[s-cars] Alarm system/locking system problems

Mon Jan 14 18:11:24 PST 2013

Hi Keith, Mike,

If it was as simple as finding and replacing a delta pressure sensor then if
someone can let us know where to look that would be most appreciated.

I play games with it like see who opens the door and starts the engine
before it locks again - sometimes I win, sometimes I lose!!

It is really irregular. This morning the car was locked though I never lock
it if it's on the drive or in the garage - so it must have locked itself in
the night though the temps here were above freezing, though very damp. I was
able to unlock, get in, drove off with now issues.

It may be back at the weekend when the temps are due to drop here. We'll
see.

Tony

96 S6

From: Keith Franchetti [mailto:skidfranc at gmail.com] 
Sent: January-14-13 8:28 PM
To: Michael Wakefield
Cc: Tony Curran; Larry; s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Alarm system/locking system problems

Interesting, Mike.  However (and I'm very curious to know if you found this
to be the case too, Tony), in my case, the pump actually seemed to run for
about 10 seconds, then pause for a second or so, then run for another 10
seconds, etc.  It seems to be the same as if the pump is triggered when the
hose is not connected:  it seems to have an auto stop feature that prevents
it from running non-stop if, for example, the hose is broken somewhere or if
it's disconnected.  Only in my case (and I think Tony's) something is
causing the pump to trigger over and over and over again.  It's not actually
literally running constantly.  But almost constantly.

Actually, as I was trying to jury-rig it to get home, the amount of time
between activations of the pump (and alarm) seemed to increase--so that I
was able to re-connect the pump brain and run around and get in and start
the car before the alarm locked me out. I managed to get the car started
before the alarm re-armed.  

Similar to your situation, Tony, my problem seems to be going away today.
I've had the pump hooked up electrically but not pneumatically.  I haven't
dared try the door locks at all, which would seem like pressing my luck.
But the alarm has not been arming at all.  I guess I should try the locks
and see how far I get with the tubing hooked back up as well.  

There seem to be a LOT of gremlins loose at the moment though!  I wish there
were one thing that explained them all.

Keith

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 8:11 PM, Michael Wakefield <S4Quattro at comcast.net>
wrote:

Vacuum operated door locks were introduced (I think) on the 1984 Audi.
During factory testing of the car at altitude in Colorado, or perhaps with
early delivered units, it was determined that if you stopped on a mountain
pass and locked the car, the pump would continue running until the battery
was dead. You couldn't override it with key pressure, since it was still
pumping. The reason was that there was not enough delta pressure available
at that altitude to activate whatever pressure sensor they used to tell the
system to stop pumping. They changed the sensor, and all was OK. I haven't
looked in Bentley, but perhaps there is a delta pressure sensor that has
failed, that is supposed to shut off the pump.
FWIW,
Mike Wakefield
93S4
GT30

On {January14}, at 5:10 PM, Tony Curran wrote:

> Hi Larry,
>
> But this is different. The car continually locks itself. Even after
> completing a lock the pump continually locks the car - which is why it is
> hard to open with the key as one cannot easily defeat the pump! This
> suggests that maybe the central locking system is not detecting the locks
> are activated so continually tries to lock car. I had a pump run all night
> till it finally just quit and had to get another.
>
> Tony
> 96 S6
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry [mailto:larrycleung at gmail.com]
> Sent: January-14-13 6:58 PM
> To: Tony Curran
> Cc: Keith Franchetti; <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Alarm system/locking system problems
>
> I thought central locking was supposed to auto lock the car if:
>
> 1) the locks were unlocked by the remote (not the key in the door lock)
>
> 2) neither ANY door or the trunk/hatch were physically opened within some
> specified period of time (never timed it, seems to be about five minutes)
>
> This is how my 95.5 (RF remote) functions, and has since I've owned it. If
> you open a door/trunk or use the key in any lock, auto lock is defeated.
> I've always thought this was a feature, not a warning of a potential
system
> failure. As I recall, my Mom's 2001.5 Passat does the same thing, but this
> is not something I could ever ever explain to her how to check, perhaps I
> can have my friend check on his '02 Passat.
>
> LL-NY
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jan 14, 2013, at 6:04 PM, Tony Curran <tony.curran at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
>> Keith,
>>
>> What your wife experienced was the central locking being set and the
>> immobiliser activated - the hazard warning light on the dash would
>> have been flashing.
>>
>> Finally, someone else reporting this problem!!! I think I'm the only
>> other to have experienced this - no one else has reported this on the
>> list. I've had this problem of the central locking auto locking the
>> car by itself for several years now. It only happens in the winter and
>> sporadically - like it didn't happen at all last year. It has a couple
>> of times this year when it has been cold (-15degC - I live in Ottawa)
>> I don't believe it is the CLP - I replaced it when after the pump was
>> continually activating overnight, the pump finally failed.
>>
>> My car is an S6 with RF remote. I disconnected the RF receiver as
>> neither of my RF fobs worked and I installed a Rightclick system - so
>> it isn't the RF Receiver.
>>
>> Two other possibilities
>>
>> 1.    driver door central looking switch.
>> 2.    driver door lock.
>>
>> I'd tend to lean towards 2 as the culprit. I've tried opening up the
>> inside door panel but it is difficult to diagnose when it only happens
>> when it's cold and I'm not likely to spend much time in the garage trying
> to find it.
>>
>> What I do as a temp fix is to pull the central locking fuse - this is
>> only done after the central locking is back working - it's in the fuse
>> box under the hood, driver side.
>>
>> So, I've never fixed it. Sometimes spend a little time trying to chase
>> it but it's normally too cold and it works 99.5% of the time!!
>>
>> Did this happen before you changed the CLP? I had taken the pump out
>> of the equation as I had replaced it, but maybe it's in the harness
>> around the pump.
>>
>> Good luck, and if you fix it, let me know :)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Tony
>> 96 S6
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
>> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Keith Franchetti
>> Sent: January-14-13 10:05 AM
>> To: s-car-list at audifans.com
>> Subject: [s-cars] Alarm system/locking system problems
>>
>> Hi All-
>>
>> So I replaced the central locking system pump (is this known as the
>> CLP?) about 3 weeks ago, because the old one got contaminated by
>> battery acid.  I managed to get the foam box fairly clean of the acid
>> (I believe) and I replaced the car battery.  Things seemed to have been
> back at baseline.
>>
>> Then yesterday my wife had the car.  When she came out of a store, she
>> found that it wouldn't start--didn't even try to crank. She could hear
>> what turned out to be the pump working to lock the doors and arm the
> alarm.
>> When she got out of the car, the alarm went off.  When she closed the
>> car, she couldn't get back in because the car had locked itself. (She
>> is NOT happy with my Audi obsession currently).
>>
>> When I arrived to investigate I found that upon unlocking, the car
>> immediately relocks itself.  By being quick, I was able to get back
>> into the car.  It wasn't starting for her (I believe) because the alarm
> was arming.
>> (The fog light button light was blinking).  I ended up being able to
>> get home by pulling the central locking pump, disconnecting it,
>> reconnecting it, and I guess sort of tricking it long enough to start
car.
>> When I arrived home and shut the car off, the alarm immediately re-armed.
>> I've disconnected the vacuum hose so I don't get locked out again, and
>> then (to keep the pump from running every few seconds, I disonnected
>> one of the connectors to the pump, but of course that also prevents car
> from starting.
>>
>> Does anyone think this could be as simple as the brain in my new
>> (used) CL pump being bad?  Is there even a "brain" in that thing?  I
>> was surprised to see how much plugs into it (3 different connectors)
>>
>> Some other possibly related symptoms:
>> 1.  There seem to be many more gremlins when temp is in the 40-55
>> range with very high humidity or rain.
>> 2.  These have included the dashboard chime (I think it was the
>> reminder to put on your seatbelt) continuing to chime for up to a full
> minute or two.
>> 3.  The radio looks on, and comes on for a half second upon starting,
>> then won't make any sound for about that same time frame (60-90 seconds).
>> 4.  I'm pretty sure on the highway the day before my wife's problem,
>> my sunroof tipped open on it's own, then closed after about 5 seconds.
>> (I know this sounds crazy--I also though it could have been a huge
>> gust, opening a seal somewhere, briefly, but I don't really think so)
>> 5.  I do have occasional problems with the sunroof area not draining
>> properly.  I'm going to finally clean those drainage tubes (with any
>> luck) today. Could water be getting somewhere to cause my locking
problem?
>> 6.  There are probably more transient symptoms I'm forgetting, which ,
>> as I say, may not even be related.
>>
>> Does anyone have any bright ideas on what might be at the heart of my
>> problems? Thanks much in advance!
>>
>> Keith
>> Burlington, VT
>>
>> '95.5 S6 Avant
>> '01 A6 2.7T 6-speed
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