[s-cars] Central door lock system won't pass state inspection

[Tom Rodriguez]

Please HELP!  My central door locking system is malfunctioning and will not
pass state inspection which is due this week.  I searched the FAQs and
recent discussion topics on Quattroworld for a fix, but to no avail.

 

Symptoms (for the past week or so): From outside the car the doors can be
locked and unlocked with the key as intended.  From inside the car the door
lock buttons on the driver's and passenger's doors do nothing.  Occasionally
when driving, all the doors will lock if I lower or raise the windows, and
sometimes they seem to lock spontaneously due to no discernable action on my
part.  When this happens I am locked inside the car and the only way to get
out is to lower either the driver's or passenger's side window and reach out
to unlock the door from the outside (this will not pass inspection).

 

Another symptom which may or may not be related is that the vacuum pump for
the central locking system runs on for about 30 seconds whenever the doors
are locked or unlocked.  This has been happening for about a year.

 

Any insights or BTDTs will be greatly appreciated.  The car is going to the
shop tomorrow and I'd like to have the wisdom of this group before I get my
mechanic's diagnosis (and his cost estimate!)

 

Tom Rodriguez

'95 S6