Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 17:42:31 -0800
Reply-To: Tom Salicos <tomsalicos@ATTBI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Salicos <tomsalicos@ATTBI.COM>
Subject: Re: Electric door lock problems with '90 Carat
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi Greg,
My experience is from my '87, and I am doing this from memory. I won't be
going out into the howling cold wind to rip off a door panel, so I'll also
be kinda general.
All the door lock motors work the same. There is a two-wire plastic
connector that brings in a "Close" signal and an "Open" signal from the
other lock assemblies. This signal drives a 12 volt DC motor either forward
or backwards to close or open the lock, depending on which wire had the 12
volts. The lock assemblies have a really fancy (and over-complicated) set
of contacts that remove the voltage to the motor when the plunger is down.
If those contacts don't work, the motor just keeps turning.
For the front doors, the lock assembly has a 12 volt input voltage that is
used to power the "Open" and "Close" wires that go to the other locks. So
when you close one, it goes down, and when it is down, it puts out the
"Close" voltage to the rest of the locks. If the contacts don't open up
right when the motor goes down, the "dance of the doorlocks" begins. When
it's down, it tells the other locks to be down. When it's up, it tells the
others to be up.
Some have said to look for bad wires, and some have said to clean the
contacts. I don't think it is worth the effort to take them apart, since
you have to remove the door panel each time you mess with it.
The motor assembly is directly below the door lock button. You can pull the
front door panel off enough to reach in and disconnect the single (red) wire
connector if the lock is causing the others to dance. You can also
disconnect both of the connectors to be sure.
A recent post recommended buying one motor and replacing motors until you
fix it and I agree with that approach. I paid $80.00 for a single motor.
Some motors have hard-wired connectors and some have "pigtail" assemblies
that plug into them. Look at the motor you are taking out to see what
connector assembly you need to replace it.
I think this is the funkiest design screw-up about vanagons, and I
understand the reason for it. Germans also have the "bring you children to
work" day, and one day Hans brought his seven-year-old in and let him design
something...
Good luck,
Tom Salicos
'87 Westy Syncro
'76 Bug
----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Kriss" <carat90@LYCOS.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 3:03 PM
Subject: Electric door lock problems with '90 Carat
> Along with the abundance of snow here in Connecticut the cold weather has
made one of my '90 Carat's electric door locks act up.
>
> When the thermometer diips to below freezing, and I go to lock the
driver's door lock, all the locks close and then a fraction of a second
later all open up. If the locks are closed and I go to open them, they all
open and then same fraction of a second later all close.
>
> Passenger side door lock works fine all the time, lock it and all the
locks lock. Open it and all the locks open.
>
> Anyone know what's happening?
>
> thanks.....Greg
>
> 90 Carat: every day driver
> 74 Super Beetle: resting for the winter
> 76 MG Midget: long story, have got to get it on the road this summer
> 78 Ford Pinto: winter crasher turned baby blue classic... go figure
> 3 Vespas in parts: Never say "Would you take $$$ for them?" they might
just say OK
>
>
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