Altea 1.9TDi central locking problem

[voice_of_reason]

Hi all,

I picked up my new Altea 1.9TDi Reference Sport three days ago, and it's already had to go back to the dealer.

The day after I got it I noticed the courtesy light inside was randomly going on and off while I was driving, like someone was opening and closing the door.

When I finished my journey and went to lock it, I noticed the red flashing LED on the passenger side (that tells you the car is locked) was on solidly, indicating that one of the doors wasn't shut properly - except they were all shut fine. I then tried all the doors and the front passenger door was unlocked. I eventually got it to lock by unlocking and relocking several times, but the next day it got worse and I couldn't lock the pasenger door at all. Seeing as I'm entirely dependent on the remote central locking and I can't even use the key to lock the car, it's gone back to the dealer.

The dealer tells me a couple of their technicians have heard of this problem before on the Altea and the Leon, but they don't know what causes it or how to fix it. After contacting Seat, they say they don't know either, so they're going to continue investigating. Their diagnostic system reports 'no fault'.

So I'm now driving a courtesy car without any kind of ETA as to when or even if mine will get fixed.

Has anybody heard of this problem before? Has anyone got any ideas what might be causing it? I'm guessing a dodgy sensor in the passenger door? The dealer thinks it's either a software fault or a faulty lock in the passenger door, but I'd rather they find out from Seat what the problem is before they go pulling my car apart and replacing bits.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Tell]

That hasn't come up here before on the Altea site to my knowledge since when the car was shipped in 2004. There have been a few issues about the rear door lock.

 

[voice_of_reason]

That hasn't come up here before on the Altea site to my knowledge since when the car was shipped in 2004. There have been a few issues about the rear door lock.

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any more info on what the problem with the rear door lock is? Is it the lock itself, or a sensor in the door, or something else?

Seeing as Seat themselves haven't come up with any solutions yet, I'm doing my best to do my own investigation!

Thanks very much.

 

[Tell]

On the rear door it was a bit of both, some peoples mechanism wasn't working correctly, on others which is my case you have to wack it shut since the latch which it fits into isn't in the right place and it bounces on the rubber, it can be moved but I'm living with it. Some others as I said had real door lock problems on the rear [tailgate].

 

[voice_of_reason]

On the rear door it was a bit of both, some peoples mechanism wasn't working correctly, on others which is my case you have to wack it shut since the latch which it fits into isn't in the right place and it bounces on the rubber, it can be moved but I'm living with it. Some others as I said had real door lock problems on the rear [tailgate].

OK, cheers. I have no trouble closing any of my doors, they all shut fine, so it's more likely I've got the first problem you mentioned. Or something else altogether.....

Still no reply from my dealer or Seat. I've been without my new car all week now.......

 

[craig1410]

Hi,

I know this is an ancient thread but I'm hoping the original poster is still on the forum and can tell me what he did to resolve his problem as I seem to have a very similar issue.

Did you get it fixed? Can you remember what was wrong

Thanks,
Craig.

 

[voice_of_reason]

Hi,

I know this is an ancient thread but I'm hoping the original poster is still on the forum and can tell me what he did to resolve his problem as I seem to have a very similar issue.

Did you get it fixed? Can you remember what was wrong

Thanks,
Craig.

Blimey, this is an old thread. I've had two other cars since the Altea! But luckily I got an e-mail telling me someone had responded to my thread!

They never did fully figure out the problem, but my dealer changed the entire lock mechanism (by swapping it with another Altea they had on the forecourt) and that completely cured it.

I wasn't allowed to keep the lock, as they needed it back for the car they took it from, so they had to get authorisation from Seat HQ to get a new lock ordered - which they did, although HQ still said they'd never heard of the problem before.

So after a couple of weeks, they took the other lock back and fitted the new one, and it was absolutely fine for the two years I kept the car.

Hope that helps - if they quibble over changing the lock, at least you've got one other person to refer them to who had the same problem.

Good luck!

 

[craig1410]

Blimey, this is an old thread. I've had two other cars since the Altea! But luckily I got an e-mail telling me someone had responded to my thread!

They never did fully figure out the problem, but my dealer changed the entire lock mechanism (by swapping it with another Altea they had on the forecourt) and that completely cured it.

I wasn't allowed to keep the lock, as they needed it back for the car they took it from, so they had to get authorisation from Seat HQ to get a new lock ordered - which they did, although HQ still said they'd never heard of the problem before.

So after a couple of weeks, they took the other lock back and fitted the new one, and it was absolutely fine for the two years I kept the car.

Hope that helps - if they quibble over changing the lock, at least you've got one other person to refer them to who had the same problem.

Good luck!

Hi,

Thanks for responding, given the age of the thread I wasn't sure if you would still be on the forum! Much appreciated!

Yeah it sounds like it could be the lock in my case as well, the only thing that makes me hopeful that it not is because I was able to affect the alarm LED by moving the door on it's hinges slightly. This would support my current conclusion that it is a bad connection in the connectors within the rubber bellows in the door jamb. Fingers crossed this is my problem otherwise I'm going to have to strip down the door and remove the lock - not an easy task!

Anyway, I'll try to remember to update this thread with my eventual solution even if it ends up being "sell the car"

Thanks,
Craig.

 

[craig1410]

Well that didn't take long!

Broken brown wire inside the hinge bellows as suspected. The wire was completely severed but there was enough slack to allow me to solder and shrink-sleeve it. Bit tricky working out how to get into the bellows and how to avoid losing one end of the connection inside the A-pillar. It turned out that the A-pillar connector has a very clever locking mechanism which allows it to be securely locked into the A-pillar aperture while the door harness is removed.

Anyway, I hope this update helps someone else out in future.

Cheers,
Craig.