Door lock module on its way out?

[Craigh1983]

Hi,

Couple of days ago when I tried to unlock the car I noticed the drivers door wasn't unlocking. I had the press keyfob a few times and then it would work. Same thing locking it too. Press the keyfob and I can hear a buzzing noise from the motor like it's trying to lock but it's just not doing it. The other 3 doors are fine. Does this sound like I need a new door lock module?

Thanks
:)

[Paulo P]

Yes that's the symptoms of the central locking module on that particular door breaking down. It's a common fault and it's a door skin off job to repair it, parts are also not cheap.

With the other doors you have the added worry that it fails in the locked position, being the drivers door you should be able to override that with the key should the worst happen.

[lukemk5gti]

Sounds like it alright.

Can you scan with VCDS to confirm it also?

I replaced mine, the job isn't too difficult but it can take a while. Replaced mine with a part from eBay at a fraction of the cost from a good seller recommended on here but no joke, last week after 2 years I can hear the same one failing.

I'ts just making double attempts at locking but still works so I'll leave it be.

[Craigh1983]

Ah glad to hear it's quite common and a quite easy fix. I can do it myself but I looked for the part on eBay and the only ones I can find are from China but don't know if it would be genuine parts and whether to trust them.

Might put a wanted post in the wanted section on here instead.

[pudding]

I wouldn't trust the China ones personally.  MK4s had the same issue with dying door lock modules, but they were £100 from the dealer.  China ones less than half, but they also lasted less than half the time!  If you want to do it once, I would only use genuine personally.

[Paulo P]

I wouldn't trust the China ones personally.  MK4s had the same issue with dying door lock modules, but they were £100 from the dealer.  China ones less than half, but they also lasted less than half the time!  If you want to do it once, I would only use genuine personally.

I 100% agree with this, I just had mine done and I decided that it was worth paying the extra to have a brand new genuine unit over either a copy or a worn unit that could fail again. I couldn't be bothered to do mine myself so there was no point in paying the labour to have it replaced again in another few months or years.

[pudding]

I wouldn't trust the China ones personally.  MK4s had the same issue with dying door lock modules, but they were £100 from the dealer.  China ones less than half, but they also lasted less than half the time!  If you want to do it once, I would only use genuine personally.

I 100% agree with this, I just had mine done and I decided that it was worth paying the extra to have a brand new genuine unit over either a copy or a worn unit that could fail again. I couldn't be bothered to do mine myself so there was no point in paying the labour to have it replaced again in another few months or years.

I don't know about the MK5 modules because - touch wood - none of mine have failed yet, but the copy ones for the MK4 had notoriously bad micro switches and motors, and they weren't weather sealed particularly well either.

How much are the MK5 modules from VW out of interest?

[Craigh1983]

I will defo stay with the genuine ones. Would also be interested in knowing how much brand new ones are?

[Paulo P]

I think that the front passenger one was £145, I paid my local independent specialists £220 including labour. 

[pudding]

I was expecting double that!  Not too bad at all, for a once every 10 years job, imo.

[Paulo P]

I was pleasantly surprised by the price too, for that money it wasn't worth screwing it up doing it myself because the screws are all different lengths and the possibility of paint damage removing the door skin.

[Matto]

Check out the link in my signature for the 'How To' if you haven't seen it already. Not a bad job to do yourself tbh 

[pudding]

Check out the link in my signature for the 'How To' if you haven't seen it already. Not a bad job to do yourself tbh 

Nice one!  Taking the whole door skin off is a really funky idea, love it!

[Craigh1983]

Check out the link in my signature for the 'How To' if you haven't seen it already. Not a bad job to do yourself tbh 

Nice one!  Taking the whole door skin off is a really funky idea, love it!

I had to do some soldering on the wiring loom in the drivers door not so long ago and I had to take the door skin off. Was surprised how easy it was to do and I am a novice when it comes to doing any work on cars.

So hopefully it should be pretty easy for me to change the door lock module.