For those of you who haven't followed my struggle with intermittent central locking on front passenger side,I thought you may find this useful.  If you haven't had issues with the multiplugs and modules in your doors you may wish to employ this as a preventative measure.  This is for the passenger side front, I did exactly the same to the drivers door yesterday.

 

Anyway, we'll start with a skim through of door panel removal.

 

Prize apart the door handle, can be pretty well stuck together, I found 2 flatheads at the top edge helped to pop out the top one

 

 

 

This should give a bit more room to get to the bottom section and separate there

 

 

Unscrew the 2 large phillips screws revealed

Then pop off the electric window switch cover, unplug

 

 

This reveals a screw behind the handle, undo

 

 

Then the tweeter cover in similar fashion, unplug

 

 

Then the puddle light, unplug

 

 

You should now be ready to remove the panel, there are 7 tx10 screws around the edge

 

 

All done, lift out bottom of the door, then push upwards

 

 

 

The panel can be pretty well wedged in along the window, obviously the knob is still in there, you need to give it some force but carefully, watch out for this...

 

 

If you're giving it some stick, go for the knob end to stop the panel separating, it will probably surprise you when it comes free, them reach behind and unhook the handle cable

 

 

It's upside down, but you get the idea

 

Door is now revealed, as on the drivers side, I find I have an aftermarket membranes, I decided to cut carefully around the edge with a 1 inch margin (advised by kentphil1), but to leave the bottom length so as to preserve the seal as much as possible

 

 

You can now see the window motor and multiplug to check and seal

 

The plug end slides up as you slide it off

 

Check the plug, you're looking for gunk or any signs of corrosion, mine looks fine

 

 

I gave all wires a gentle wiggle, all feels solid and intact, and it seems all the pins are fine and present

 

So, I gave it a good spray with contact cleaner on this female plug and over the male pins in the module they connect to, then some silicon grease over this part, not too much as the pressure may crack the plug (again advised by kentphil1)

 

 

Then I connected and disconnected, ensuring an even spread of grease, and then finally reconnected, this should prevent moisture and condensation settling in there, and the grease should prolong the life of the pins and plugs.

 

Then take some self amalgamating tape, cut a length and wrap tight around where the plugs connect

 

 

 

Go round as many times as you want, trying to get a good seal where the female plug sits.

 

Then cut a few lengths that are long enough to go round the top and both sides and make a roof, this will hopefully prevent any drips finding there way onto the connections and still allow it to breathe and avoid condensation build up

 

 

Then I gave the mechanism where all the springs and catches are for the pin a good soaking in GT85 and spray grease.  They didn't look corroded, but did look very dry.

 

 

And worked the locking loads of times (button dropped every time, so time will tell if lubrication has solved it)

 

Time to tape the membrane back up and reassemble.  I like to get gaffa tape behind the slits and hopefully improve the seal from rejoining

 

 

Then offer up the membrane and stick to the tape behind, then tape over the slits from the outside

 

 

And that's it, reverse the removal process of the panel, make sure your wires are through the holes and where they should be, and make sure the handle cable is reconnected properly.  Obviously you'll need to undo all that work when you need to get at the multiplug, but hopefully in taking these steps, a need to do that may be less likely.  I'll be doing the 2 rear doors as well.

 

Thanks to mikec, kentphil1 and pikpilot for their advice in my thread, and other forum members for associated posts elsewhere.  Don't know what I'd do without this forum sometimes.

 

 

Very nice write up, pictures should fill in the gaps for many people on here,

Such a common problem on mk1's it should be made a sticky.

Such a common problem on mk1's it should be made a sticky.

Yeah I mean, I don't have a multi meter, this check is visual, but if the protection idea saves people some hassle and a fair sized wedge I'm happy with that. Nice to give something back to the forum, I certainly get alot out of it.

Nice one!

I would never put silicone in that plug.

Best way is to take out the orange seal and apply silicone only on that,and on the electrical connector use alot of WD40,will keep water away.

I put few years ago WD40 on the ECU connectors and they are in perfect shape,no water inside.

I would never put silicone in that plug.

Best way is to take out the orange seal and apply silicone only on that,and on the electrical connector use alot of WD40,will keep water away.

I put few years ago WD40 on the ECU connectors and they are in perfect shape,no water inside.

It was silicone based grease, not sealant, basically doing what any other water repellant/lubricant would do except the grease is better at filling any gaps. There was no water in my plug either as you saw, as said this is a preventative measure to help keep corrosion away in the future. Sure people can use WD40 or similar if they choose to, others have used silicone grease with no problems.

I always thought the advice was not to use wd40 on electrical connections?

I always thought the advice was not to use wd40 on electrical connections?

Could be, must admit I never have, IulianE reckons he has...

WD40 was invented as an electric contact cleaner(sealer)....WD40  stands for water disposal,40th formula

Edited 9 December, 201411 yr by IulianE

nice write up! ive been living with this bloody problem for few years now on and off. tried couple ways of sealing up but will certainly give this a go if its tried and trusted by members here.

its such a let down how easily water gets in and causes heaps of trouble and headaches and for some serious cost!

hope it works really well for you

nice write up! ive been living with this bloody problem for few years now on and off. tried couple ways of sealing up but will certainly give this a go if its tried and trusted by members here.

its such a let down how easily water gets in and causes heaps of trouble and headaches and for some serious cost!

hope it works really well for you

So do I pal, I'm lucky my plugs are in good nick so I've hopefully beat the corrosion to it. Passenger door has been ok since the clean up and lube of the catch (time will tell). I still have intermittent interior and door light issues, but at least I can rule out damaged/corroded pins. The grease was a suggestion by kentphil1, the roof made from tape was my idea, think it will stand the test of time its quite sturdy stuff and is just there to deflect any drips that should find their way there from the window. Got to be worth trying something, those window motor/modules and wiring looms aren't cheap! Glad you liked it.

 

 

Good write up but have you tried such as these to help with the trim removal. Less likely to damage anything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good write up but have you tried such as these to help with the trim removal. Less likely to damage anything!

 

 

 

Do you have a link please?, Santa will have to bring a set of those for the tool kit I think

That is a good idea, I whince every time I prize something stiff with a flathead

There's plenty for sale on eBay. Search for door trim tools and you'll be in plastic heaven.

Can we make this a sticky? Loads of people having multiplug related issues at the moment.

Just place it in the techi guides section ......

 

great write up by the way

 

I did exactly the same when i changed my front speakers.

Can we make this a sticky? Loads of people having multiplug related issues at the moment.

No, but as Bowders1 says, I could move it to the tech guides if you want?

No, but as Bowders1 says, I could move it to the tech guides if you want?

Yeah that's cool, thanks

Thanks for doing this. I have central locking problems with SWMBO Seat and managed to get the inner door card off today. The plug into the door lock mechanism was fine, so I'll have to try again by the looks of things. The Seat forum isn't as helpful as this one!

Thanks for doing this. I have central locking problems with SWMBO Seat and managed to get the inner door card off today. The plug into the door lock mechanism was fine, so I'll have to try again by the looks of things. The Seat forum isn't as helpful as this one!

 

No problem, there's also posts around on here by those whose multiplugs weren't fine like mine and were corroded with missing pins and what they did to rectify it, soldering in new pins and such should it be required.

Thanks for doing this. I have central locking problems with SWMBO Seat and managed to get the inner door card off today. The plug into the door lock mechanism was fine, so I'll have to try again by the looks of things. The Seat forum isn't as helpful as this one!

What problems are you having?, and what have you done to date?. May be able to throw some light for you as son had an Ibiza and son in law has a Leon.

What problems are you having?, and what have you done to date?. May be able to throw some light for you as son had an Ibiza and son in law has a Leon.

Hi Phil,

 

it's doing 2 things ATM, or not as the case might be. first it doesn't unlock the drivers door off the remote- you have to use the key, though it will take the deadlock off, disable the alarm & unlock everything else. after that it's not auto locking at 20mph- every time you go from below to above 20 you can hear it clicking and it doesn't lock the drivers door, though you can get round that by using the remote to do it before you start the car. I read somewhere that the Altea door card is a bit strange with the window mechanism attached to that rather than the door itself so I gave up at that point in case I go into a bit of a mess!

Cheers

 

sorry forgot to add apart from spraying wd40 into the connector that goes into the lock mechanism that looks fine I've done nothing.

 

Ade

Edited 2 February, 201511 yr by littleade