: "Mike at Home" <mdbishoff at comcast.net>
> Date: 2004/04/14 Wed AM 12:41:13 EST
> To: <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Subject: [s-cars] Continued Electrical Problems - Door Locks/Alarm
> 
> Hi Guys - I took the advice a few of you gave me a couple of weeks ago and
> still have not been able to fix the door lock problem I'm having. The advice
> given was the removal of the "A1" relay in the fuse box and optionally going
> through the battery disconnect sequence. Neither one of those remedies
> worked.
>  
> Here are the symptoms again:  When trying to unlock the door from the
> outside manually with the key, the door lock knob comes up, but then
> immediately goes back down and the alarm sets. The only way I can get in the
> car is to hold the key in the unlock position for about 2-3 seconds, then
> the knob stays up. Once in the car, intermittently the door lock with lock
> and the alarm will set. This prevents me from starting the car. In that
> case, I need to turn on the ignition, roll down the window and manually open
> the door lock with the key. Also intermittently, the alarm will set as soon
> as I put the key in the ignition. When that happens, the door locks lock and
> the alarm sets, again preventing me from starting the car.
>  
> On a possibly related note, I can hear the door locks trying to open while
> I'm driving. There is a sound from the back seat that whirs intermittently
> for about a minute or so.
>  
> The battery is brand new and fully charged and I don't appear to be having
> any other electrical issues at this time.
>  
> Your insight appreciated.
>  
> Mike Bishoff
> Seattle, WA
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