Door Lock on '99 Polo

-Chris-

Can someone give me a hint as to what you'd look at to troubleshoot the following issue? I don't want to start replacing parts randomly.


It's a 1999 Polo 3Dr with central locking

The driver's door no longer unlocks the car (any door)

When you turn the key in the driver's door to unlock it, there's no noise or resistance. The key turns freely
When you turn the key to lock it, you can hear the c/l actuate and all doors lock

The passenger door operates correctly, and locks & unlocks all the doors


Any thoughts?

no1beemerfan

Sounds like something is broken. Its a plastic part if I'm going by other makes. Your best bet is to take off the door card and have a peek inside!

nogoodnamesleft

I replaced the microswitch in the drivers door of my VW passat (it was the microswitch that detects if the car door is open or closed). Anyways I had to reverse engineer the door lock module. It sounds as if it is this part that has failed (if its the same as the passat).

The door lock module (inside the casing) has in fact 5 microswitches!

1 to detect when the lock knob is up,
1 to detect when the lock knob is down,
1 to detect when the barrel is turned to lock position,
1 to detect when the barrel is turned to the unlock position.
1 to detect when the car is open or closed (its wired normally open).

If it spins freely sounds as if the plastic part that actuates the lock/unlock microswitches has failed thus you cant unlock/lock from the drivers door. Its easier to replace the module. The physical lock barrel that is matched to your key can be removed seperately.