I own an 2003 Octavia Mk1 Diesel Estate (Elegance spec 130 bhp ASZ) with Convenience Central Locking which I put on SORN during COVID lockdowns in  early 2020.  As far as aware, all the car systems were operational at this point prior to removal of the battery to keep on a trickle charger.  Periodically every 3 months I have reconnected the battery, opened the doors and started the engine which has always been instantaneous with a completely smooth tickover.

At my latest attempt, there was a problem with the central locking. I can only unlock the drivers door using the key and none of the other 3 passenger doors will unlock with either the key or the drivers door control panel. Tests & results I have tried are as follows:

 

* The key fob or the drivers door panel WILL lock and unlock the rear tailgate

 

* Neither key nor drivers door control will alter the down state of the 3 passenger door buttons which do not even twitch with the attempt.

 

* The 3 passenger door inside release handles will, against some resistance,  raise the respective door buttons but which immediately drop upon releasing the handles as they spring back.

 

* The fuse situation is confusing.  The Haynes manual states that the 5 Amp F6 is for the Central Locking control unit but there is NO fuse installed.  A cursory inspection of the high current fuse box sitting on of the battery indicated that the 50A strip fuse in position 4 had blown but when replaced it did not blow again or alter any of the previous observations so it could pre-date the door problem.

 

After a tour of Central Locking issues on the forum, a common issue seemed to be wire breaks in the loom between driver door and car body inside the concertina rubber boot. After making an inspection there were no obvious breaks in the insulation of the wires. Wiggling the wires however did prevent the tailgate opening/closing until a further wiggle restored operation so there is a high probability that the inner Cu cores may be suspect.

I would like my next test to be continuity checks of the individual wires but I cannot find any info on where the wires terminate in the body of the car and/or how to access them. 

Has anybody seen this set of symptoms, please?  Also, where does the driver door loom terminate in the car body & how do I gain access?

 

Thanks for reading!    

Before you go investigating wiring faults, press the unlock on the fob twice. I think there is a VCDS setting where only the drivers door unlocks unless you do the double-unlock.

 

If that doesn't work, start the engine and press the unlock button on the driver's door repeatedly while pulling on the other interior door handles - this might un-deadlock them and allow you to open them.

Thanks for the suggestion, petrolbloke; I had not tried a quick double press of the key fob.  Tried out both your ideas this morning without any luck.  Also noticed another overlooked symptom.  The open door icon in the centre dash display is not showing up.

 

Further investigation will have to wait until later in the week when the plastic door trim removal tools and pair of insulation piercing probes arrive from eBay!

 

In case the fault proves to be with the central convenience module, J393 on a schematic diagram I found online, could anyone with access to detailed Skoda manuals please confirm the part number of the unit that was fitted to the 2003 Octavia Mk1 Diesel Estate, Elegance spec 130bhp ASZ?

A cursory look at eBay lists a range of numbers all described by the generic heading: 

Quote

VOLKSWAGEN AUDI SEAT SKODA 1998-2014 CONVENIENCE UNIT 

 

This is but a few of the possible part numbers used:

1C0962258J

1J0959799Q

1K0959433AH

8P0959433C

 

It would be useful to know without removing/reinstalling the unit just to read a number!

 

Thanks!

Almost certainly broken wires between the drivers door and the body, a visual inspection will only show the obvious ones only a continuity check will reveal any others, spend 7€uros for an hours access to that site and you can download all the wiring diagrams and workshop manuals based on your VIN  

I’d concur with the broken wires. If you need replacement locking modules let me know as I know some aftermarket replacement that I personally use and, suggested to others that have been an excellent replacement. 

Thanks to nige8021 and DeanVRS20VT for concurring with my plan to start testing for continuity of all wires entering the Drivers door from the A pillar once the purchased tools needed to facilitate access arrive.  Once the wires are exposed, I have all the soldering gear/ heat shrink sleeving/ wiring, etc to bypass any breaks.

 

 Could you point me to the URL of the website that gives access to the wiring diagrams and manuals for €7 /hour of viewing please?

Here's one I made earlier

 

erWin Skoda, easy Google search away

Edited 15 August, 20223 yr by DeanVRS20VT
Link corrected.

23 hours ago, iochroma said:

Thanks to nige8021 and DeanVRS20VT for concurring with my plan to start testing for continuity of all wires entering the Drivers door from the A pillar once the purchased tools needed to facilitate access arrive.  Once the wires are exposed, I have all the soldering gear/ heat shrink sleeving/ wiring, etc to bypass any breaks.

 

 Could you point me to the URL of the website that gives access to the wiring diagrams and manuals for €7 /hour of viewing please?

I've not gone into any detail, but you can see by my project that it's quite common.

Red vRS

L&K

 

Edited 15 August, 20223 yr by DeanVRS20VT

Thanks to varooom for the erWin info! I need to spend a some time checking that the site will work using Apple computers as I have had issues in the past with online payment companies not playing nicely with sites that assume that Windows PCs are in use. I will also probably have to disable my Ad Blockers and Ghostery apps before trying for an hour slot that could go horribly wrong otherwise!

 

Also very indebted to @DeanVRS20VT for the great links restoring the old Skodas. As well as the Elegance car I am having the issues with, I also have a  2003 L&K diesel estate  identical to the one in the link and have learnt a great deal studying the photos. 

 

After 2 months without any rain in East Anglia, I hope any newly appointed Minister for Drought doesn't persuade the heavens to open before I can start to investigate the wiring looms!

Edited 17 August, 20223 yr by DeanVRS20VT
Corrected formatting.

46 minutes ago, iochroma said:

Thanks to varooom for the erWin info! I need to spend a some time checking that the site will work using Apple computers as I have had issues in the past with online payment companies not playing nicely with sites that assume that Windows PCs are in use. I will also probably have to disable my Ad Blockers and Ghostery apps before trying for an hour slot that could go horribly wrong otherwise!

You could try it sending in a support request to see if you are able to access the PDF's without issues/payments.

https://erwin.skoda-auto.cz/erwin/showRequestSupport.do

 

If they interpret your question correctly, then all good.

 

A few years ago I did have issue getting any documents and it started my hour session, they looked into it and refunded the hour back as they could see I hadn't made any progress/downloads.  Times have changed, but never know if you get issues, chances are you might get a refund.

 

Family/friend with PC?

Running a virtual machine on your Mac could be alternatives.

absolutely definitely 100% broken wires in the bellows.

Breezy pete posted pinout diagrams in another similar thread only in the last couple of days, so check that out too if you want before any potential erwin problems...

On 16/08/2022 at 18:23, iochroma said:

Also very indebted to @DeanVRS20VT for the great links restoring the old Skodas. As well as the Elegance car I am having the issues with, I also have a  2003 L&K diesel estate  identical to the one in the link and have learnt a great deal studying the photos. 

 

After 2 months without any rain in East Anglia, I hope any newly appointed Minister for Drought doesn't persuade the heavens to open before I can start to investigate the wiring looms!

Glad you're on the way to getting this fixed.