Passenger Door Lock Mechanism; Doesnt Usually Unlock On Remote

[cjard]

As described here:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=22388

 

My C5 suffers the same fault. I've taken some time out to remove the locking unit from the door and removed the black cap from the top of it so I can see the mechanism. Having spent half an hour locking and unlocking the doors, and watching the operation of the levers I can say that I know why the symptoms of the fault show as they do, but I do not know the cause. One of the metal rods (metal-rod) moves in an arc between the cam that the door handle is attached to (handle-cam) and the black plastic lever (black-plastic-lever) that releases the door catch.

To lock the car, the metal-rod is rotated out of the gap, making a space between the handle-cam and the black-plastic-lever. Operating the door handle is thus ineffective.

To unlock the car, the metal-rod is rotated between the handle-cam and the black-plastic-lever, and transfers the motion of the handle-cam to the black-plastic-lever, releasing the door catch when the door handle is lifted

When the lock is exhibiting the problem, the metal-rod fails to rotate as a result of the motor's effort. Unlocking the door with the key incurs a separate mechanical action to rotate the metal-rod, thereby ensuring that the door will unlock with the key.

 

Picture of the lock mech in locked&unlocked, with captions:

http://host.photogalaxy.net/thumbs/49168_30032008166_sml.jpg

[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]

 

 

 

I'm currently at a loss to reproduce the problem effectively, even to the point of holding various components in "half-way" positions to see if excess play of some part of the mechanism is fouling the operation of the lever.

 

I have so far resisted the urge to crack the case open and look at the levers on the motor side of things to see if one of them is broken or misaligned; i can only report what I see from the top. As I havent found many references to this problem, and any solutions would likely be that the entire unit was replaced as appreciable cost, I dont know if I'll get a "yes, that's an expected problem because lever xyz breaks.." repsonse, but hopefully someone else has experienced this.

 

If anyone knows a fix, or knows if other door lock mechs from other Citroen or Peugeot cars will fit and are likely to command less of a price tag, do please let me know..

 

 

As an aside, can someone explain the deadlock logic to me? I've read the manual that says somtehing to the effect of:

 

"locking with the remote always arms the deadlock, and flashes the indicators"

"locking with the key arms the deadlock, to disarm the deadlock, immediately perform a second locking operation (without performing an unlocking operation) with the key"

 

At some point during my playing, the indicators WOULD flash when I locked with the remote. Now they do not, ever.. So i seem to have disabled deadlocking permanently; how?

Also, at some point I noted that if I pressed LOCK on the remote twice, the indicators would flash in a short-on, long-off cycle [on off... on off...] (as opposed to hazard warning lights which are long-on, long-off.. [on... off... on... off...] or "car is unlocked" which is short-on, short-off [on off on off on off]) and they would not stop doing this.

What were they signaling?

 

Thanks in advance

[cjard]

A note to say I've reassembled the doors. I played with the locks for a long time trying to make them (the rear driver door had an issue too) repeat the failure but I didnt manage it. Went as far as I could go towards cracking then units open before realising that they are pressed together and i'd need some brazing equipment or very low profile nut and bolt to repair them if I took a grinder to the unit.. In the end I settled for drilling holes in the sealed plastic, letting the water out of the driver rear door one, banging them on the workbench a few times and filling them with a teflon based lubricating spray.

 

They work now, which is more than they did before.. We'll see how long they carry on working for; if they fail again soon I might buy new units..

[myglaren]

Also, at some point I noted that if I pressed LOCK on the remote twice, the indicators would flash in a short-on, long-off cycle [on off... on off...] (as opposed to hazard warning lights which are long-on, long-off.. [on... off... on... off...] or "car is unlocked" which is short-on, short-off [on off on off on off]) and they would not stop doing this.

What were they signaling?

 

It is a vehicle locator, for when you don't know which is yours in the line of C5s in the car park :angry:

Mine only works when I am close enough to recognise it without that feature.