VW Passat 1.9TDi 1999.
Regular readers here may remember I posted a problem a little while ago to do with the nearside front door lock not always locking (it locks first, then pops up again a second later). Well, in the end I decided it was just an inconvenience rather than a show stopper, so I didn't do anything more about it.
Now, however, things have got worse. Over the past couple of months, remote locking/unlocking sometimes doesn't work at all, sometimes some but not all the doors lock/unlock, sometimes the windows won't open/close when pressing the buttons on the driver's door, and on two occasions not even the mechanical driver's lock functioned when inserting the key.
Then, on one occasion when one of these problems occurred, I slammed the driver's door, more in annoyance than anything else. And the problem went away. Subsequently, whenever a problem occurred, I found that it would go away by simply waggling/squeezing the electrical cable (enclosed in a concertina rubber boot) that runs between the driver's door and the door frame.
So I took the car to my local VW garage, explaining the symptoms and explaining that I had found the (approximate) location of the fault, to save them time in fixing it. They insisted on running their diagnostics (charging me £79 an hour "diagnostic fee" for the privilege), and came to the conclusion that there "may be an intermittent fault", and if I take the car in again next week they may be able to find it!
(One thing they did confirm, however, was that it was nothing to do with the CCU under the passenger seat).
I am well aware that intermittent problems can be very difficult to nail down, but I am equally confident that the problem is definitely in the cable (or maybe where the cable is terminated inside the driver's door). Rather than waste another £79 looking for something that I have already pointed out to them, I am tempted to instruct the garage to replace the cable anyway.
Any idea what this might cost? Thoughts/experiences anyone?