Bent coathanger option to open locked doors

[Skodaoldy]

The elctric fob does not work on my key and I am reduced to inserting the key into the door for manual operation. This seems to action in different ways on different days and I am fearful of the occasion arising when it won't open at all. Could the old bent coathanger trick work on any of the doors? If it can I would fix one on the underside of the car in readyness.

 

If not is breaking a window the only alternative?

 

 

[Thisday]

Sounds like the lock itself it knackered. If it fails while locked I doubt the coat hanger will work. I'd replace asap.

Edited 26 December, 2016 by Thisday

[StevesTruck]

Coat hanger won't work because they deadlock. When it gets to the none working stage your only no-damage option is to hope your boot lock barrel isn't seized, crawl into the drivers seat, turn the ignition on and press the unlock button on the door handle.

[felicia16v]

nope no easy way to break in without damage. have you tried a new fob battery?

[TMB]

Coat hanger won't work because they deadlock. When it gets to the none working stage your only no-damage option is to hope your boot lock barrel isn't seized, crawl into the drivers seat, turn the ignition on and press the unlock button on the door handle.

 

There is no boot lock barrel though.

[StevesTruck]

Better get the door lock fixed then, or tie a brick under the car for emergencies!

[VWD]

nope no easy way to break in without damage. have you tried a new fob battery?

Don't know size of battery, but if it's a mini 12v one - keep your eyes open in the £ shops -I got a card with a few on in one recently. Worth a try.

 

Looking at OP's car -do the "posher" models with CL still have manual locks on both front doors ( mine is pauver spec ,with just a key). If so - try key in passenger side to prove key /lock

Edited 28 December, 2016 by VWD

[Skodaoldy]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did try new batteries in key fob, it worked for a couple of days with the first new battery then stopped, so I put another new battery in and it didn't work so I gave up on it and went manual. 

I spoke to an auto locksmith who said a new key and programming would cost about £160 as it was advisable not to try anything but a genuine Skoda key. However he thought the round head keys of this generation had been discontinued but even with a new Skoda key there is no guarantee it would work.

 

That is why at between £300-£400 all in to change a lock and no guarantee a new key would work I have managed manually. I am not able to do the work myself because of medical limitations.

[felicia16v]

Just get a used fob from a breakers and get it coded in by someone local with vagcom

You can pair another fob yourself if you have 2 working keys too.

[Updown789]

You can actually code a new fob without two working keys, only one is needed. If you open the drivers door, withdraw the door key barrel, shut the door (window open) and carry out the coding procedure but use a big screwdriver to turn the inside of the locking mech instead of the second key you can code a second fob into the vehicle. This means any spare fob can be coded regardless of if the actual key blade fits the lock.

[Skodaoldy]

My greatest fear is that if, having spent £300 to £400 on a new drivers door lock fitting and knowing the vulnerability of all these locks, in no time at all I subsequently have the same problem with the other doors as it is a 2002 car with 125K miles. I could find myself having to fork out up to another £900 to £1,200 to repair the rest. The tailgate lock is already disconnected and operated by the manual lever by the drivers seat.

 

Can the drivers door operate independantly with a new lock, so that if any or all of the other doors failed to open I could always get into the car and either open them from the inside handle or leave them locked. 

 

I could live with that, as I rarely have a passenger and could still use the manual tailgate. We also have a family car that I'm covered on insurance for if I do need to carry passengers.

 

If it were not for these central locking issues I would be looking to replace it with a MK 2, but for anyone who can't do these repairs themselves, the cost, plus the risk of finding yourself locked out of your car, or windows having a mind of their own puts me off completely.

 

I would greatly miss the reliability and the high MPG of the 1.9Tdi and it seems the only way to get economy from a petrol now is something with an Ecoboost power unit.

 

Does anyone have an opinion on these in general, particularly on the ruggedness of the power units considering the punch they are pushing out of them, some with only 3 cylinders.

 

Thanks guys

[felicia16v]

I don't think you need to change the lock though as mechanically it should unlock with the key barrel even if the electrics are disconnected,flat battery etc. It sounds like it just doesn't always trigger the other doors is all. I'd still be tempted to get a used fob and code it up.

[vRSAnt]

My reply continued:

 

PS you can get a used key like something from a Golf 4 and pair the "remote alarm/unlock" aspect to the car using the above instruction.

I've done that as part of a very cheap replacement of a "lost" key ( motorcycling and open pocket !).

 

Cost me all of about £30 to fully replace the key, key cut was £15 (took them a few times to get it cut right though!), immob chip a few quid and spare key ( used with both sections) from ebay. Mine was from a Golf.

You can't reprogram the immob section of a used key though hence why in my case with no "working" key at all had to obtain a new chip which is programmable using VCDS ( lets call that stage 1 of the electronic side of key replacement ).

 

However If your actual key and immob are already working to start the car and its just the remote unlock then "aint broken don't fix it" - leave that part alone.

 

Sounds like generally speaking other than problems some of the time with the key generally this is okay in the steering cylinder lock so just stick with stage 2 ok ?

 

So If you need to get a really cheap VW used key and ensure its good batteries and try pairing that for remote unlocking ? Shouldn't cost more than a few quid.

 

Don't change your TDI for a petrol also, you will seriously miss the economy and torque.

This is from someone with a Mk3 TFSI the 220 hp and I still get pleasure from driving the vRS ( which is 1.9Tdi also ).

Edited 2 January, 2017 by vRSAnt

[Skodaoldy]

Sorry to be such a dimwit on these things, but that's why I find the site so valuable.

 

If I decide to spend substantially, (min £1,200 overall) on this car within the next 5months with the hope of getting another  2 to 4 years out of it, I know I am going to need a new drivers door lock.

 

Would a new door lock mean another new key, or if I could get a key and get it programmed as instructed for the existing dicey lock, could it be re-programmed again to work the new lock or would I require a completely new key again?

 

I do appreciate and agree with your comments on the !.9Tdi, and although I don't use it's performance normally, I sort of take it for granted that if I need to get passed something it's going to go, and I'm not having to wonder 'will it or won't it'.

[vRSAnt]

Why would it require a new lock ? You are just over-using the manual lock only due to the remote part not working and not focussing on fixing that.

 

If you get the remote side working then you will rarely need to use it ? Who uses manual lock/unlock, barely anyone.

 

Dunno about the lock itself set but presumably a very expensive job of a lockset. But why ? Just sort out the remote aspect ???

[vRSAnt]

Also why spend £2k on it. Its bonkers the car itself won't be worth that.

 

Do you get the "chuk chuk" noise from using the remote ?

If there is just no response from the remte on the car and may be you just need to recode/ add a new/used remote key ./ check battery etc ? Just some basic fault finding

 

As an example my wifes Fabia 2 was a basic model 1 with simple C/L only, that annoyed me immensely to have a newish car without remote -

and on even that I enabled it for remote C/L with some basic electronics ( from RClick), a bit like an aftermarket alarm ( most aftermarket alarms also can support remote U/L function).

 

So it really shouldn't be that hard and I bet even an alarm fitter could sort the remote C/L provided it was an electronic problem rather than a physical lock problem.

 

Whats the difficulty with the manual unlocking anyway, its far from clear, is it difficult to turn which is more of a physical obstruction /wear on the lock?

Or just doesn't work ? Maybe this is more of an electronics problem, its not really clear to understand to be honest but sounds to me like the CL and the remote are 2 different issues, is this how it comes across ? Take a video to explain ?

[vRSAnt]

Is it one particular door not opening when you operate the lock ? That would be solenoid. Doesn't sound like you are describing that at all though.

 

As mentioned above may also be worth getting someone to do a vagcom scan for any faults too.

 

I also agree with what Felicia16v says, in my experience the main door if not jammed will always physically unlock the car even with no battery.

 

The CL just helps unlock all the other doors and the remote part means you don't have to put your key in because it uses the radio waves from the remote portion coded to the car, much like the immob chip is coded to the car so even if someone cloned their key they can't get away with the car without having an immob programmed chip.

 

I feel its far from clear exactly what your problem is because there is the physical lock, the CL and the remote lock and they are all different parts of the same system with different jobs to do.

[felicia16v]

actually thinking about it we did get a lot of the older fabia's with broken key barrels in the drivers door, there was a repair kit to fix as the key usually worked one way but not the other

[vRSAnt]

If thats the case sounding like there are 2 problems, 1 being the barrel on its way out but also the RCL.

 

So surely the OP should aim to fix the RCL given it will take the load off the barrel issues, given its more iffy than totally failed yet ? YKIMS.

[Skodaoldy]

There are obviously more seperate functions to the central locking/door locking process than I realised. Bear with me and I'll go through what's happened from the start.

 

I've owned this car for the last 10 years during which time I've done 90k miles and total mileage now showing is 123K. I bought it from the first owner and it came with all the original documentation including a narrow, clipped, folding plastic tab which, when unclipped and folded open contains 3 seperate key detail numbers on three small labels, 2 are white and the other is black. I know these relate to the key so I assume I have all the key information there is for the car. The tab, when clipped closed is 10cm x 2cm. It also had the original remote fob key and the unused spare key which is just a manual one with no electronic fob.

 

I've only used the elcctronic fob key, with one battery change about 4 years ago, until a year ago when it failed to function. I put in a new battery and it worked for a few days but then failed again. I put in another new battery but it still didn't work and the tiny red light on the key fob didn't come on when fob pressed, so I assumed internal key electronics worn out and I changed to using the key manually.

 

That worked fine until recently and all doors locked and unlocked with one turn of the key. Then about 3 weeks ago the first turn of the key only opened the drivers door and I had to turn it a second time to open the other 3. ( Tailgate was disconnected after problems 3 years ago and I rely on the manual release by the drivers seat, but that's no problem). Then I had a spate of operations when the driver's door opened on the first key turn, but not all the others on the 2nd turn, so I to repeat until they did.

 

I then had occasions when none of the doors opened on the first key turn and I had to keep repeating the key operation until eventually they did open, hence the fear of being locked out began.

 

I bought some silcone lubricant and sprayed liberally into the key hole and now I am back to all the doors generally operating on 1 turn of the key although not all the time as I still have occasions when I have to turn more than once to get all the doors to open.

 

I get all the series of cluncks and clicks but the buttons don't come up.

 

I phoned an auto locksmith who quoted me £160 for a new Skoda key and programming and he also said that I couldn't expect to use the key manually for long as the 'spade' end of the manual mechanism which activates the electronics was prone to breaking up on VAG vehicles. He also said my round head key type may not be available now and was not guaranteed to work when programmed even if they are.

 

I've assumed from all this that the drivers main door lock could fail completely at any time and obviously needs to be replaced, hence quote of £350/400. That would still leave the other 3 door locks having had the same amount of operation and prone to failure.

 

New tyres are required in about 2 months time and a cam belt/water pump in June, together with service and M.O.T.

 

I was hoping that if I could look to get another 3/4 years out of the car if I commited to this sort of expenditure as the engine is in such good condition and there is no sign of clutch wear or Turbo problem as it has always been carefully driven and regularly serviced with castrol Turbo-edge oil and BP ultimate diesel with Miller's additive.

 

Sorry it's so long winded but it hopefully explains the situation fully.

[vRSAnt]

Seems evident it would be worth you getting a used key on ebay and new batteries and try the pairing mechanism of RCL to the car ?

Then you don't have to use the manual key anyway, go back to using remote.

 

Take a punt on old key on ebay. It may just pair the alarm straight away using the link I sent earlier on how to.

 

The key splits n half quite easily, so you can just pair the RCL part with your existing non RCL working key front part, and have a fully working key then.

You might want to do this BEFORE the whole process so its clear you have one complete key ready to be programmed.

 

( Using the key without RCL to put into the ignition for programming )

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-SKODA-3-BUTTON-REMOTE-FLIP-KEY-FOB-TESTED-AND-WORKING-FABIA-ETC-/192057674234?hash=item2cb78789fa:g:xMsAAOSw-CpYBiLR

 

Procedure For Matching Remote Key Fobs To The Car:

Using a spare key switch the ignition on.
Insert the key to be programmed into the driver’s door lock.
Manually lock the driver’s door using the key.
Press the Lock or Unlock button on the fob once.
Wait for a least one second.
Press the Lock or Unlock button on the fob twice.
The vehicle horn will sound to indicate correct programming.

 

 

Is this all making sense ?

[vRSAnt]

 

1:10 seconds in - see they split with a screwdriver or similar. RCL back portion splits from the immob/flip key front section.

 

Front section would still work as a key / start the car without the RCL back part !

[Skodaoldy]

I follow your instruction and I've found a supplier of a second hand key set on the ebay site you advised, although mine is a different key to yours I can undo it. I haven't ordered one yet.

 

However I've just found another used original fob key, which, although equally worn opens and closes all the doors properly electronically.

 

In the meantime, not wanting to risk getting locked out any longer, I've booked the car in for a new door lock to be fitted at a local garage next Wednesday. I've not ordered a new fob key as the garage owner said I could just use the my original key mechanically rather than buying a new fob. 

 

If I go ahead and have the new lock fitted will it mean that this working original fob that I've now found will not open and close it electronically, or could I programme it to the new lock in a similar way to that you've described?

 

The reason I ordered a new lock is that during the time that I've been opening and closing manually, the locks have not always opened consistently although they are doing so at the moment.

 

Sometimes they all opened with one turn, but at other times I needed to operate key twice to get passenger doors open. In addition, sometimes not all the doors opened, and on a couple of occasions I had to operate the key repeatedly to get the driver's door to open.

 

It seems worse when weather is coldest and I thought so many gremlins happening I should get a new lock.

 

Now although I've just found this working fob, from what I've described do you think it still advisable to go ahead with the new lock fitting?

[Skodaoldy]

Another thing I've just thought of.

 

Are there any different functions operated when using the key manually as opposed to using the elctronic fob, and if so are there any visible differences to look for?