Central Locking System Woes (Post #158) 11/13/2009

I attempted to repair the central locking system on Veteran’s Day. I could write this post in the form of a battle, but I will not. I won’t write the post in that form mainly because…

“History is written by the victors.” – Winston Churchill

So with that quote you have probably figured out I lost the battle.

First, I wasn’t totally confident I would win. I took a lot of INTEL (reading and research) in to the battle with me.
I had all the RESOURCES (tools and time) to win.
None of that allowed me to carry the day.

I got the panels off of the passenger side doors. These were the locks that bounced UP and DOWN four or five times each time one of them was locked. This resulted in the locks either being locked or unlocked when it finished. It was a crap shoot each time. So to lock the Rover you waited for the cycling to stop and then you manually lock the doors. As you can imagine, I received quite a bit of teasing from the unwashed non-Rover people that ride in my beloved Landy.

After the panels were removed I attempted to sort out what was happening each time the locks were depressed. I’m guessing there is a threshold that checks if the locks are in the locked state. And at the point you press the lock it attempts to lock the door several times until it just gives up. That is a basically a WAG (wild ass guess).

Even my remote fails to do the job. I did use it once to unlock the doors as a last resort after my daughter locked the last remaining key in the truck on a very cold winter day. Also locked inside the vehicle that day was her coat. So with freezing rain coming down we each learned a valuable lesson that day.

I guess I’m going to replace the entire system. Or I’m going to at the least replace some bits to get it back to functioning. There is a great post by Chris-St Louis on DiscoWeb describing how he repaired his central locking system. There is even a schematic that shows how to wire the entire system with two relays. To check out his post you will have to register at the site.

There are some great tips on the RangeRovers.net site as well. I’d go through these before jumping to the replace everything stage. A used replacement door lock module could also be a solution if you are willing to spend the money for it. Perhaps your’s is just worn out.

So for the mean time I have pulled the fuse and I am locking and unlocking the doors “the old fashioned way” ala’ my 1978 Malibu. It is a barbaric method of locking your vehicle. But it does cut down on the disparaging remarks from my non-Rover buddies.

Chris graces all his posts with another great quote by Winston Churchill.

“Truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it; but, in the end; there it is.”

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.