Yesterday I gave the car a wash at the jet wash, I remember that I cleaned around the seals of the doors. Afterwards I found that the driver's door electric controls weren't working, electric windows have gone, central lock/unlock and when I lock the car from the outside the drivers electric window doesn't close.

So I took a look at the fuse box, all fuses fine, so I checked over the cabling connecting the door to the car, I unplugged everything and replugged it, and the electric windows started working, but only controlling the drivers side. However still no central locking.

I went for a drive and found that my electric windows had stopped working again, I had another fiddle with the cables and it seemed to start working again.

I'm guessing it's related to the wash, maybe some water got in the wiring, but it seemed dry inside the door....

Has anyone ever had anything similar? Any suggestions on a fix?

Thanks

I've just had a nosey, took the whole door card off, as per this thread, was concerned there may have been water in here, however everything looked fine.

So I took another look at the 4 connectors on the door loom (where the door loom meets the pillar) and the top one is corroded across all four 'pins'. There's a bluey/green residue across the face of the connector, I tried cleaning up with some small screwdrivers, quite simply just pushing the tips of the drivers in to clean away some of the corrosion, but no luck, however it does fit in with the intermittent window opening.

I've also had an issue with the passenger side electric window working very intermittently, after looking at the same connector on that side there's the same corrosion, although it looks much worse.

I think some electrical contact cleaner is in order, would be nice to check the female portion of the loom which is mounted in the pillar but cant get to that with the door on, we'll see after the contact cleaner first.

Unfortunately pin corrosion has a nasty tendency to to creep up the wiring. Usual checks are to test resistance across the wiring route, and replace any wiring that is showing higher than 0.1 Ohm resistance.

Excellent, so I'll need to crack open the door again to check the start and end of each pin?

Are there any diagrams outlining which pins go where, I've figured the top connector block is window and speakers so far, but that's all.

I did get some electrical contact cleaner today, given it a good spray down then wd 40'd to try and remove any rogue moisture, no luck though. Another thing is it seems that the switch to control windows has been swapped, I can't remember but I'd imagine that the switch closest to the drivers window controls that and the left switch (closer to passenger window) does that, can someone confirm this for me (2000 Fabia 1.4)?

I really am starting to get worried that I'm going to need to replace the loom. Would it be worth getting a diagnostic readout, would this kind of problem show up?

Thanks

Is there a way I can trigger the various controls by connecting directly to each pin with a battery to simulate a button press? It'd bypass the loom and give me a better indication of where the problem lies.

Not really, as it doesn't work that way. When you press a button a signal is sent through the door control unit to the relevant door control unit via the convenience control unit, in theory only the actuator that recognises this signal will respond, hence the switch swapping.

A diagnostic readout would be a start, though it may just point to the cause that you have already found. Moisture in the wiring loom trapped between the wires plays havoc with the signals even if all the wires insulation is intact.

water can seep into the door micro switches causing the cetral locking to play up i had similar problems no central locking ect and it needed a new curtosy unit

I went along to a Skoda dealer on the way home today, they said that it sounds familiar, but they'd need to look it over, at £75/hour! I was told that chances are that they'll find the problem in that hour, but It might then mean more work/parts to fix. All this because the seals are **** and can't withstand a jet wash!

I was also advised that it could be anywhere and one little problem could be the culprit. they mentioned a control unit mounted in the door, which it could be. I'm tempted to just look for a replacement door at scrap and gut it, but until then I'm going to leave it to dry out and get on with enjoying my (rather warm and muggy) car!

Does anyone have any tips, or could point me in the way of a guide of how to check the cabling? I'm fairly handy with electricals, just not quite sure what I'm looking for when it comes to car electricals.

Thanks

water can seep into the door micro switches causing the cetral locking to play up i had similar problems no central locking ect and it needed a new curtosy unit

Do you have any idea whether there's a chance it could be in the door handle, there must be a control switch in there to control the central locking!

yes im prety sure thats where it is its in the door lock, aparently mine was the start of a number coming in at my dealer, cost me 200 odd quid for labour and fix. if you take it in tell them its the micro switch and the curtosy control unit loom