jesse7flying

Hi Fellow Enthusiasts,
A while back, I posted about an issue I was having with the door locks on my then recently acquired S4. It turned out the door locks themselves were grossly dirty and needed refurbishment. That done, the door locks work fine now, but I'm still having problems with locking and unlocking the doors.
In short, when I lock the driver's door with the key, the passenger door will not lock. I have to lock the passenger door first to secure the car. However, with both doors locked, when I UNLOCK the driver's side door, the passenger side door WILL unlock in response. Additionally, when holding the key in the lock position, any open windows are supposed to close. This does not happen on my car.
I pulled the central locking control module, 928 618 240 00, from under the driver's seat, opened it up and inspected for any visible problems. Finding none, I cleaned it up with De-Oxit and put it back in the car.
I would appreciate any suggestions on what to look for next. This is really more of a nuisance than anything else, but I really would like to try to fix it if possible. Thank you.
Regards--Jesse

Alan

Try closing the windows from the passenger door and/or the hatch (yes it does turn counter clockwise)? I'm guessing these do work.

I assume when you lock from the drivers door - the door posts don't flash and that when you lock from the passenger door (or hatch) that they do?

If all this is true then the problem is in the electrical lock switch (related to the lock cylinder) on the drivers side (the unlocking position of the switch works and the locking position doesn't) for the drivers side this makes no difference because you are mechanically locking it too

Alan

FredR

Jesse,

I have had exactly the same problem for the last two years or so and figured the issue was exactly as posted by Alan.

Removing the lock assembly should be not too difficult once the door card is removed but then with anti-theft barricades in place there may well be some fun to be had! Whether or not the issue can be rectified by disassembly/workover I have no idea at the moment. Similarly if it is a monlithic item as I suspect it is then I wonder how one acquires a new assembly to match one's key.

In my case I rarely lock the car [car theft is virtually non existent over here] so I took the lazy sod's way out and left it "as is" and when needed I lock from both sides and that has been by modus operandi since I first discovered the issue. Given the general pricing of spare parts of late I suspect we will be lucky if the part is available and if it is I suspect it is going to be somewhere in the region of US$250 for a new part so arguably better to leave "as is" rather than screwing up the serviceable item currently in service with reduced functionality.

jesse7flying

Thank you both Alan and Fred for your responses. I did some additional testing and these are the results:
Test 1. With the windows and sunroof open, I locked the car from the hatch lock. Passenger window went up, driver's did not. the sunroof stayed open. Driver's door did lock, passenger door did not. I got 2 flashes of LED in the lock push buttons on both sides, flashed every couple of seconds.

Test 2. Locking the car from the pax side, the windows did not go up, sunroof did not move, no LEDs either side, driver's door did not lock.

Test 3. Locked car from the driver's side, no LEDs, px side not locked, windows and sunroof stay open. When I locked the Px door by pushing down the button through the open window, I still got no LEDs on either door. When I then unlocked the driver's door with the key, the px door unlocked as well.

I hope this expands on the different conditions when I attempt to lock the car. I truly appreciate your help and hope this helps other folks who have similar problems.

Regards--Jesse

jesse7flying

I need to amend my previous post. I said in Test 1, that the passenger door did not lock. That was incorrect. The door did lock and I did get flashing LEDs on both door lock push buttons. Sorry for the confusion. Also, Fred, I have been in both doors several times trying to track down the problem and I have dispensed with the silly anti-theft barricades. They were no fun to work around, so out they came.
Jesse

FredR

Jesse,

This afternoon I decided to remove the door mechanism on the driver side door of my late 90S4 to get at the components and do some functional testing. Getting things loose was easy but getting them out was another matter altogether. Seems there is a mechanical linkage attached to the lock barrel- I need to fathom how to undo that linkage- gave up after losing what seemed like half my body fluids- the relative humidity was horrible today- somewhere in excess of RH 80% .

Will move the door indoors and finish the task with the comfort of AC! tomorrow.

Alan

Try #1 again and keep the key in the locked position much longer - any difference?

It seems your locking line doesn't work on either door - so it could be the wiring not the individual switches.

Does the lock button on the console work? (try with the ignition on too).

Alan

jesse7flying

At Alan's request, I took another look at test #1 and I now believe my car is possessed, lol. To begin the test, I put the windows down and opened the sunroof, however, I found that the driver's window switch will now open the window and the sunroof at the same time. Likewise, the sunroof switch will open the sunroof and the driver's side window and close them as well. Possessed I say.

I tried to lock the car using the hatch lock. At ten seconds of holding the key in the full CCW position, the pax window closed. At 20 sec, the sunroof and driver's window both started closing together and closed to about 75% of their travel. At 27 seconds, the driver's window attempted to continue closing, but only closed another 5% or so. After 45 seconds, I let go of the key. Both LEDs flashed.
Unlocking the hatch disabled the LEDs, but did not unlock the doors.

With the ignition off, I pushed the central locking button on the dash, but nothing happened. I then turned on the ignition and pushed the button and both doors locked. The dash button remained lit. I depressed the button again, it's light went out and both doors unlocked. It appears the dash button is working correctly at this point.

Not sure what to make of all this other than to think that there is a bunch of corrosion on some connections that is throwing this baby for a loop. If someone can tell me where that corrosion might be, I'll tear things apart and start cleaning things up. Of course, I defer to Alan and some of you other smart folks as to any other more reasonable suggestions. Thanks again gents.

Jesse

Alan

Look under the drivers seat (seat all the way forward) this is where the window controller lives. I believe your window controller has the No-Sunroof (no option M650) plugged when it should not be. Did you perhaps plug a connector back together here that looked to have come loose? It should remain unplugged so the car knows you have a sunroof this is the single pin plug between the Black/Blue and Green/Red wires (there is another plug there for a different purpose).

OK so you still have the issues with the locks. Thinking on that one.

Alan

StratfordShark

I also thought there must be some fault with window controller, since the windows and sunroof should close sequentially when lock held closed with key.

jesse7flying

Yeah, that was me who plugged the wrong wires together. I now remember when I took the driver's seat out for reupholstering that there was a wire laying there and I thought, "that can't be right". Apparently, it was. My bad, easy fix. At least the car is not possessed after all. Thx Alan

Alan

BTW if you also unplug the other single pin connector between the Black & Black/Yellow wires you will enable ROW mode windows. This gets you one touch express up on (only) the driver's widow, and windows active with a door open - even with ignition off (but only while a door is open). This mode was disabled for some cars due to safety concerns - apparently Americans and Australians are stupider than most others? (or more litigious?). Personally I'm taking the risk .

Alan

jesse7flying

I will be doing that as well, thanks Alan