C-Max 2004 - Central/manual Locking Only Opens Driver Door

[tigrepojke]

I have a 2004 C-Max, having some issues with the central locking

First noticed it few days ago where the keyfob would unlock all doors except the front-passenger door, the lockbutton above the handle stays pushed in. Unable to open the door manually by pulling the handle or the lockbutton, it has no keyhole on outside. The door is perma-closed

It has now spread to both the rear passenger doors, neither of them will unlock when I use the keyfob. The offside rear passenger door will unlock manually, the nearside one will not.

The same symptoms are there if I unlock the car manually by the driver keyhole, only the driver door will unlock.

I have tried the following with no resolution

- reprogramming the key to unlock just driver door, or unlock all doors (this is done by unlocking with keyfob, then pressing the lock/unlock button together until the hazards blink)

- reregistering the key to the car (done by turning ignition from 0 to II about 4-5 times until hear a beep, take key out and press a button until hear another beep)

- have replaced the keys battery

- have replaced the central locking fuses of F77 and F55. I saw in a wiring diagram that F41, F72, F81 and F82 also serve central locking but they had no fuses present in my fusebox

- have removed the central locking fuses to see if the other doors release, they do not

- spraying WD40 into the interior handles, the driver door keyhole, locklatch (on side)


The above things I've tried are from various threads I've been reading through on this forum and another the past couple days. I remember seeing one thread saying the driver door lock mechanism controls the other doors and something along the lines that the wiring/solenoid might be damp or dirty so it isn't reporting to the central locking system that the door is unlocked thus releasing the passenger doors but I cannot find this thread again

My plan tomorrow is to work out how to get the driver door card off and have a poke about in there, see if anything is damp or needs cleaning in the first instance. Is there a guide somewhere on getting the door card off, what to look for inside etc etc?

It has been raining almost non-stop for 2days so my money is on damp and I want to take a look


thanks in advance

[jeebowhite]

I took t he door card off mine about 6 months ago. You need the door open and to put a flat blade screwdriver or similar up into the gaps along the card and prize the card off. Before that you need to remove the lower door grip from the inside by prising it off, you will also need to undo the two ten mm bolts and disconnect the switch wiring. After all of this you can just pull the card off.

When reinstalling you need to remove forcefully the clips from the metal of the door and buy replacements, I got them for around 4 quid and you need to put these in the door card then refit the door card. It took me about half an hour to do each part in total

[tigrepojke]

Thanks Jeebo

I took the doorcard off this morning, was a couple of 8mm bolts on mine. Only problem was once that was off I was still none the wiser as there is another metal plate bolted on the door with all the working parts behind it.

Tried taking it off by removing around eight or nine 8mm bolts but once they were out it still wouldn't come away, was unsure if yanking it off would damage anything and I'm away for a few days tomorrow so didn't want to risk it. Just pried the metal plate away enough to gun a load of wd40 in there for the hell of it then bolted it all back up

Will revisit it the following weekend, if anyone knows how to get that metal plate off fully without damaging anything please let me know

[jeebowhite]

I think its riveted in place, which is the majority of the issue sadly.

[tigrepojke]

I think its riveted in place, which is the majority of the issue sadly.

Ok that's disappointing as if I rip it off I doubt I can get it to stay on again. I'll have to see how much a Ford specialist wants to sort it out then.

Thanks for the reply

[theredfox]

Thanks Jeebo

I took the doorcard off this morning, was a couple of 8mm bolts on mine. Only problem was once that was off I was still none the wiser as there is another metal plate bolted on the door with all the working parts behind it.

Tried taking it off by removing around eight or nine 8mm bolts but once they were out it still wouldn't come away, was unsure if yanking it off would damage anything and I'm away for a few days tomorrow so didn't want to risk it. Just pried the metal plate away enough to gun a load of wd40 in there for the hell of it then bolted it all back up

Will revisit it the following weekend, if anyone knows how to get that metal plate off fully without damaging anything please let me know

drill out the rivets,have a 99 passat and metal door panel held on by 10 bolts similar to what you describe in the ford .passat has gasket behind metal panel to stop water ingress so your car will probably have similar try levering off with broad chisel thats what i used on passat many times

paul

[theredfox]

drill out the rivets,have a 99 passat and metal door panel held on by
10 bolts similar to what you describe in the ford .passat has gasket
behind metal panel to stop water ingress so your car will probably have
similar try levering off with broad chisel thats what i used on passat
many times

[tigrepojke]

drill out the rivets,have a 99 passat and metal door panel held on by

10 bolts similar to what you describe in the ford .passat has gasket

behind metal panel to stop water ingress so your car will probably have

similar try levering off with broad chisel thats what i used on passat

many times

Yeah cheers redfox, was talking to a mate not long ago and he said he has a rivet gun so we'll be drilling that thing off sometime in the next couple of weeks and having a poke about. Will update when we get round to it

[tigrepojke]

Took another look at this today. Drilling the rivets wasn't doing much due to my drill being on its last legs, managed to get them out by chisel and hammering the heads

Still couldn't get the metal plate off fully, the window mechanism is attached somehow and I can't see where. I removed the torx screws around the window motor but something is still attached, tried with the window up and down.

Had to satisfy myself by gunning a load of wd40 over the locking motor/mechanism with my newfound limited access, will see how that does and if nothing fixes itself will have to take it into someone who knows what they're doing

Such is life

[jeebowhite]

Fingers crossed it helps but the regulator u believe is riveted on, you my have taken then head off the rivets and little behind?

[tigrepojke]

Possibly is the rivets that were securing the window regulator, it appears attached elsewhere and I tested the window multiple times so it is good for now. When I take it in to a garage I'll get them to re-rivet as part of the investigation

[theredfox]

on metal door panel does it have circular plastic plugs ?

[tigrepojke]

On the metal door panel there were 4 rivets in the middle, chiselled them off and reckon they were into the window regulator, it's still working for now

The plastic ones you mention are on the right hand side of the panel, black and plastic, managed to just pull the panel over them. They look to be attached to some plastic arm thing, reckon it's the gasket you mentioned for stopping water ingress.

Bit annoying really the panel wouldn't come fully away so I could get a good look at the cabling and lock motor. Probably just needs a sharp tug but worried I don't know how to put it all together again and end up with a door that has no working window etc or I break the regulator or something else meaning more money to spend out.

[supercmaxer]

When you take of the door car you should be able to see the central locking box, I don't think there is anything else behind the metal trim.

Have you removed the battery leads for about half hour. This usually resets electrics on the car.

[tigrepojke]

It looks to be behind the metal plate, there is the window regulator and the locking box. Here's a picture of the metal plate along with the same but coloured in, removed the rivets in red, torx in green and the plastic rivets just slid through the metal (with some effort) as I pulled it

Not disconnected the battery as unsure of the radio code, it was written in the manual but in poor handwriting. Suppose I could risk it

[theredfox]

have you thought about getting it scanned for any fault codes in lock/regulator ?

paul

[jeebowhite]

It's a mechanical part that I don't believe is sensor monitored

[tigrepojke]

Had the battery disconnected most of the day, thought the doors would unlock with no power but they stayed locked. Whilst the battery was disconnected I checked nothing was working such as the horn or lights to make sure there wasn't some store I needed to drain.

Reconnected the battery and the problem is still there.

The radio code worked ok though which is good, noticed it kept all my programmed channels which I was not expecting.

theredfox, no not had a cpu put on it yet, a friend was supposed to be getting hold of a proper ford cpu unit but have been waiting months so far. Wanted the cpu on it to see if could work out why the car alarm was going off intermittently, whilst waiting for this cpu unit I noticed the bonnet latch wasn't unlocking too well and the bonnet was sitting up a bit so suspected this. Swapped out the bonnet latch, clip etc and it was shutting down fine,....during that I disconnected the switch to the bonnet latch to see if it was the cause of the alarm failure but the alarm still went off randomly so that was ruled out.

Now the door problem is kicking about. About a week before it happened whilst driving the "driver door" alert popped up but it was shut fine.

Had been shutting the car by leaning over from the offside passenger door and pressing the driver doors lock button as this seemed to get the car locked without arming the alarm. Had been doing that for about a month.

Then noticed the passenger front door was not unlocking.

Few days later all the doors aren't unlocking except the driver one, so have focused on looking at that lock motor.

Car alarm has not gone off since the locked door problem started.

I think I've exhausted all options available to me now unless anyone has any other ideas?

[Dan62]

I think the fault you have now is related to or around the passenger door unlock relay.

Unfortunately it is part of the central junction box.

It does seem odd that the doors failed in stages but maybe an original fault such as the front passenger door motor failed and has taken out the relay or blown a track off of the circuit board it is attached to.

As for the missing fuses, they are for models with rear power windows !!! although you should have a 25A fuse in F72 according to the wiring diagram.

[tigrepojke]

Ok thanks, I have it booked into a Ford Dealership tomorrow for investigation so we'll see what they say

[tigrepojke]

Update on this, car has been with the Ford dealer for 2 days now, they can't work it out either. They've got it for 2 more days now

[jeebowhite]

Fingers crossed they get your car sorted

[supercmaxer]

There are multi plugs on the fuse box under the passenger side dash, make sure all these are secure.

I had one that worked it way loose causing problems when I checked it a bit of plastic has broke of making it come loose.

[tigrepojke]

Ok thanks supercmaxer. The car is currently in a Ford dealership since Tuesday, called me just now and said unsure of the problem however they saw some green discolouration on or around the fusebox. Said it is a 50/50 chance that could be the issue and is causing the unlock signal to get blocked, (nothing else electrical is at fault) and they recommend on a 50/50 chance to replace the fusebox at around £540. Unsure if that price includes VAT or not, either way I'm not spending that out on a 50/50 chance, it is not a diagnosis of the problem in my opinion and more a spin-the-wheel diagnosis.

Will get the car back and take it to an independent auto-electrician I reckon

[tigrepojke]

Latest update on this, problem is still there but haven't had much time to look at it, if needing more than one person in a car trip we take their car.

Have tried booking it into some local auto electricians, they gave me their card and told me to call them. Wouldn't make an appointment with me face to face, said I must call them and see if they are free, really weird way to do business in this day and age so never bothered ringing them.

So months ago the Ford dealer had it for days and reckoned it needed fusebox replacement, asked them if they checked the mechanisms in all the doors and they said yes. A friend and I got some time to muck about with it this weekend just gone and we removed the plastic doorcard on one of the problem rear doors, unable to get the metal plate off though as it seems to be attached to the window regulator somehow and couldn't work out how to detach, the rear doors are manual winders not electric.

So with what we could get our hands on we disconnected the interior door handle and got some pliers on the end of the metal pull thread, gave it a yank and the door unlocks.

Problem looks to be mechanical then, too much slack on this metal thread, need to get the metal panel off to investigate the door latching part but as mentioned am not sure how to do that.

Even if it is still an electrical issue, fixing the doors manual unlocking by shortening the metal thread or reseating it (might have come off on the other doors) will do for me. Still suspect it might not be electrical however as when I press the unlock button I can hear something moving in all the doors, will investigate the mechanical aspect further. If anyone knows how to get the metal plate off these doors I'd appreciate the advice.

Also well done on the local Ford Dealer who were asked to open all doors and check the mechanisms, they didn't. Makes me wonder what they were doing all the days they had it.