Central locking chattering

[mmalbon]

The central locking has started "chattering" on my 1995 Griff 500. It sounds like sometimes it's from behind the passenger side dash and sometimes the passenger side door. This happens when the car is moving, it is seemingly accentuated when I turn left or right or go over bumps. There are no actual problems manifesting from this at the moment like doors not locking etc. but for how long? I want to try and suss this out before I get locked in or out of the car (probably at a really incoventient time!).

I've reads a couple of vaguely related threads that touch on this sort of thing, one of which suggested that it could possibly be a problem with the central locking relay, which could have some physical damage (broken spring ?) making temporary contacts when it shouldn't and causing the CL motors to actuate but not for long enough for them to open the door.

I've proved that the problem is with the central locking because I removed the CL fuse and the chattering never occured. Inicidentally, since removing the fuse and doing all the necessary moving of the ECU etc. the problem has now stopped even after replacing the fuse.

I was thinking of replacing the CL relay - if I can identify it that is!

Does this sound feasible?

Also, where is the CL relay? Somewhere really awkward I presume...

[Pagey430]

Have you checked the door switch in the sill on each side? these can cause similiar issues if the contacts are making and breaking with the movement of the car

John

[mmalbon]

You mean the one behind the velcro'd access panel behind the B pillar? I had a look at that and saw some wires coming up to the motor from the dark depths below but I have no idea whether everythings OK or not??

[HRG]

Tape the switch 'in' temporarily, if it goes away the pad it sits on is probably worn.

/KISS

[davetherave1970]

I think he means the door pin that gets pushed in when the door is closed.
Low down on the door shut.
Sometimes the door has a "spacer" on the door to push the door pin in. This falls off and the door only just pushes the pin to make contact.
Movement of the car (flexing) may make the contact click in and out very slightly.

ETA: can I say Door any more????

Edited by davetherave1970 on Tuesday 24th February 17:01

[mmalbon]

yes, this sounds familiar, I think I saw that mentioned on one of the other related posts I found. Thanks very much for all suggestions so far, I'll have a look - I'll do this one first as it's easiest :-)

[Mark_G]

Pagey430 said:

Have you checked the door switch in the sill on each side? these can cause similiar issues if the contacts are making and breaking with the movement of the car

John

John's referring to the small rubber "buttons" that the pin in the door impinges on when the door is closed. These buttons are on the sills about 2/3 back along the door opening. If this button is missing, the door pin won't be pushed in and the central locking won't engage. I have had this happen on the drivers door on my Griff - the fix I found was to pop down to Maplin and buy some of the larger square rubber feet (I think they're actually for PC stands or something similar) - it took some trial and error to get the new item into the correct position (I used tape to hold the new foot rather than peel of the self-adhesive backing tape) but now works fine. If I recall, I did end up using super-glue to ensure a firm fix

Hope this helps /Mark

[mmalbon]

Thanks for all the great advice! It was the button/switch in the drivers side sill :-), the pad on the drivers door was missing. I've glued something there to ensure the button is pressed firmly in when the door is shut.

Thanks again! I have to say this is a great forum, fantastic to get such good advice so quickly!!