tone40

1988 Carrera Coupe. After locking the car with the door key, a pull on the passenger side latch unlocks the driver's side door.

Here is the situation: (1) I lock the driver side door with the key (Also note that I have never been able to actuate the locking mechanism with the key at the passenger side door for the 3 years I have had the car. There is a lot of resistance in the action. I just now discovered that the driver door gets un-locked.). (2) A pull on the passenger side latch unlocks the driver side door.The driver side door is openable. Both the driver side and passenger side buttons are now up. But, a continued pull on the passenger side latch doesn't open the passenger side door. It seems that the latch pull doesn't change the passenger side locking status. As mentioned before, a re-insertion of the key at the passenger side door keyway doesn't re-lock the door(s). I can hear an action in the door, but there is no action on either door lock. (3) If I lock the driver side door then try to re-lock (without touching the latch) the passenger side door (button is already down), there is no action at all or button change.

So the car is not secure. A pull on the passenger door latch always unlocks the drivers side door.

Can someone tell me what is wrong? Is it the lock microswitch, a bad actuator or the central locking module?

Thanks.

ron mcatee

I had a similar problem. I found the plastic ball socket that connects the rod to the door actuator had cracked and slipped of the door lock mechanism in the right door. To check it out, you have to remove the right side door panel and back and up to the area behind the door latch mechanism. I thought I was locking my doors too, but that fixed my problem. The rest of my mechanism was working, but without the ball socket being attached ,all it did was make noise without actuating.

tone40

I will check it out tomorrow.

tone40

I took off the door panel and looked for a disconnected actuator rod, but did not find that issue. But, I noticed that a white wire was lying between 2 extensions of the door lock/latch. The action of these 2 extensions is scissor-like. I then noticed that the wire looked like it was cut, probably causing the microswitch to ground out.

I took out the door handle and saw that the white wire is actually a 3 conductor bundle. The green and yellow wires were severed. I made some extension wires, soldered them up and wrapped them in electrical & duct tape.

It appears that the factory uses a sticky mastic that is supposed to hold the wire bundle against the door shell & out of the way of window operation and the door lock. Mine appears to have fallen off. I re-applied the mastic and added duct tape for good measure.

I tested it out and it works perfect now. Not too tough a project, especially with a Bentley manual. If you have ever have the door panel off, I suggest that you check that the wires are away from interfering actions.

ron mcatee

Tone40, it's hard to determine sometimes what the cause may be. Glad you found it & was able to correct it.

User 4221

Speaking from experience (From my younger days) I would replace the duct tape with proper electrical tape. Duct tape can be conductive and cause a short through the material. Or better yet, use heat-shrink to seal it even better. This will ensure the problem stays fixed for a long time.

dshepp806

heat shrink, for sure.

irobertson

+1 for heat shrink.
Better yet, use a crimp connector with a good ratcheting crimp tool.

User 4221

+ Heat shrink

tone40

I adhered the white bundle to the body with both the mastic and duct tape (for good measure). I agree heat shrink would have been good.