Door lock issue.

[Mr Footlong]

Well,it was good while it lasted..... The door locks themselves are working fine, but whatever microswitch it is that detects the driver door opening so that it can beep that I left the lights on has died again. I am nursing a very dead battery on the 6 as the 4 is eating the cash currently for the gearbox rebuild going on at MRC.

I got out of the car at the office yesterday morning, not realising that I had left the sidelights on (all LED jobs so not pulling tons of juice really), as the car didn't buzz me to turn them off. Four hours later I had to move the car to allow someone to park a big van up against a side door and dead as a dodo, yey......

This was the problem that I used to have before the lock assembly was changed and afterwards it was lovely, until now .

[Ajc]

As I said that's the same problem I had with the eBay locks . I keep meaning to pull it apart and see if I can fix it but haven't got round to it yet

[philS2]

Word of warning about the cheap locks.
I had both original genuine fronts replaced by the dealer when I bought the car (with cheap one's, as they were paying) as they wouldn't shut properly.
The puddle light and interior light stopped working on the drivers side after eight months, so I stripped it.
The micro switch had oxidised. Also a small spring on one of the motors had uncoiled itself, so I pulled it out. Still seemed to work ok.
Like a tool, I sorted the switch and disregarded the spring.
Once back together,I put the door card back on loose and proceeded to shut the door.
For the next few days, no matter what I tried, it would not open. I could hear and feel the point of resistance on both handles.
Long story short, I had to remove the B pillar trim and cut the latch bolts off, and replaced the lock with a scrap yard genuine one and filled it with spray grease (helps a lot)
I thought it was my fault until two days later, yep, the untouched passenger side door jammed.
Same deal. Cut the latch bolts off. F%ck my boots, I couldn't believe it.
Must admit the passenger side did, now and then, stick shut and a couple of lock/unlocks got it open, so should have addressed it before now.
Just wanted to let anyone know that you don't have to destroy your door card if you find your door jammed.
Anyway, as a precautionary measure, take the crap one's out now.

[Shoppinit]

^good tip.

[chunky79]

Well, my cheap nearside front micro switch has also failed. Only found out on Saturday when the wife open the car and jumped in the passenger seat, then all the doors locked themselves. Glad I put a genuine one in the drivers door, cause that's harder to replace.

[Nobby]

More tales of woes..... I started to replace my rear O/S door latch the other day, only to find that the part I had bought was for the N/S. D'oh!

[Nobby]

Edit: It hadn't completely failed, just kept saying won't DESAFE so I got an OE second hand replacement.

[simonpoulton]

What is actually failing in the OE ones? Is there a mechanical rebuild we can do on them using bits from a cheap aftermarket one? My passenger one is going, mainly due to my partner closing the door like the hulk.

[Mr Footlong]

I might have actually been being a mong. My phosphate levels are quite down currently and when that happens my noggin doesn't work quite right, a niggling condition called hypophosphatemia. I think that I may have just somehow not noticed the beeping when I got out on the first day when I drained the battery, then for the subsequent tests, while I had the car turned off, I think I left the key in the ignition and opened the door, expecting it to beep.....

I can't get it to go wrong again now, it beeps every time that I take the key out with door open and lights left on, will just keep an eye out for it. Got a new battery too finally.

[bam_bam]

I can't get it to go wrong again now, it beeps every time that I take the key out with door open and lights left on, will just keep an eye out for it. Got a new battery too finally.

Darth used to beep if I left the lights on, the mental manual doesn't. Which I found out after flying back from Chicago a couple of years ago. It seemed a common issue for airport parking, they had a monster jumpstarter pack, when I commented the guy said it was due to the previous jumpstarter packs not being able to bump Bentley Continentals, those things have two massive batteries.

[Mɐʇʇ]

I thought I'd just follow up on this post. I've previously recommended the non-oem door lucks, having had a good experience with my passenger one. I've now recently replaced my drivers one and in accordance with some other people's experiences, the microswitch has failed almost instantly. Consequently, I would no longer feel able to recommend them and I've just ordered a new OEM one for my wagon.

[Mr Footlong]

Same here, apart from opening/closing a lot better, the microswitch is farked. How much was the OE one Matt?

[Mɐʇʇ]

Well - I found a NOS OEM one for 40 quid...

[bilko1]

Think I paid £98 from TPS for mine when I did it.

[Mɐʇʇ]

I've dismantled the failed lock and it's 100% for sure the microswitch. Given they're nice other than the shoddy switch, I've ordered a new microswitch which I'll try out on my passenger side one.
Obvs drivers side is now OEM and can stay that way.