Remote central locking wiring fault and the way round it.

The car in question was a 2005 D3 HSE TDV6, the fault started as an intermitent one but over the space of a couple of weeks it eventually failed altogether.

After a little digging I found the remote keys can fail after 5-7 years approx, they recharge themselves when in the ignition and the engine is running. The battery can fail and are not supposed to be changed. Batterys are available on eBay and if your brave enough to cut the key open and re-solder a new battery in it is possible and saves you £150 + £50 programming for a new key. I managed it but still no joy.

I searched the internet some more and found information on a wiring loom issue. The accuracy on the subject is a little bit wooley to say the least, diffrent people were finding diffrent locations, diffrent colour tape etc etc, all relivent when trying to find a needle in hay stack.

This is what I found and how I did it;

Firstly remove second row interior lighting to uncover the reciver in the head lining, you have to find a small green wire with a white tracer plugged into it, you need to see if there is a constant 12v supply upto this with the key removed from the ignition. I did not find one.

The next step is to remove the sill trim on the N/S then the plastic cover which protects the loom from beneath it. This will uncover the main loom. The offending part is or was on mine, about halfway along the passenger seat.

You need to remove the binding tape which holds the loom together, and try and open up or spread the wires as much as possible. Your looking for a black piece of plastic approx 2inch and very narrow with 3 green wires with a white tracer going into it at only one end, nothing comes out the other.

I then used a stanley blade and removed a little bit of the coating to allow access with a voltmeter. Check all 3 wires, they must read 12v as the plastic splice just joins them. Mine were reading only 1.5v on 2 of them and 12v+ on the other.

Cut the black plastic off, strip back all three wires and then solder them together. Obviousley you need to protect from earthing as they are live.

From that point on the remote locking has worked perfectly.

I have two images of the wire and its location.

The reason I think this happens is water ingress, my heap was soaked and had a rather large puddle right were teh looms lies....

Doing this job yourself will save you a fortune and if your a handy DIY'r then I think its quite easy once you know what your doing with it.

Cheers
Chris

This is the location to were the wire is located. I have got a detailed picture of the offending wire after repair but need to do it from my laptop.

landihump said:

View attachment 40532

This is the location to were the wire is located. I have got a detailed picture of the offending wire after repair but need to do it from my laptop.

Click to expand...

Correction, these are the wires after I repaired them.

This is were it is located. More or less parallel to the passenger (N/S) seat.

Hi,
Just wanted to say thanks for the post, saved me a fortune.
Followed your instructions, spent ages looking through the loom to find the splice.

Was just about to give up when it miraculously appeared, I chopped it off remade the connection and the remote locking now works.

I am one happy chappie, stealer didn't get my. Money.

Can anybody point out where the offending wire is?

Thread revival. This is exactly the scenario on my brother's 2005 D3 HSE during the last week. Remote central locking packed up but had been blowing the 30A fuse at random for a few months. Investigation showed that the nearside sill wiring channel was full of water and the nearside front carpet soaking wet. The leak proved to be coming from the nearside front sunroof drain tube which had deteriorated at the lower grommet end where is passes out into the inner wing area. This was sending most of the rain out under the car but allowing some back in to the footwell down the nearside inner kickplate.
We found the small black connector in the sill as mentioned above and discovered that the three central locking wires had corroded due to the water and broken free. They were stripped, cleaned and soldered together and this fixed the central locking problem. We removed the nearside outer wing to gain access to the end of the drain tube. By cutting the drain tube behind the inner A pillar trim, we managed to pull a couple of inches through the inner wing to ensure that the water drained outside the car rather than inside. A small piece of brass tubing was used to bridge the cut section behind the A pillar.

Thank you Landihump et al,
I thought I should join and support your superb Forum after I read Landihump's excellent post on "Remote Central Locking wiring fault" from 2013. What a wonderful piece of forensic problem solving. I am sure it has helped many owners over the years. Well done Landihump. It now seems to be known as the infamous "green wire splice" Love it!
Best wishes to all in the Forum, Jeffoir.