Hey all

I have a 2002 Octavia TDI that's been flawlessly reliable until the last couple of weeks. I was driving to work one day and the backlight on the stereo flickered, followed by the little LED on the driver's side door changing its behaviour - I'm sure it used to pulse about every three seconds when the car was parked and locked, but now it stays constant. After that, the central locking started to get flaky, with the fob sometimes leaving the driver's door unlocked. I've also had issues using the key in the door, having to use the key to lock the driver's door and the fob to lock the other doors.

 

Last week I was out with some friends and once the car warmed up, I couldn't consistently operate the passenger window with the switches on the driver's door. Sometimes it would go up but not down, sometimes it would go down but not up, and it was a toss up which switch position (latch or normal) would make the window move, and which mode it would move in. While parked there was also a clicking noise coming from the door after the window moved. The passenger's switch works fine.

 

Yesterday I went to start the car after it hadn't been used for about five days and the battery was dead - something that's never happened before, even when leaving it a week or two. I've also noticed the radio doesn't come on with the ignition, requiring me to power cycle it, however this morning when I turned the headlights on, the radio came on too...

 

So, what's going on? My money's on a bad ground, and possibly bad wiring in the door harness (especially where they pass through the hinge), but is there a specific grounding point I should look for? Should I disconnect the battery and leave the car overnight and see if it just needs a reset?

 

Thanks in advance!

Corrosion from water ingress to the large connector in the drivers door is the usual culprit.

Where's that exactly? In the hinge or behind the door card?

Behind the door card. Use the forum search function & look for Central locking problems. Very common problem on Mk1 Octy's

Gotcha, thanks!