UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hey guys

Hope you can give me a little insight. Basically the last year or so, the central locking on the driver's side door has become an intermittent problem.

Sometimes, when locking the car using the central locking button, every door locks BUT the driver's side door. The post stays up. The same issue happens when I go to unlock using central locking, every door unlocks BUT the driver's door. There's a 50/50 chance it will happen or not at the moment, doesn't seem to be anything to do with weather as the issue has persisted through all seasons. Using the key to manually lock/unlock works perfectly every time, however, so I'm suspecting it may be electrical?

It's a 2004 9n 1.4

Thanks guys!

I'd think that there are two possibilities, if not more that I have not considered.
1) faulty locking mechanism in driver's door
2) cut/chopped/breaking/broken wire(s) in the area of the rubber flexible boot that covers the wiring coming from the car to the door.

A small other question, does opening the driver's door operate the interior light okay?

RUM4MO wrote:I'd think that there are two possibilities, if not more that I have not considered.
1) faulty locking mechanism in driver's door
2) cut/chopped/breaking/broken wire(s) in the area of the rubber flexible boot that covers the wiring coming from the car to the door.

A small other question, does opening the driver's door operate the interior light okay?

Thanks for getting back to me.

So to check either of these problems, I'm guessing the driver's side door card needs to come off and inspect any wiring in connection to the door lock?

As for the cabin light, both the front and back lights come on when the driver's door is open.

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Seeing as this fault is currently 50/50 I'd guess that it is a problem inside the door, maybe as simple as cleaning re-lubing the locking mechanism, but beware, I've never ever had this problem with a VW Polo, so maybe wait to see if anyone else gives better advice - in other words, I've never ever eye balled the locking mechanism assembly so can't say if what I'm suggesting is possible - it was on a Ford Fiesta I needed to sort!

Edit:- trying using the "SEARCH" function, I used "door locking mechanism" and it got 57 hits - not sure if any helped though, but you would need to read through them and/or try another search phrase.

I had this issue and it was a faulty door lock due to a failed microswitch. Had to get a new lock from the dealer - £120 which had a revised design

Thanks alot for the help guys. I did wonder if it was the door lock itself. I'll see if I can get the door panel off and see if there's anything obviously silly going on but sounds like a new door lock is on the cards!

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I was hoping that checking the action of the interior light to that driver's door opening would have checked out the micro switch, but maybe there are more than one micro switch fitted to that locking assembly?

Be aware that if you are handy with a soldering iron, there is a good possibility that it is a cracked solder joint on the small PCB that is inside this locking assembly, ie looks like a failed micro switch but is one of its connection to that PCB.

Using a suitable search phrase on Google might be a good idea? All these VW group locking assemblies are basically the same in design and so in failure modes.

There micro switches normally in these locks they are made by cherry. Available if you know the part code

RUM4MO wrote:I was hoping that checking the action of the interior light to that driver's door opening would have checked out the micro switch, but maybe there are more than one micro switch fitted to that locking assembly?

Be aware that if you are handy with a soldering iron, there is a good possibility that it is a cracked solder joint on the small PCB that is inside this locking assembly, ie looks like a failed micro switch but is one of its connection to that PCB.

Using a suitable search phrase on Google might be a good idea? All these VW group locking assemblies are basically the same in design and so in failure modes.

Cheers for the suggestion. The old man's an electronics engineer so very handy with a soldering iron. I'll see if he's up for a bit of investigating soon!

I've seen you can buy new door lock modules for around £39.99 on eBay. Not sure how universal these are?

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The only tales I've heard about people using something other than the correct VW group supplied item seems to be bad - so you have been warned, but there again very few success stories get reported on these motoring forums.

I'd think that you can only try fixing that locking assembly if you can leave the car off the road for a few days without that being a problem.

RUM4MO wrote:The only tales I've heard about people using something other than the correct VW group supplied item seems to be bad - so you have been warned, but there again very few success stories get reported on these motoring forums.

I'd think that you can only try fixing that locking assembly if you can leave the car off the road for a few days without that being a problem.

Yeah I am always worried buying non genuine VW parts, especially at a strangely low price like that. I'm definitely going to take a look at the original lock first though and inspect it. Found a video on YouTube showing disassembly so hopefully shouldn't be too difficult!

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RUM4MO wrote: Tue Mar 07, 2017 3:46 pm I'd think that there are two possibilities, if not more that I have not considered.
1) faulty locking mechanism in driver's door
2) cut/chopped/breaking/broken wire(s) in the area of the rubber flexible boot that covers the wiring coming from the car to the door.

A small other question, does opening the driver's door operate the interior light okay?

Hi RUM4MO, I have this problem as well and my interior light does not come on with the passenger door open, what does this indicate??

Hi Mark
I have just changed a drivers door lock module on our 2002 9n
Our symptoms were...
1... Puddle lights not illuminating when drivers door opened.
2... 'Door open' caption did not illuminate for the driver door opening.
3... 'Headlights left on' buzzer did not sound when door opened.
I posted a thread about having changed it a few days ago (Fri 20th Oct)

There you go, now you can use someone's actual recent experience of this, perfect!

Great, thanks bvs