Central Locking, Electric Window, Steering Wheel All Kaput, Miles Form

[Adam101]

Hi all,

I have a 98 MkIV LS400. I put a new passenger side central locking motor in last week as the old motor had burned out. I made sure to test the window and door operation before I put the door skin back on, everything worked perfectly. I've just driven the family 200 miles on holiday, got to our hotel, and couldn't lock the car with the remote. Further investigation reveals that central locking does not work from the key or from the "door lock" buttons inside the car. The steering wheel can be adjusted, but does not retract automatically when the key is removed. Drivers electric window works but the other don't from any of the switches. Worst of all, the alarm has started going off when I open doors, or open the bonnet, or turn the ignition on. It sounds for about a minute, and does not respond to the key fob, and then stops.

I am totally stuck what to do next, it must be some simple electrical thing which is causing all these faults, related either to the new door motor, or having the Battery disconnected while I was working on it. I have found many links for central locking reset procedures, but I cannot be sure which one relates to my car (MkIV, 1997/98, three black buttons on the key for lock, unlock and boot). I am worried that if I use the wrong procedure I may make things even worse - at the moment I think the car will still start and drive after the alarm has stopped sounding.

Can anyone offer any advice?

[ROYT]

Hi all,

I have a 98 MkIV LS400. I put a new passenger side central locking motor in last week as the old motor had burned out. I made sure to test the window and door operation before I put the door skin back on, everything worked perfectly. I've just driven the family 200 miles on holiday, got to our hotel, and couldn't lock the car with the remote. Further investigation reveals that central locking does not work from the key or from the "door lock" buttons inside the car. The steering wheel can be adjusted, but does not retract automatically when the key is removed. Drivers electric window works but the other don't from any of the switches. Worst of all, the alarm has started going off when I open doors, or open the bonnet, or turn the ignition on. It sounds for about a minute, and does not respond to the key fob, and then stops.

I am totally stuck what to do next, it must be some simple electrical thing which is causing all these faults, related either to the new door motor, or having the battery disconnected while I was working on it. I have found many links for central locking reset procedures, but I cannot be sure which one relates to my car (MkIV, 1997/98, three black buttons on the key for lock, unlock and boot). I am worried that if I use the wrong procedure I may make things even worse - at the moment I think the car will still start and drive after the alarm has stopped sounding.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Blind guess here re the alarm ,I think the door pillar switches are connected to the alarm.

Did you disturb one, are any sticking?

Is your car Battery good, I got lots of alarm problems, because of a failing Battery.

[alanr]

Hi,

I've had this problem myself in a 1998 Mk 4 - also when many miles from home. Disconnect the Battery and let the electronics sort themselves out with a re-boot. Leave disconnected for 30 minutes before reconnecting. That sorted everything out for me, and I never did discover what the cause was.

Hope it works for you.

Regards,

Alan

[lewis]

I had a similar problem with electrics shutting themselves down, found out that a new Battery sorted everything out. Hope this helps, good luck.

[steve2006]

For the steering wheel problem (if it is the same as my 1994) there is a button near to the manual adjustment control on the steering column which switches the feature on and off just make sure you haven't accidently caught it.

As for the other problems I agree with the Battery disconnect proceedure or maybe a faulty Battery, these cars do strange things when the Battery is on its way out due to the amount of electronics in the car, could be worse there are a lot more on an Airbus A320!

[Adam101]

Thanks for your responses folks. I will try the Battery disconnect at a more civilised hour this morning - the Battery was bought from Lexus about 4 months ago so should be fine. Weird thing is that the car worked perfectly for a few days after the repair and after I had charged the Battery overnight.