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Power locks on VW Golf

The power locks on my 1998 VW Golf have been a real pain in the ass. Originally I went to a local dealership (Volkswagen Waterloo) to buy an extra key remote, since the old one was falling apart.

At the time there was no problem at all with the vacuum pumps or anything, always reliable and power locks were working fine both from inside the car (switch near heater controls) and from outside (door locks and old remote).

The dealership attempted to program the new remote using the car. After they initialized the programming mode, the car then stopped responding to the remotes - both the old and new remotes. The car receives the signal (it will beep and flash the alarm light) but the door locks do not move.

Worse, after that programming attempt, the physical switch inside the car that locks all doors also stopped working on the power locks. Also, the power locks no longer activate when the physical key is used to lock the car. However I do notice that when I use the power lock switch from inside the car, I hear a click near the rear of the car. But the locks don't move.

Basically, the power locks entirely stopped working and the dealership doesn't know what's wrong. Any idea what I should try?

Reply to
Jem Berkes
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nothing

the garage have to resolve as they broke a perfectly working system.

Reply to
Neil - Usenet

Ah... the "ever since" the dealer tried to fix my car it broke.

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

"Neil - Usenet" wrote in news:yojJh.106103 $ snipped-for-privacy@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

They (Volkswagen Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) charged me $50 of labour so far for the diagnostics that they did. They claimed that a flaw in the computer was unable to bring it back out of programming mode. So they insisted it was not their fault, since the problem existed before they touched the car even though their action of programming it obviously triggered whatever problem was there.

Does this sound plausible?

When I look at the potential labour charges for them to keep working on this, I think to myself I can do without power locks.

I keep mentioning the dealership name so it shows up in google searches.

Reply to
Jem Berkes

i did a few searches on , " remote key programing jetta golf " from what i've read , to program the new key is very simple

something like : put the new key in the dr. door , and with a old key in the ignition twist the door key to the unlock position and hold it there till the car beeps. if you used the remote all time and never used the door key lock it might have have / had a poor contact when the dealer tried.? MAYBE if you just work the lock several times with the key and try the programing routine it'll work for you. Don't take my instructions as the exact way to do it , do a search and make sure. It might be worth a try .

Reply to
samstone

Sounds like maybe the door lock vacuum pump went out. stuff happens sometimes. :-(

Reply to
dave AKA vwdoc1

OK, I just found out the pump isn't dead. I opened up the trunk and located the vacuum pump unit which is sandwiched in some foam, right behind the rear tail lamp fixture.

I cleaned the electrical connector and reseated it with some dielectric grease. The power locks are working now, intermittently. Does that sound like an electrical problem, rather than a bad pump unit?

I have some electrical tools so maybe I can diagnose that if I know what to look for. Any idea how much current the pump should be drawing while moving the locks? What are other things to look for?

Thanks for your help

- Jem

Reply to
berkes

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