Griff refusing to lock- Help!

[JamieG]

Evening chaps - A mate of mine has just picked up a 4L Griff (his first Tiv) and now finds the car refuses to lock when he uses the remote - He presses the remote button, the locks go and then almost immediatly the car unlocks itself. I'm not much use as wedges don't come with the luxury of central locking! - Any tips/suggestions. Cheers.

[david beer]

The interior door light switches are used in the alarm set up, never understood why ! If they are not adjusted properly, the doors will unlock. Check that the added rubber bits are stuck onto the door,see where the switches would touch the door.

[mkgriff]

I had the same problem with my 98 - 500 on one occasion. The dealer said that they had to reset the 'central locking' / 'alarm system'. Not sure if this was a yarn, but it did not sound like a DIY fix.

[griffter]

david beer said:

The interior door light switches are used in the alarm set up, never understood why ! If they are not adjusted properly, the doors will unlock. Check that the added rubber bits are stuck onto the door,see where the switches would touch the door.

Almost certainly this. One or other of the pin switches mounted in the sills which are depressed when the doors closed is probably not being pushed in far enough when the door closes. The quick fix is to lengthen the pin by pushing a suitable length of fuel pipe over the pin, but not all the way, to lengthen it. Obviously don't push the fuel pipe right up to the sill or the pin won't move in at all...

[CraigAlsop]

griffter said:

The quick fix is to lengthen the pin by pushing a suitable length of fuel pipe over the pin, but not all the way, to lengthen it.

Even quicker (temporary) fix is to stick the switch down with gaffer tape

[shadowfax]

Ours did same. Little round felt sticky back anti scratch pads you can buy in packs from diy household stores are ace. Glue em on where door presses against buttons under footplates.

[Wildfire]

As David Beer said check the little switches. When I got my 4.0 Griff one of the switches had the connections completely eroded away. Even after that the lock didin't work for a long time. Peeling back the carpet and lubricating the lock mechanism helps. It took a good month or so of useage and it just started working again.

Quite embarassing when i parked the shiney Griff at my Girlfriend's house with the passenger side next to a fence and to my horror when I locked the car the driver's side actually worked then refused to unlock! Had to do the contortionist act half slide in and losen the hadbrake off and then push the car backwards so i could get in fully to operate the lock manually from under the carpet.

[JamieG]

Many thanks for advice - the problem has been fixed (in the short term) taping down the offending switch that has moved.