Doors & Trunk do not lock suddenly.

[Panici]

Hi All,




I have previously addressed my central locking electronics and had both doors, the trunk, and the fuel door operating correctly for over a year.

This weekend, I locked the car and parked it outside overnight. The next morning the doors and trunk were unlocked, and there are no signs of tampering/forced entry that I have discovered.


The key will not lock the doors either via the power locks or manually (even with battery disconnected). When turned hard enough in the doors, it skips over to the double locked position, and the doors remain unlocked.



I was able to get the trunk to lock manually with enough force applied to the key. It now locks & unlocks manually with the key.



Is my car mad that I parked it overnight outside in the rain? (There is no water in the interior, even under the carpet)
Do all the locks suddenly need a rebuild at the same time?
Have I activated a "unlock in event of collision" feature of the central locking somehow?

[Panici]

Bump.

Any idea where to start here?

[roguetoaster]

Weird. I once had something similar where the doors would unlock immediately after locking any door, and I only had to unlock every door from the inside with the batt disconnected, and unlock the trunk as well, then reconnect the batt and presto. But your issue does not sound the same. Silly question, the door locks can be actuated from the interior, right, and does it lock one, all or none when you press the DS door lock stalk?

[Panici]

Silly question, the door locks can be actuated from the interior, right, and does it lock one, all or none when you press the DS door lock stalk?

Door locks cannot be actuated from the interior.
Door lock stalks are firm and do not press down.

[Panici]

I have a partial resolution for this one.

I took apart the driver's side door, and was able to force the actuator to move, it was quite stuck.
I then applied significant force to the passenger side door lock stalk and this freed up as well.


I pulled out the driver's side foot speaker, and removed the central locking module.
The module was warm, and 3/4 filled with muddy water!

Obviously something is letting water in that area. I suspect the sunroof drain, but wouldn't rule out the small rust holes in the rocker area.


I'll need a new module (getting a drain hole this time), and hopefully the door & trunk actuators aren't toasted as well.
For now, I've got working manual locks.



These pictures are after I cleaned and scrubbed the module, which remains dead.

[roguetoaster]

That's very curious, as I don't see how that would cause the locks to be stuck either permanently when powered on, or with the battery disconnected, but glad you found the obvious culprit.

[Panici]

That's very curious, as I don't see how that would cause the locks to be stuck either permanently when powered on, or with the battery disconnected, but glad you found the obvious culprit.

My best guess was that the module shorted, and the actuators were sent power to "open" for an extended time.
This heated/melted/distorted something inside (maybe just enough to make them not lock with a normal application of force).


I'll report back after I replace the central locking module, and we'll see if all the actuators still work!