A4 Avant SE central locking problem.................

[Nessy]

The factory remote central locking on my pre-facelift B5 packed up yesterday.
Got to work and pressed the button on the keyfob, only to find that the indicators flashed and the door LED pins began winking but none of he doors locked.
Checked out the pump in the boot, and each time the keyfob is pressed to lock/unlock the car there is just a quiet 'click' sound from the pump but no whirring as if its trying to generate pressure?
Can anyone help me diagnose if I have the dreaded shattered pump impeller syndrome?
Having searched and read a load of threads on here about the pumps packing up they all mention that the pump should be noisy just no vacuum is generated as the graphite impeller is broken.......this is what is confusing me as mine is silent,apart from the electrical clicking noise.....
The other odd thing is now when getting into the car from unlocking the drivers door manually with the key the interior lights go off straight away on closing the door, whereas before there was the 30 second courtesy delay? I'm puzzled why this should be happening , but these 2 events are obviously linked......
Would be very grateful for any help.
Thanks!

 

[Nessy]

Anyone?
Dismantling the old pump to see if the impeller has broken is a last resort, have checked all the fuses and they seem ok.
Is there a fuse in the central locking circuit not in the fusebox?
The fact that the pump is not making any noise is the main reason at the moment for me thinking that the impeller might not have shattered.........

 

[Broken Byzan]

Its probably broken up stopping the pump from turning sadly..

Not what you wanted to hear

 

[Nessy]

Its probably broken up stopping the pump from turning sadly..

Not what you wanted to hear

Cheers, at least the graphite impeller looks fairly easy to replace, was just hoping that it might have been a fuse etc.....will get it fixed soon as the lack of central locking the last 2 days has driven me NUTS,lol.......

 

[olds_kool]

its what you should be hoping is wrong with it !
anything else from experiance probably means a replacement pump with facelift ones going for £100-150 used

nothing difficult in checking it, remove lid, move circuit board if theres dust everywhere thats a good sign impeller is broken but remove the 3 screws to check

 

[Nessy]

its what you should be hoping is wrong with it !
anything else from experiance probably means a replacement pump with facelift ones going for £100-150 used

nothing difficult in checking it, remove lid, move circuit board if theres dust everywhere thats a good sign impeller is broken but remove the 3 screws to check

Thanks, have had a look at the pump this afternoon and indeed the impeller was broken into 3 pieces; the black plastic housing of the pump was warm to the touch when I began dismantling it so I was rather worried that the impeller motor might have been burnt out.....
A quick test of it though minus the broken impeller pieces showed the motor spun into life once the remote keyfob was pressed...
The parts needed to repair are on order so fingers crossed the problem will be fixed soon.
Thanks everyone for your help.......

 

[olds_kool]

where from, thought mine where cheapest on ebay

whats an eriba touring puck?

 

[Nessy]

where from, thought mine where cheapest on ebay

whats an eriba touring puck?

I've bought a complete replacement pump as I took a gamble that it might not have just been the graphite impeller that had broken....
Eribas are a brand of lightweight caravan (steel spaceframe construction clad with aluminium panels) made by the German Hymer leisure vehicle group, they have a cult following especially in air-cooled VW circles as they are easily towed by even a Beetle and the smallest in the range is the Puck.

 

[aragorn]

Arent most caravans on an alloy chassis with fibreglass panelling? Surely steel and aluminium is going to be heavier?

 

[Nessy]

Arent most caravans on an alloy chassis with fibreglass panelling? Surely steel and aluminium is going to be heavier?

I'm not a caravan expert,lol, but most caravans have a steel chassis and a lot of wood in their frame to which the exterior panels are fastened etc , Eribas have always utilised a steel frame/ali panel system which as well as being relatively lightweight means they last for ages, there are plenty of 1960's/70's Eribas still around which is something you cant say about most other (especially British) makes of caravan.

 

[theviking]

love old vdubs my dream is a karmann on fuch wheels , worst pain in my life was sellng my custoom 69 beetle in black tax exhempt as well i loved that beast it sounded like a bomb going off and i was only 17 birds loved it! and my mk one campagne on fully adjust ats cups polished and full blac leather show and shine winner i actually cried when i sold it !!!!!!!!! boo hoo

 

[Nessy]

love old vdubs my dream is a karmann on fuch wheels , worst pain in my life was sellng my custoom 69 beetle in black tax exhempt as well i loved that beast it sounded like a bomb going off and i was only 17 birds loved it! and my mk one campagne on fully adjust ats cups polished and full blac leather show and shine winner i actually cried when i sold it !!!!!!!!! boo hoo

I think I'd rather sell an internal organ than ever have to sell any of my VW's...lol.

 

[Nessy]

Well, everything is now fixed.
Didn't want to pay £30+ for just the impeller/graphite bits so purchased complete remote c/l pump for just a bit extra , that way I'll have a few spare bits like the circuit board etc should mine ever play up further........
Anyway, repair is unbelievably simple.
Disconnect electrical connections from pump in boot, along with the air lines.
Prise off the grey plastic 'lid' to expose the printed circuit board,
Gently move pcb out of the way (dont damage the ribbon cable!) to expose the graphite pump body with its 3 securing screws.
Carefully undo the 3 screws and remove the graphite pump 'lid'.
Your broken/shattered impeller should be visible in-situ.
With a pair of pliers carefully pull off the impeller retaining peg off the motor spindle and swap over the broken impeller with its 4 separate carbon sealing 'blades' for the replacement ones, replacing impeller peg once finished.
Replace the graphite lid and re-insert the 3 screws, do them up tight but not excessively......
Swing pcb back into position, snap grey lid back onto pump and re-install into car.
Really does take 15 mins to do , took me 1/2 hour to take the bits out of my 'new' pump and install them into my broken one.

For the benefit of future readers, don't assume that a pump has to be noisy but not sucking/blowing air to have a broken impeller.
Mine was silent , due to the impeller having totally broken up and jamming the pump spindle.
I now think that my impeller might not have broken up totally in one go.
For the last few months the pump had run-on for a few extra seconds virtually every day, but much to my shame I didn't do anything about it, I had checked all the doors to listen for air leaks but had found none.
I now wonder if the impeller had begun to break up inside and was running on all the time (I have automatic locking enabled so my c/l pump sees a fair bit of action) due to only part of the impeller generating suction/blowing force?.
The pump hasn't run on once now though in over a week of heavy car use, so fingers crossed that will be the end of the matter...

 

[aragorn]

One of the advantages of using the repair kits, is that they usually come with the earlier 4A0 impeller which is much hardier...

 

[theviking]

mine is stil playing up it tends to play up and lock when washed or rained when i press break it locks us in it does seem rather loud when used mother trucker !may be a garage job come bonus time at work