Welcome, milktank

Home
Advanced Search

Forum

Model Specific Sections

Forum
New Posts

Audi - Sponsored By Tutts of Dorking

Blogs
Private Messages

A3 - S3 - RS3

Notifications

Gallery
FAQ

SCG

Calendar

Community

My Profile

Settings

Insurance

Log Out

What's New?

Forum Actions

Quick Links

Audi A3 - 8P - 2004 - 2012

Lock microswitch problem / Door-open signal failure / Car may lock you out / May affect other VAG vehicles

Thread: Lock microswitch problem / Door-open signal failure / Car may lock you out / May affect other VAG vehicles
Like 16 people like this. Be the first of your
friends.

Results 1 to 10 of 14
Thread Tools

Search Thread

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Last

Rate This Thread

Display

Lock microswitch problem / Door-open signal failure / Car may lock you out / May affect other VAG vehicles
#1
djgilson
1st Gear

Join Date:
Location:

Dec 2007
Launceston,
Cornwall
Posts:
163
Post Thanks / Like
Thanks:
32
Thanked 46 Times in 30 Posts

Lock microswitch problem / Door-open signal failure / Car may lock you out / May affect other VAG vehicles 04-01-2011, 04:11 PM
Its been said before, but its worth repeating. Dont leave the car with the key in it if you have these symptoms:
Car locks itself when it shouldnt
Lights-on warning buzzer stops working
Dashboard door-open display stops working
If fitted, the door-edge warning light and door courtesy light (puddle light) stop working.
These are all symptoms of a failure of the door-open signal, which may be due to a problem with the door lock microswitch. Whatever the cause, you
risk being locked out of the car - which is especially embarrassing when the engine is running, as I discovered the hard way.
My experience of the problem On my car, a 3dr A3 8P, the problem turned out to be that furry plastic was interfering with the action of the
microswitch. It proved perfectly possible to do a repair, contrary to the received wisdom that you have to replace the complete lock. For the gist of the
repair, skip to the sketch later in this thread, or for the whole tedious story, read on.
The diagnosis Owners will be well aware of the priceless feature that if you unlock the vehicle but do not open a door, it will re-lock itself after a time
delay - a frequent source of frustration and unkind thoughts about the idiot who thought this was a good idea. Thats when its working properly.
But if it does not receive the signal that a door has been opened, the system will re-lock itself after the given time, come what may.
On my car, the problem was intermittent. If any door other than the drivers door was opened, the system worked OK. Only the drivers door
sometimes failed to send the correct door-open signal. Its not surprising that the drivers door should tend to give problems first, since it is used the
most.
My vehicle has the red warning light on each door edge, which comes on when the door is opened. It was apparent that the light failed to come on
whenever the door-open signal failed. This was a really useful trouble-shooting aid - much easier to watch the light than wait for the doors to re-lock.
Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x768px.

Many vehicles have just a reflector on the door edge, so dont assume theres something wrong if it doesnt light up, as I did with my newly acquired
A4 recently! If you only have reflectors, you will have to use the lights-on warning buzzer or the dashboard door-open display to monitor whats going
on. Note that the interior overhead light is not a useful monitor, because its not dependent only on the door-open signal.
Anyway, with the door open, I could open and close the lock by manipulating the latch plate. When closing the latch the light would always go off
correctly.
Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x768px.

Latch closed, light off.

When opening the lock, (by lifting the exterior handle), the light sometimes failed to come on, and this failure seemed to be linked to a reluctance of
the latch plate to spring to the fully open position. When I encouraged it into position manually, I could just hear the click of a microswitch. (You need
good hearing and really quiet surroundings for this. A stethoscope might help, but then you run out of hands to hold everything........) When the
switch clicked, the light always came on. This suggested that the switch itself was OK, and the problem was friction in the mechanism.
If the problem is not intermittent If the door-open signal refuses to trigger, there is less scope for diagnosis with the lock in situ, but it may still be
worth exploring.
If when you open the lock the latch plate springs fully open, you will need to restrain it manually and allow it to open slowly while listening for the
microswitch. You can then repeatedly operate the microswitch by jiggling the latch plate. If the light can be persuaded to come on sometimes, this
would suggest an intermittent contact within the microswitch. If it refuses to come on at all, this might also suggest a poor connection or a broken
wire outside of the microswitch.
If you dont hear the click at all, this could imply the microswitch button is worn down, or the switch mechanism is broken, or background noise is
obscuring the click, or perhaps you are deafer than you thought.
Audi diagnostics / VCDS There is always the possibility that the failure of the door-open signal is due to an electronic failure either within the lock or
in the central-locking control unit. I have no knowledge of VCDS, but I assume it should be able to tell if this is the case. Perhaps someone can
confirm? But I would always look for a mechanical failure first.
The solution On my vehicle as I say, friction in the mechanism appeared to be the problem. Application of WD-40 to the latch plate did not help.
The microswitch is not available separately, and Audi quoted nearly 100 for a new lock, or about 230 fitted. It must be said that the lock
incorporates the central-locking solenoids and components, so it is quite a complex mechanism. No doubt it includes a number of buried
microswitches, but the one we are interested in turns out to be easily accessible once the lock is removed.
Plenty of incentive then to try a diy solution. First we must remove the lock.
Removing the lock The procedure is in the Haynes Manual. Its quite complex because of four connections to the lock which have to be removed,
those to the lock cylinder and the exterior handle being particularly tricky to get at. For this reason, the procedure includes removal of the window
glass and window frame, the lock cylinder and the exterior door handle, as well as all the door interior trim.
I have to admit that I didnt have the benefit of the Manual at the time, so I removed only the door interior trim and kept the window fully up
throughout. This forced me to remove the lock connections entirely by feel in a very limited space, and re-attach them in the same way - almost
impossible, and I wouldnt recommend it unless you have loads of time and unlimited patience. The Haynes method involves a lot more disassembly,
but is less risky to your sanity.
Ill not dwell further on the procedure, just include the odd photo.

Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x768px.

Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x768px.

A method of levering off the black plastic inner panel which seemed to work.

Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x768px.

Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x768px.

The easy bit, removing the lock fixing screws - 8mm XZN (12 spline) bit.

Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x768px.

Click this bar to view the original image of 768x1024px.

The lock removed.

The repair With the lock removed, the microswitch is found on its bottom edge, held in place by a spring clip, so is easy to detach. The connecting
wires between lock and microswitch prevent you from moving it far, but thats OK.
It was immediately clear that the microswitch is operated by a cam on the latch plate. The latch plate is plastic-coated and the problem was that the
plastic coating had shredded where the microswitch bears on it, so that furry bits of plastic were interfering with free action of the cam and
microswitch.
Click this bar to view the original image of 1024x641px.

The solution was simply to cut away the plastic coating locally with a knife, so that the microswitch could bear directly on the metal cam.
Removing the plastic left a gap between cam and microswitch, so I had to relocate the microswitch closer to the cam by a mm or so. There are two
round plastic locating pips on the microswitch which had to be trimmed with the knife, as shown. I then added packing under the microswitch to hold it
in its new position. Needed a bit of trial and error to get it right.
Then its just a matter of putting everything back together.
Conclusion Not the quickest or easiest of jobs, but satisfying , as it cost nothing. The lock has been operating successfully for over a year now.
Design fault or one off? I have no idea how common this problem of shredding of the plastic coating might be. My A4 appears to have the same sort
of plastic coated latch plate and I imagine a similar arrangement of latch plate/microswitch may be used on other VAG vehicles, and maybe across the
industry generally. The problem appeared on my car at about 5 years/85,000 miles. If anyone out there has a comparable experience, I hope they will
share it with the Forum by posting a reply.
If the shredding problem happens a lot, it would seem like something of a design fault. Of course if the industry can charge for fitting a new lock each
time, it wont be in a hurry to do anything about it.
Replacing the microswitch If the switch ever needs replacing, I would have hopes of finding a not-too-dissimilar replacement from component
suppliers such as Maplin, though one might need to be inventive with the mounting. Again, if anyone has experience of doing this, I hope they will post
a reply.
Inability to disable the alarm sensors Another consequence of a door-open signal failure which should be mentioned is that the alarm disabling
switches stop working. These are the two push-buttons which allow you to
a. disable the interior monitor if you want to leave a pet in the car
b. disable the vehicle movement sensor if you want to leave the car on a ferry or tow it away.
You will not be able to disable the sensors using these buttons, but at least this should be apparent because the little light on each button will fail to
light up. The only alternative I can think of is to leave the car unlocked - not very desirable, and an extra incentive to get the problem fixed before the
need arises. Many thanks to Forum member Roosterman for highlighting this aspect of the problem.

Post Thanks / Like

hagis, sarah_a3, NLE76, A3some, georgeaudi and 2 others thanked for this post
Thank for this post

Like this post

Dislike this post

The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to djgilson For This Useful Post:
A3some (23-01-2011), georgeaudi (22-01-2011), hagis (13-05-2011), kpn (18-01-2011), Mike Foster (04-01-2011), NLE76 (27-01-2011),
sarah_a3 (02-04-2011)