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I went through the entire central locking system over the last two days with the help of numerous posts on this board and was able to fully repair my broken system. I wanted to thank anyone who contributed to the aforementioned posts and invite anyone who can add to this or correct me in this post. I thought that it would be helpful to have most of the info on these problems consolidated in one thread.
First, the problem was that the system blew fuse #16 (15A) when central locking was activated and I could only open the driver's door-none of the locks could be activated via the keys, and I never did have a chance to check the center console switches in the early stages of investigating this problem.
I went for the central locking module under the drivers side dash and replaced it with another one. Same problem. I assume that if you can hear the module clicking when you turn the keys (whether the fuse is blown or not), it should be okay... Regardless, I have heard of other people reflowing the solder on the connections on the board inside of the central locking module because of cold solder joints. I don't think that this was the case here, but I did it anyway. Same problem though afterwards, so on I looked...
Next, I checked the center console switches. I could also hear them activating the module, and blew a few fuses checking them out. They worked, and all of the locks worked, but each time the fuse blew. So, the center console switches worked fine after all.
Next, I thought that the lock mechanisms in the doors were all cruddy and presented too much of a force on the actuators to move them. Off came the door panel on all four doors. I lubed all of the mechanisms. The fronts were a little bit cruddier than the others, but none too bad. They were working pretty well though and didn't present such a force that I thought they did to the actuators. A side note: The rear doors have a much longer and more complicated lever system to move the locks from the door "lock thumbs" (you know, the things that you pull to unlock and push to lock on every car door before central locking was invented... : ), so it takes more force to move those locks than the front ones which are pretty straightforward. In other words, don't be worried too much if the rear locks are harder to open or close than the fronts.
When I got to the passenger side door panel off, the plastic ball joint had fallen off of the door handle lock tumbler, not allowing the key to even open the door. I had found the first thing that was wrong all day! I took the handle off anyway to check the thing that I thought was wrong before that-the microswitches in the lock tumblers in the front doors.
These microswitches are interesting little black box type attachments that clamp/snap on the actual lock tumber, have a white wire coming from switch itself to cluster of wire connectors in the middle of each door, and have a mini-toggle switch inside of them which is activated when the key turns either way. They send their signal to the central locking module to tell it to unlock or lock all of the doors. You can test it without taking the handle off of the door. Disconnect the square connector that has the white wire bundle coming from the handle area. It is easy to find, as it has a yellow, black and red wire coming out of it into the white wire bundle. Hook a multimeter up to it, set it on the 1K ohm setting, and try the three possible combinations of wires. It doesn't matter where you start, but I believe that the red and yellow wires send the "unlock" signal, and the red and black wires send the "lock" signal. I might be a little off on the wires, but there are only three combinations, and you will find out easily enough if the microswitch is intact and working. I bought a spare handle and found the microswitch to be broken (the little toggle breaks of of the switch), but both switches in my car were working.
Now, back to the passenger side handle lock which I had found to be inoperable. I found that the tumbler had partially pieced itself out and the remains were lying in the bottom of the door, and one still attached to the plastic ball joint which lets the key physically unlock or lock the door. While the handle was out, I cleaned out the grime in both tumblers and put the passenger side one back together. They are not hard to take apart or put back together. Use the working one as a guide.
When everything was replaced, I prayed, waited, waited some more, prayed more, and turned the key. Everything worked. I took the fuse out, expecting it to have blown. It wasn't. I turned the key again and again and the whole thing worked like new. Better than before, actually.
I hope this helps anyone trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with their central locking system. I don't think it will be the solution to every problem, but this information is really just a consolidated source of answers from all of the other various posts over the last couple years. Mainly, I would try to diagnose this problem starting at the central locking module (perhaps you might try reflowing the solder on the connectors-don't fry it though!), then the microswitches, then the center console switch (that should be more obvious though), then lubricating all of the mechanisms and checking for disconnected parts and other mechanical issues in that area. Chafed wires between the microswitches and the central locking module are also a possibility, but I didn't find any and it seems that Saab did a good job protecting them. Also, someone said that the system ground (probably for a lot of other things too) is located in the same area that the left front 3 1/2" speaker is in the dash. Mine was fine, and it seems unlikely that this could jar loose. It's a pretty big wire attached solidly to the A pillar. At the end of the list for me, but perhaps at the top of the list for you, the door actuators make up the other major part of the central locking system. I'm sure that I missed something, so anyone who can correct me or add to this collected info is welcome to. Thank you all for your help! I hope that this might be useful for someone running into the same problem without having to chase responses all of the board.
Best,
Ian
posted by 66.31.166...
, Mon, 5 Jul 2010 10:50:34
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