Tip For Slow Central Locking Solenoids

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

On my 5 door 309 the rear central locking has never worked right since I had the car so I stripped them down at the weekend to find out why.

 

Turns out the solenoids are VERY VERY stiff, so much so they can't move themselves fully without the lock attached and jam solid when you try to move them by hand.

 

I moved the bellows to one side and filled them with spray grease and they now work better than the central locking solenoids on any of my cars! From knackered to brilliant for a bit of time and spray grease :)

 

I'm assuming that the front solenoids are similar, if so it is worth stripping down your doors and giving them a good lube...

 

Rob

[cybernck 400 1 Cars]

my driver's side one is scary loud but i don't have time to strip it out.

 

hopefully some grease (or maybe WD40 ) will sort it out.

[gti-si 0]

My passenger lock started locking alot slower than the drivers yesterday and this morning it's just give up the ghost. I'll strip it down and give this ago

[Rippthrough 98]

Dry Graphite lube is better

[GLPoomobile 958]

My passenger lock started locking alot slower than the drivers yesterday and this morning it's just give up the ghost. I'll strip it down and give this ago

 

Sodding typical I only swapped that one the other week cos the previous one was slow. But it had been like that since I got the car and probably would have still been fine. There's always the old drivers side motor that I left in the pocket if you need to use it.

[gti-si 0]

Sodding typical I only swapped that one the other week cos the previous one was slow. But it had been like that since I got the car and probably would have still been fine. There's always the old drivers side motor that I left in the pocket if you need to use it.

 

Haha, I know. It works every now and again and the other day the window motor stopepd working aswell, then started again. Im sure there must be a loose few wires or something, im pretty sure it's not the motors because the window motor is perfect and the central locking works fine on occasions. Ill have a look tomorrow

 

P.S Sorry for the thread hijacking - I know, i'm an as*hole

[daza 0]

Mine opens all doors ok but will only lock drivers door,but i remember seeing something about a "closing relay" under the steering column,is that right?

[osama 0]

anyone selling a drivers side solenoid for the locking? mine is dead! message me as i dont check this much! cheers!

[pete1986 2]

Mine work fine (for now...) but are effing loud, sounds like a pig squeelling...

 

Will a bit of grease solve this? Call me lazy if you must, but I dont really wanna strip down the doors only to find out it doesnt work!

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

Dunno, the 309 both rear worked fine for a while after this but after a while one died. It didn't jam solid as it used to (so you could not move the pin by hand) but only unlocked occasionally. I'm assuming that the solenoid was worn out as well as lacking lube while the other made a full recovery.

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

i like the noise my motors made, gave the car character

[cybernck 400 1 Cars]

my driver's one is so loud that i dare not lock it late in nights to avoid waking someone in the building!

[MikeHunt79 0]

Would WD40 work? I only have normal grease, not spray grease....

[applemobile 0]

my doors lock as im driving and then its very difficult to get out! the pin seems to get stuck, and i climb out the passenger seat. I been thinkin about spray grease, cheers for the confiadence booster. I woudnt use wd40 personally, as its not as effective as spray grease. Wd40 will wash any existing grease out, and water will wash the wd40 off (if they get wet) after time could probably make it worse than they were when they started.

[sNaKePiT 1]

LoL My passenger door does this!!! It's well annoying when you lock your drivers side and have to look through the window to see if it actually locked the other side!!!

[nick 3]

Don't bother with spray grease, just use Motorbike chainlube. It sprays like WD40 but turns to grease later.

 

Nick

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

Don't bother with spray grease, just use Motorbike chainlube. It sprays like WD40 but turns to grease later.

 

Nick

 

That is what spray grease does!

 

Oh and NEVER use WD-40 to lubricate. It washes out any grease/oil already in there and then evaporates leaving the part dry of lubrication. TBH WD-40 is good for what it was inteded for, Water Displacement (hence WD), but crap for most other things as it is too thin. I've used it as penetrating oil when desperate and it is good as a solvent to clean oily parts...

[nick 3]

Ah right, I have some Silkolene spray grease which is pretty much grease as it comes out of the can.

 

Nick