central locking problem

Sounds like you might have a door catch problem creeping in, most modern CL units detect if it has locked or if it's sitting somewhere in-between, if it detects that one of more catches have not locked it will unlock all doors.

As for being more precise or how you might disable the central locking - well it helps to know what make, model and year of build! :~)

I had similar on my Xantia. I often found that if I opened and closed all door and the boot with reasonably force the central door locking would work. Later I found the rubber tube coming out of the rear door that can be seen with the from door open was intermittent. If I moved it around it would often cure it. I was never not able to lock the car by one of these methods.

Ahh! You had a broken / loose wire in the door loom - that is what the 'rubber tube' contains - it's very common on many cars I'm afraid, mostly due to poor specification of electric cabling for the loom at that point...

Sorry guys.. its a citroen xsara 1.4 2001 year.. i have looked at the wires in the rubber boot and all seems ok.. its is something to do with the front passenger door as when i drive the light on the dash comes on and bleeps and on the LCD above the radio says FRONT LEFT DOOR OPEN when it ain't, then it will go off and comes back on again and it keeps doing that, then when i pull up to lock it either using the remote or the key it just locks then unlocks..

You'll need a new door catch assemble then, could just be a micro switch but it could really be a fault with the locking (that is the 'catching') mechanism - not worth taking the risk...

Can't remember what they are like to fit though, saying that it should not be more than an hours labour plus part for a vehicle body shop to do the job, a mechanical workshop could do the job but not all garages are versed in stripping out doors efficiently or properly!

cheers for that Jerry, am gunna have a go at it myself as the garages around me cost a fortune, plus they are rip off merchants.. if i knew how to disable the central locking and lock it manualy i wouldn't mind as long as i can lock that dam thing...!

The problem with just disabling the central locking is that the central locking might not be the cause - just the effect - of your problem if the catch it's self is becoming faulty.

You wouldn't now how to disable though would ya.. just for the time been

I could make an educated guess but I'm not going to as you might well be masking a problem that *could have a fatal out come* - for your passenger inside the car or someone outside the car, should the catch in fact be faulty and allow the door to come open whilst in motion. Also, disabling the CL might have knock-on effects on other items, the interior light might not work correctly, any alarm might become unstable or not work, you might even end up with a constantly on warning message (depending on if the cars ECU is looking for a 'true' or 'fails' return from the CL.

Understand what you mean Jerry.. am going to phone a scrap yard up tomorrow and see how much a latch is and fit it myself.. i'll let you know how it goes because i would rather folk a few quid out than a fortune that the garage will charge me...cheers