Total Loss of All Power to Drivers Door - Help Please?!

[Springer*]

Hi there,

I'm fairly new to A4 ownership and the car has been superb so far, but in the last week out of the blue I got in the car one evening and the interior light wouldn't turn off after I had shut the door.

Naturally I checked that all the doors were closed properly and they were. Then shortly afterwards all of the red lights on the switchgear of the drivers door went out and they haven't come on since.

The central locking doesn't work properly (I have to use the key each time to lock the drivers door) and all of my electric windows don't work now either, which suggests to me that something is shorting out.

Finally when the car is locked the flashing red LED on the drivers door just stays on constantly rather than flashing.

Something is clearly kn4ckered.

I've checked the fuses and all are fine.

I've also taken the drivers' door card off to check all of the wiring and can't see that anything is out of place.

Can anyone give me any pointers as to what it could be or what possible solutions I could try? Is this a common fault? Am I looking at a huge bill?

Any help would be much appreciated

J

 

[Mike B]

Could be broken wires in the loom where it joins the pillar

 

[Springer*]

Thanks for that.

How easy is it to get/fit a new wiring loom and what sort of cost would I be looking at?

J

 

[quattrojames]

People generally repair them.

 

[Mike B]

All that usually happens is that the wires get stressed by bending as the door is opened and closed and the copper wires break.Its only possible to check by cutting open the outer sheath and feeling the wires for breaks gently pulling if you think there is a break cos the insulation will stretch and it is easily spliced together and reinsulated . its not common for a multiple failure but this is a probable cause of your probs and something I would investigate first .

 

[Springer*]

Thanks for the replies.

I have since had a fiddle with the rubber cover by the door hinge and have tried to straighten out the wires inside and felt for any obvious breaks. I couldn't find anything obvious, but since then the door electrics have suddenly started working again.

Clearly there is a small fracture in there somewhere which I need to have a closer look at sometime, but for now, happy days

The thing is, that at least now I know what the problem is and where to look when fixing it.

Thanks for your help!

J

 

[Mike B]

thats a good start s/b easy to find if make a slit and wiggle the wires in turn

 

[marktdisport]

mine had broken under the black tape m8 un visible to the eye.... had to cut off all the tape to find 2 broken wires