Indicators don't flash when locking car

[thebluewhale]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

Or unlocking it either. All work fine as indicators and hazard lights, but don't flash when I lock/unlock the car. Any ideas?

Recently mine has been only flashing on the offside when locking or unlocking the car. The nearside does nothing. It's probably the alarm unit or a loose wire somewhere but can anyone confirm this?

Ta

[HPsauce]

Mine is misbehaving now. No flash of indicators when locking, no blinks on door LED's, no chirp of alarm horn.

When I unlock it flashes as normal.

Where to start investigating? I noted a post earlier that said a fuse was blown, but which one and where and did this have the same effect?

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

Where to start investigating?

Is now - where/how to start fixing?

It thinks the boot is open as shown on the DIS, probably related to the recent water ingress to the boot lid discussed elsewhere.

Anyone know where the relevant sensor/switch is and how to test/clean/repair it? Or do you just point a hairdryer at the latch for a while?

[HPsauce]

Also noticed just now that the boot lights are off.
Is that likely to be a fuse, or just the controller turning them off as the boot is detected as open for an extended period?

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

Or do you just point a hairdryer at the latch for a while?

Worked for me.
A couple of minutes at full blast and it's back to full chirping, flashing and illuminated glory!
I'll go back and thoroughly warm it up for a few more minutes to really dry the area out. Didn't even take any covers off just blew hot air at the latch and surrounding small gaps.

I wasn't sure if I needed to clear any codes with VCDS to restore operation - obviously not.
Would people recommend a liberal squirt of WD40 as well, or just leave it alone?

[ainarssems]

Mine has stopped flashing when locking as well but it does not show anything open on DIS, I have not investigated further.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

Would people recommend a liberal squirt of WD40 as well, or just leave it alone?

Today it stopped working again, but the hairdryer trick revived it. Would WD40 be a good idea too?
Bit odd as it was a relatively dry day though cooler, so I guess it was probably condensation from my still rather wet carpets slowly evaporating.

If it continues to be unreliable does anyone know if there's a microswitch that can be replaced or is it the whole latch mechanism?
And how difficult is that once you've got the boot interior trim off? (been there, done that )

[PsYcHe]

Latch is probably easier than fiddling inside it.. Pretty sure it was simple to swap the latch mechanism when I swapped my boot lid a while back.

[The_Laird]

Yes, it's a doddle. Even I managed that!

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

does anyone know if there's a microswitch that can be replaced or is it the whole latch mechanism?

And I can answer that question now.
As I was buying some other stuff from A8parts I got a new boot latch as well, to be held "in reserve" if mine plays up again. Didn't cost much added to an order and they don't have the microswitch as a separate item anyway.

However, now I have it, I've had a look at the spare latch I bought. It takes a grand total of 5 seconds and no tools (well, fingernails) to take the switch out. And another 5 seconds to put it back.

You wouldn't however be able to do this with the latch on the car, so you might as well swap the whole thing, but if you don't have a spare it's very easy (once off the car) to take the switch off and clean and test it, or adjust the contact spring if necessary.
(note that in the photo the microswitch has been turned over to show the internals better - it's made by Cherry)
Note that the actual switch can then easily be unclipped from its little plastic carrier and replaced by soldering the 2 wires, but the metal lever/spring is part of the switch and not separate, so you'd need the exact same type.