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Afternoon all,

Quick (maybe stupid) question - Has anyone on here changed any of the door catches on their C5?

Reason being (keeping it short) I had a problem with my Pass. Side one popping open at speed. As I currently have a donor car sat, I swapped the catch out of that, which worked perfectly after fitting, until the first time I locked it. Now the bastard thing wont open at all (at least it isn't popping open at speed I guess!)

I have searched high & low on the internet, but other than people generally having problems with their locks/catches I cant really find any helpful info.

I cant have not connected the handle mechanisms incorrectly, as it worked until I locked it (and logic would say that even if I had not done the inner/outer correctly or vice-versa, the other one would still open the door) so it must be lock related, however, as far as I can see, the only external locking bit of the mechanism (the bit the door pin fits to) is both operating correctly, and is fully up in the 'open' position.

Add to this that when I have refitted the knackered one to the donor to keep it watertight, I have the exact same problem and I have come to the conclusion that either I am a total moron, or possibly that if you swap the locks they have to be coded/reset with VAG-Com maybe?

Anyone know/had the same problem?

Cheers in advance

Dan

Could be a positioning problem? There are some pretty hefty screws holding the mechanism in position once it's adjusted. If you didn't tighten them up enough, or simply didn't put them in a position to allow for thermal expansion or something, then you could have trouble opening the door. Maybe try repositioning slightly? 'Course you'll have to get the door open first.

I did think this, however, I did them up with thread lock to a good tightness once I was happy with the position of both the catch and the striker plate, and as I say, tested it about 15/20 times prior to locking the car and all was working 100%. Locked the car on the fob, literally went inside the house, realised I had left screwdriver on the passenger floor, went back out (so less than a minute) and post locking the catch wont operate.

Meant to say, I have scanned for fault codes, and is showing none, but then is only a cheapy reader, not a proper VCDS cable.

Actually opening the door is now the biggest problem - I have made some discreet holes to allow me to get at the lock mech with a specially made set of tools (read bent screwdrivers and assorted bits of wire) and as far as I can see, am manipulating the lock and catch mechanism correctly in every possible external way with no luck.

I would be prepared to believe I had cocked something simple up, or it was a fluke failure of the replacement catch if the exact same thing hadn't happened on the original lock that I refitted to the donor car(of course I could have cocked the same thing up twice, particularly as I, in relative terms 'threw' it back onto the donor car, as I know the catch is buggered anyway), which is why I am wondering if the catch needs some type of electronic instruction. Have tried taking the battery off for an hour or so to see if there was some form of 'memory' that needs resetting also to no avail.

Am thinking of welding pass. side front door up and making it 'Dukes of Hazzard' entry only. Or alternatively when I come to sell up, pointing out how rare a '3 door' C5 is and therefore it must be worth a premium

I seem to recall a friend having problems with the door lock cable on his TT. It needed adjusting (too tight?). Does the lock make any noise when the car is unlocked or just nothing atall?

To all intents and purposes it does absolutely everything it should do, except open!

Cable for the interior door pull and downwards moving pin for the outside door handle are operating fine, and look to be moving the external levers on the catch to its full limits (and certainly operated the catch properly prior to it being locked for the first time)

Which is partly why it is driving me up the wall!

If I am honest, given everything I have tried, even if I could get the door card off, I don't actually know what I could try to actually free the catch

Dan95x wrote:
I cant have not connected the handle mechanisms incorrectly, as it worked until I locked it

Sorry Dan you lost me at the above sentence

It could be a case of an unfortunate failure in the door lock. Poor timing.

You should be able to connect to module 35 to see what the state of the various locks it. Perhaps yours is stuck in the locked position. Presumably you've tried using the key?

ahoooga wrote:

Dan95x wrote:
I cant have not connected the handle mechanisms incorrectly, as it worked until I locked it

Sorry Dan you lost me at the above sentence

Ha ha - sorry, my exasperation at the car appears to have given me a breakdown in communication skills - that should read:

'I cannot have connected the mechanisms (for the inside and outside handle) incorrectly, as both handles worked perfectly after being fitted, until the car was actually locked for the first time'

Shoppinit wrote:It could be a case of an unfortunate failure in the door lock. Poor timing.

You should be able to connect to module 35 to see what the state of the various locks it. Perhaps yours is stuck in the locked position. Presumably you've tried using the key?

Could be - seems unlikely to happen on both (i.e the car I am driving and the donor car) at the same time though surely?

I thought it might be a proper VCDS job - I think I had better get a proper lead (I have always got away with the cheap scanner and deductive skills, but I have never owned anything quite so complicated and menstrual as a C5 before!)

I was sort of just hoping someone would spring up and say 'yep, changed my locks and had to reset them by taking the battery lead off, dancing round the car in an ant-clockwise direction three and a half times, sacrificing a goat to the Audi gods then reconnecting the battery' or something similar.

Cheers anyway folks

Dan95x wrote: I was sort of just hoping someone would spring up and say 'yep, changed my locks and had to reset them by taking the battery lead off, dancing round the car in an ant-clockwise direction three and a half times, sacrificing a goat to the Audi gods then reconnecting the battery' or something similar.

Couldn't hurt. Video it for us.

Dan95x wrote:I was sort of just hoping someone would spring up and say 'yep, changed my locks and had to reset them by taking the battery lead off, dancing round the car in an ant-clockwise direction three and a half times, sacrificing a goat to the Audi gods then reconnecting the battery' or something similar.

Subscribed.

Ha ha - Will do.

It will either be that or a video of me setting the car on fire if it carries on like this ...........

Sounds like it's deadlocked do we even have deadlocks?

They're not called deadlocks any more on account of all the people who died in cars on fire they couldn't open. They're called double locks now, or, ironically, safe locks.

Dan95x wrote:

ahoooga wrote:

Dan95x wrote:
I cant have not connected the handle mechanisms incorrectly, as it worked until I locked it

Sorry Dan you lost me at the above sentence

Ha ha - sorry, my exasperation at the car appears to have given me a breakdown in communication skills - that should read:

'I cannot have connected the mechanisms (for the inside and outside handle) incorrectly, as both handles worked perfectly after being fitted, until the car was actually locked for the first time'

Thanks