Y Reg Ka - Locking

[Ascen]

I just bought a KA for the other half last night, with a car of this age it has a few issues, most of which I can deal with myself.

Two main ones I noticed on the way home, need a little advice.

Firstly the car seems to want to lock it's self all the time. When trying to unlock the car from the outside we have to hold the key turned to the left in order to open the door. When the door is open we can hear the locking mechanism constantly trying to lock the door and clicking, when closing the door it automatically locks back. Basically if we close the door when the keys are in the car we are screwed! Same issue when opening the door from the inside, thankfully pulling the door handle unlocks it. Apparently this was all fine when she bought it, I did not see as I was sorting out insurance as she was shown the car.

Second issue being when we first started the car the radio was fine. Bought the car. Popped to the shops in my car while we got supplies. When we went to drive off we got no signal on the radio, no stations were picked up at all.

Any advice welcomed.

Thanks

[Stoney871]

With the locking- has it been raining heavily up there since you got the car?

Water in the lock solenoids is a common cause of self locking.

I used to get it on a MK1 Focus and generally carried a spare key in case.

Water gets past the window bottom rubber seals which get stiff after a while and don't seal properly.

Reference the radio, likely solutions are either the aerial connection has come off the back of the radio or the aerial connection in the roof has corroded or come loose, both will cause loss of signal.

[Ascen]

If water had got into it what would the best way of going about fixing it? remove the door card and use a hair dryer to remove the moisture, put it back together and try and seal it up a bit better? ... or had the water already buggered it?

Hopefully it can be sorted before the lovely winter downpours.

As for the radio, I'll have a look over the weekend. Cheers.