I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __Central locking
This started last week Saturday while parking the car. Suddenly the central locking started clicking really fast like it was locking/unlocking. I closed the door and locked with the fob and it stopped. Problem seemed to go away until today. I unlocked the car, no problem but when I opened the door, the clicking started again but a bit slower. It’s consistently doing it now whenever I open either door. Pressing the door switch in manually makes it stop.
I had a new actuator fitted on the drivers door about a year ago when purchasing. No problems till now.
I don’t think it’s the control unit because apart from the clicking when opening the door the locking system is operating correctly. I suspect some aspect that is linked to the door switch but not sure where to go with this.
If anyone has any suggestions for troubleshooting I would be very grateful. Car is booked into garage on Tuesday for a suspension issue so will mention it when I drop it off but I’d much prefer to have some sort of diagnosis myself before then. Thanks in advance.
I’ve tracked it down a bit more. The clicking is from somewhere under the glove box. Sometimes you hear the actuators being activated a bit but mostly the clicking is from under the glovebox.
Also, the clicking stops after about 45seconds. Is there a relay down there? I think that’s where the control module is, can that click? The only thing under the small panel to the left of the footwell is two small fuse blocks. Nothing in the owners manual or Haynes.
They are in the owners manual, one is for door locking and boot. Can’t remember the rest. I’m just interested in the lock one in case I have to pull it out and go old school
I think im going to leave this until something actually stops working. Everything is pointing to the control unit which is a dashboard out to replace. The locking is working fine it’s just the 45s clicking after the door is opened symptom that is annoying.
I’ve found a couple of posts where similar issues have been reported but no resolution was ever posted. I’m sure someone on here has had this issue before. Would really appreciate any ideas.
Note I’ve checked the passenger footwell and it’s dry as a bone with plenty of heavy rain. Car is kept outdoors protected by car port on two sides.
I’ll probably give that a go as I noticed on the MX5bits site that a new actuator can fix the lock/unlock issue. I’m a bit dubious though as the actuators appear to be working correctly when I use the fob.
Maybe the best bet is just wait until something fails. I can always fall back to key only if needs be.
It could be the switch part of the actuator, sending a lock signal but as the door is open, it cycles the locks to unlock again. Like if you push in internal lock switch with a door open. You say that it stops if you press the door pin switch (door closed).
Yes. What you say makes total sense to me. The sound the actuator makes is quite quiet like it’s trying to open when already open. The drivers side was changed about a year ago but I’m not sure whether it was a brand new part or used.
That was one of my first thoughts so I checked the carpets and any metal I could see behind the glovebox for signs of water ingress but it all looks clear and dry. There’s been plenty of heavy rain lately. I think I read somewhere that on the later Mk3s they had improved the water protection.
I’m also sure that there is a relay associated with the lock control unit which is mounted behind the dashboard which is the source of the clicking.
I’ll pull the door cards off when the weather improves and do as advised by unplugging each actuator to see if the clicking stops. If that’s the cause I’m pretty confident I can replace it myself. Fingers crossed
The secondary fuse board inside base of the passenger side A pillar shows fuse no 11 is the power door locks and boot opener fuse. To me if it’s clicking it’s possibly got power so maybe not the fuse, but…….
Water ingress to that fuse board has been reported a few times causing erratic operation of lights, ignition wipers etc, well anything that the fuses in there protect.
Well known scuttle grommets leaking, they need sealing on any year NC. The later models I haven’t heard of any being better sealed or protected from leaking like the earlier cars. Have a search on the forum with ‘scuttle grommets’
On the door lock actuator, I’ve replaced my earlier NC door actuator in the past, always seem to be the drivers side (more use?) that gives up. When I stripped my drivers side one out I replaced it with a secondhand one, I checked for power by connecting it up first before installation but all I got was clicking, hmm! Fully installed and connected up it worked fine.
Maybe your clicking is a connection problem or bad connection (needs a clean) or something going on as I mention above with water ingress, maybe a past water ingress that’s been fixed but the fuse connections are dirty, or furred up, who knows? My clicking sound came from the door btw, not from under the dash.
All worth checking before you maybe replace another actuator or something more expensive and intensive to get at.
Thanks for that. I’ve double checked and the clicking is from both behind the dash and the doors so I’m just waiting for the weather to improve and I’ll unplug each actuator one at a time to see if either stops the clicking. If I’m pulling off the door cards I can clean up any contacts at the same time.
So, I remembered that minutes before the problem occurred, I’d just driven along a cobbled street. Could this have loosened something? Too much of a coincidence I thought so I opened up the car and gave the drivers door card a couple of whacks just where the actuator connectors are inside at the bottom. Clicking stopped. No way!
locked the car a couple of times and opened both doors. Problem has gone away. Now I’m not naive enough to believe that’s permanently fixed but I’m pretty sure it’s a loose connection so if it comes back I’ll clean up the connectors and go from there.
When my NC drivers door lock actuator failed at first it would be intermittent. I was away on holiday and returned to the car, it wouldn’t unlock on the drivers side. Passenger had to release the locked door from the inside. Later that day it started working again as normal. Forgot about it until later in the week and it happened again. Now both times the drivers side was parked with the sun on that side, seems and others have reported, the warmth of the sun and something inside the actuator breaks a contact, I’m only guessing.
Forgot about it again went into autumn/winter it worked ok when used but I sorned the car in the really bad weather. Come the next year and warmer weather it started acting up again until it failed completely and I then replaced it with a secondhand one. That worked for a further 2-3 years then I sold the car.
I stripped the old actuator apart but couldn’t really tell what had failed. I’ve seen other members have researched the problem and someone has actually fitted a new motor in one, motor bought dead cheap off Temu or AliExpress. We don’t know if yours is that particular problem though.
I think I would happiest with an actuator failure. Problem is the drivers side has only been in for a year, it was replaced by the dealer who sold it me. I think I’ll end up going round in circles trying to diagnose it. It could be a broken wire or a bad connector pin. I think it’s a case of wait and see with this one.
Actuator chattering came back today but stopped again with a mild whack to the bottom of the drivers door card. Next step when we get a nice day, contact cleaner I think.
