Faulty central locking - advice please!

J

Jaffa

Member
Hi folks,

I have just had my 2001 A2 serviced as I have done every time the service indicator flashes up. Took it into SG Smith Audi in Wimbledon (Colliers Wood, actually) on Tuesday. The offside rear door has stopped opening and I asked them to investigate this, too. Imagine my despair when they called late yesterday to inform me that the diagnostic check indicated that there were faults in all the doors and that they would have to replace the connectors in each door at a cost of £245 PER DOOR! To add insult to injury, the chap I spoke to explained I had 4 doors on the car.

So, my question is this: As someone who did extend the warranty into a fourth year but didn't extend it for another year once they'd sorted out the new warranties early last year, due to the very high cost, what tack should I take?
Has anyone on here had similar problem (as I am given to understand that the doors on A2s are prone to let water inside and that this can affect the electrical systems/connectors in the doors)? If so, have you any suggestions as to what I should do? I really cannot believe I am going to have to spend almost a thousand pounds because Audi's design is flawed...

Any advice or suggestions before I contact Audi UK would be very much appreciated. I love my A2 and until this happened, I was planning to hold onto it for a long time. Now, I'm wondering whether I shouldn't ditch it for a 12 year old Merc...
 
Sounds mighty strange to me. Why the need to replace all 4 lock mechanisms / connectors when only one is currently faulty? If the others fail at a later date, fair enough, but they're still working now....

Never heard about the doors being prone to letting water in - was it the dealer who informed you of this. If this is a known fact, surely Audi must shoulder some of the responsibility for failures related to this water ingress.

Why a 12 yr old Merc? Did you see 5th Gear the other night?
 
Rob Earl said:
Sounds mighty strange to me. Why the need to replace all 4 lock mechanisms / connectors when only one is currently faulty? If the others fail at a later date, fair enough, but they're still working now....
Click to expand...

They tell me that the diagnostic tool is showing a fault in more than just the faulty door.
Rob Earl said:
Never heard about the doors being prone to letting water in - was it the dealer who informed you of this. If this is a known fact, surely Audi must shoulder some of the responsibility for failures related to this water ingress.
Click to expand...

I believe it was a loose tongued mechanic at Wimbledon Audi (before SG Smith bought them out).

Rob Earl said:
Why a 12 yr old Merc? Did you see 5th Gear the other night?
Click to expand...

You got it! Exactly that. :)

Rob, you've been on this forum since forever, can you think of anyone else who's had this problem?
 
Faulty central locking

Hi! Sorry I've no solution but my central locking has been playing up a bit lately. Sometimes, pressing the button on the key won't unlock it. If I use the key in the lock to open the car (this only opens the driver's door) and then insert it into the ignition and turn it on, the locking activates and the other doors unlock. It then behaves perfectly for several days. Any ideas?
 
Having done full diagnostic scans on many A2s now, I've only ever come across 2 cases of door faults and one of them was on mine!

Having cleared the DTCs, they have never came back so in the first instance, I'd ask them to clear down the DTCs and then see what recurrs.

Cheers,

Mike
 
I can't remember any specific instances offhand of this type of fault. Your best bet would be to do a search of the forums using keywords like 'central' 'locking' etc & see what is thrown up from the past.

You're right about me being around for a while. We've had A2's since Oct 2002 & I started using this forum several months before that when we first ordered the car.
 
Skipton01 said:
Having done full diagnostic scans on many A2s now, I've only ever come across 2 cases of door faults and one of them was on mine!

Having cleared the DTCs, they have never came back so in the first instance, I'd ask them to clear down the DTCs and then see what recurrs.

Cheers,

Mike
Click to expand...

Hi Mike. Thanks for your response. What does DTC mean? I am going to speak with the technician tomorrow so I need to sound a little bit knowledgeable.

How did you rectify the door faults on your car?
 
Rob Earl said:
I can't remember any specific instances offhand of this type of fault. Your best bet would be to do a search of the forums using keywords like 'central' 'locking' etc & see what is thrown up from the past.

You're right about me being around for a while. We've had A2's since Oct 2002 & I started using this forum several months before that when we first ordered the car.
Click to expand...

Okay Rob, will do. I think I started posting in October 2003 (or was it 2002?).

Your new red interior looks well fly! :)
 
Sorry Jaffa, a DTC is a Diagnostic Trouble Code - Audi-speak for a fault!

I didn't need to fix anything - I just cleared the fault code and it has never been back. Sometimes a fault can register if there is an electrical glitch for even a fraction of a second. As fault codes are stored indefinitely (some schools of thought say they are only stored for a set number of start cycles), you would end up with a false positive registered in the fault memory.

So, get 'em to clear it and see if it's still there. Sounds like drumming up trade to me, but don't thell them I said that.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Thanks Skip

Okay - that's the tack I'll take - though I think I've left it too late to talk to one of the technicians now so I'll have to take it back in again next week...
 
Skipton01 said:
Sorry Jaffa, a DTC is a Diagnostic Trouble Code - Audi-speak for a fault!

I didn't need to fix anything - I just cleared the fault code and it has never been back. Sometimes a fault can register if there is an electrical glitch for even a fraction of a second. As fault codes are stored indefinitely (some schools of thought say they are only stored for a set number of start cycles), you would end up with a false positive registered in the fault memory.

So, get 'em to clear it and see if it's still there. Sounds like drumming up trade to me, but don't thell them I said that.

Cheers,

Mike
Click to expand...

Okay - update - went in there late yesterday and the technicians had gone home already (sensible chaps!). I asked whether they'd clear down the DTCs and the service manager told me that they do this as a matter of course.

So I took the car and paid the service bill (standard service - the car's got almost 50k on the clock) which was a rather eye watering £346.66. They had recommended I get the brake fluid changed (for a very steep £107.51) but I told them I'd wait til later in the year to get this done since it's not yet two years since it was done.
I'd also asked them to investigate a broken air vent, which I clipped with my knee when getting out of the car one day. That's going to cost nearly £100 to replace!!

So here I am having had the service looking at an additional £1200 of work that I should by rights get done very soon. :(

I've just given Audi UK a call about the door situation and given them the details and they are going to get back in touch with me on Monday to let me know if there is anything they can do to help.

Finger's crossed and let's see what happens, eh?

Any other tips for the next stage of the gameplan?
 
Car Alarm intermitent problem

richardaudi0 said:
Hi! Sorry I've no solution but my central locking has been playing up a bit lately. Sometimes, pressing the button on the key won't unlock it. If I use the key in the lock to open the car (this only opens the driver's door) and then insert it into the ignition and turn it on, the locking activates and the other doors unlock. It then behaves perfectly for several days. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I am having exactly the same problem, with the added complication that the alarm goes off occaisionally too which then runs down the battery. Did you find a remedy for your problem??
 
Hi Folks, I am new here in the forum and just reading up on the door opening problems. Guess what... I have a similar problem with my 2001 A2. Both my backdoors won't open any more, including the left rear elec. window. THis has happened about 2 years ago before and the Audi garage I went at the time struggled for 1 1/2 (!!) weeks to open my doors. In the end they changed the control unit and it seemed to be OK after that. It was only a few months later when it happened again and I was told that the some of the contacts in the door were coroded and needed to be replaced. Due to the high repair cost I decided not to replace them. Instead the garage cleaned the contacts and it seemed to work until last week. This is really pi@@@g me off and I also have now a problem with my sunroof....which doesnt open any more... but this is another story ! I really would like to get rid off my car.... however, if all these electrict problems wouldnt occur on a regular basis I quite liked the A2. It's just a shame that the many electric problems let it all down. COuld anywone recommend a reliable garage that could deal with this kind of problem ? I live near Guildford, Surrey and I have lost complete faith in the local Audi garage... they are also charging GBP 108 per hour plus VAT for their labour...just for looking at the problem :eek: !!!! I will become a car mechanic in my next life.. !

Thx for any comments or help.:cool:

Stephan
 
There is a new Audi garage at five oaks nr horsham and I found them ok when I needed help with my A2.
 
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