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Central Locking Control Unit

F1Flyer

New member
This is my first posting on the forum and I make no apologies for admitting that I'm looking for help! I've got a 1986 944 Turbo which keeps me busy with numerous little problems! All part of owning a 20 year old car?

The current issue is the failure of the central locking system, which I'm begining to suspect is due to a faulty control unit? I've found and repaired a break in a track on the PCB, which I had hoped would fix things, but no such luck!

Does anyone know if these units can be repaired/exchanged anywhere, as I fear a new one will be expensive? A more general question: I've read that the doors can be locked manually, but I can't see how, as the door locks just seem to operate micro switches, rather than any part of the lock mechanism? Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
Hi Steve and welcome to the forum.

I think your best bet would be to contact Simon Butterworth at www.porsch-apart.co.uk They are able to organise the repair of many electronic bits n bobs, but if it's not possible I am sure they have a working S/H control unit
 
Thanks Paul,
I'm ahead of you! Spoke to him this morning, so I should have a used one to try tomorrow! Hope it works.
 
No luck with the 'new' control module I'm afraid. Plugged it in, re-connected the battery and it just clicks (internal relays working) but no door locking. I can't belive that both door lock actuators have died simultaneously and the micro switches in the door locks are clearly OK, so the problem must be in the module or wiring which connects to both doors?
Is there anyone with a 944 near Banbury who would be willing to test my two control modules on their car? Not a big job, the module is clipped to the steering column and is easily accesible for under the dash.
Thanks.
 
Would be more than happy to help, but I'm in East London. (If you fancy the journey, you'd be more than welcome to a cup of coffee/bite of lunch.)

I remember looking into the locking thing in some detail when I fitted my alarm, and it seemed pretty simple from an electrical point of view. The hardest thing I found was locating the control box (clipped on the bottom of the steering column).

Manual locking/unlocking - the door pins physically unlock the doors, via a rod and lever arrangement. Or have I misunderstood the question?


Oli.
 
Thanks for the offer Oli,
Sorry for the delay in replying, I was away at the weekend. My daughter is at Uni in East London and is currently living in Bow Road, so I might be able to do something next time I'm down? In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying. I think I'll treat the car to a new battery (this one will not hold a charge). Spending money should help and who knows, the extra couple of volts might make all the difference!
What I was getting at with the manual locking question was an apparent difference between my car and the drivers handbook? This states that you can lock the doors by closing the drivers door and pressing down the button (I can't, unless I disconnect the linkage to the power lock actuator inside the door) then by locking the passenger door with a key (the key in the door handle just makes the control unit 'click'). There seems to be no mechanical linkage between the door handles and the locking mechanism?
 
F1Flyer,

Bow Road - that's where we live! (Well, Bow, anyway.) We are probably just up the road from her ...

Your door. What you are saying is that there is no physical link between the door pin and the door lock - it's all done electro-mechanically, with the pin signalling the cental locking control unit, and that firing off the servo - non?

If it is, then it doesn't sound like that which I have, where (from memory) the pin is connected to the door lock, with the servo being connected to them both as well. If yours is as I described, how does the pin signal the control unit? Presumably there is a microswitch in there somewhere - where? My servo unit contains the microswitch ... therefore, when you push the pin, it starts to move the servo manually, which moves the microswitch, which signals the control unit, which then fires the servo, moving the pin in the direction in which you have been pushing it ... (at least, I think that's what is happening ... I'll have a look this evening when I drive the car home.)


Oli.
 
Hi please excuse me hyjacking your thread but could I ask what your central locking transmitter looks like ? I have had 2x 944S2 and niether came with a fob to activate the central locking yet my old 86Lux had an infrared fob type transmitter.I have just remebered that there should be a switch on the central console to lock from inside the car . I'll try it out tomorrow.
 
F1 Flyer,

Looked at mine this evening, and it is as I remember it (as described above.) As peanut says, there is also a switch in the central console which fires both servo motors at once, locking (or unlocking) the doors. This has its own harness into the central control unit, IIRC.

Peanut - I don't think that any of the 924/944 range came with remote central locking as standard, therefore any fob will be aftermarket. Mine has a Cat1 alarm on it, which I fitted, and interfaced into the H&P system, and which also controls the central locking (and a few other bits around the car as well.) BUT, before fitting this, it had no remote central locking function at all.


Oli.

EDITED 'Cos I realised I had just given away a very easy way to break into these cars, and I don't want to publish such information publically ... sorry chaps.
 
I remember once standing next to our 86 lux and my Wife made a phone call and her cell fone operated the central locking system !... So the little keyfob was an aftermarket part . I thought it looked a bit DIY lol
 
A bit of progress yesterday. I have managed to get the doors to lock manually, but only by disconnecting the linkage between the power locking actuators in the doors and the locks themselves. I can now do what the drivers handbook says; lock the drivers door from the inside by pressing down the inner button, then lock the passengers door from the outside with the key (on investigation, there is a mechanical link between the lock barrel and lock mechanism on this side).
I now suspect that both the power lock actuators must have seized, as it has to be necissary to move them manually with the inside locking buttons (the pop up ones on the doors) as they are connected to the same part on the lock? At least I can use the car again now, as soon as I can get it to start again! I think I have disturbed some bad connections while removing the alarm and now the starter won't work!
Oli,
Sounds like our cars are the same. There are micro-switches activated when you turn the key in either door lock. These trigger the controller under the dash, same way that the switch in the centre console does.
Peanut,
I think your car must have had an aftermarket remote door locking system. The alarm on my car had one, but i got fed up with the alarm and decided to remove it. I'm glad I did, because the wiring was awful. I'm still trying to get it all sorted now, but hopefully the car will be more reliable when I get it back to standard!
 
F1Flyer,

Sounds like you are making progress. The servos (actuators) are pretty unreliable things - they looked to my eyes like the cheap (£8) ones you can get from Maplin, which I know have a habit of packing up. This may well explain the problems you are having.

Aftermarket wiring in second hand cars is a nightmare - always has been, always will be. Alarms and stereo systems seem to be the worst. I was sad enough to measure the length of wire I stripped out from my last car (Mk2 Golf), and it came to about a little less than a kilometre - that was two aftermarket alarms (both broken) and a LOT of old stereo cable. The S2 wasn't as bad, but some previous owner was a CB radio enthusiast, and there was all sorts of odd stuff in there - aeriels, speakers, transmitter units ....


Oli.
 

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