Central locking on habitation door (1 Viewer)

Jun 12, 2014
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Central locking doesn't work on habitation door. Just wondered if anybody else has experienced the same and what they did to sort apart from going back to the dealer. This is the second van that I know that this has happened to in the first year of its life.
 

Blue Knight

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Central locking doesn't work on habitation door. Just wondered if anybody else has experienced the same and what they did to sort apart from going back to the dealer. This is the second van that I know that this has happened to in the first year of its life.

Can you hear any sound coming from the actuator or is just the front doors that you can hear operating when you click the button.

Edit: Which model?
 
Oct 15, 2012
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C Class Laika Ecovip 7R
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This happened to last two years ago, the wire loam from the lock to the body of the van became weak. Had it replaced by a local Auto electrical garage.
 
Apr 12, 2013
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Shrewsbury
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Carthago 144
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12
I have the same problem at the moment central locking not working on habitation door , no noise from door lock. stripped door apart checked wiring , done continuity tests all looks ok but cant resolve it.
Alarm isn't working either , checked door switch but that's ok. at a bit of a loss at present.
 
Oct 20, 2010
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Burry Port South Wales
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A Class
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Since 2003
A common problem, normally sheared wires in the cable at the base of the door, linking the door to the frame. On my Hartal door it was the green and white wires that operated the central locking actuator. If you can check the continuity from the cable at the frame to the actuator it may help.
Cheers
Ed

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TerryL

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Mar 5, 2010
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When I stripped my habitation door I found the wires to the lock were only just long enough and came off as soon as I started to remove the panel. Bit of a fiddle putting them back on and getting them the right way round. Are yours back on properly?
 
Oct 30, 2010
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If your door connects to the frame via a couple of contacts (see picture) rather than a cable the contacts get dirty.
I regularly have to clean mine, just a drop of meths or similar on a cloth.
Don't be tempted to use anything that might take the chrome surface off as it will continually corrode and make matters worse.
IMG_2850.jpg
 
OP
OP
K
Jun 12, 2014
39
45
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Since1982
Thanks to all for your replies, all of which make sense. Took the four screws holding the two double connectors of the door and behold the bottom one fell out of the door. The two wires, green and white had both come apart from the connector leaving the brass ends still in the connector(if that makes sense). I just stripped the insulation back a bit after pulling gently on the wires as there is only about 3 inches to play with, and reconnected them. When I replaced the whole connector, I made her to leave a bit of slack as I think the wires were too tight an the continual opening and closing of the door led to the wires being twisted to such an extent that they eventually sheared. Anyway all is now working again
Cheers all.

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Blue Knight

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This happened to us yesterday so I had to make an emergency fix while in the main car park at Fort William. The green wire had snapped off from its main connection.

If the manufacturer had used approximately 10mm more of wire then it would have been OK.

20180907_125201(0).jpg
 

Blue Knight

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After doing the emergency repair in the Fort William carpark the other day I tried the CL system this morning and it didn't work.

I took out the unit and now it seems the white wire has come undone.

Bad luck or what chaps (n)

20180913_174234.jpg

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Blue Knight

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Aug 7, 2017
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Chaps, if like me you find that the white and green wires have come undone behind the lower two silver door contacts then strip the door panel back and you'll find an extra 200mm of wire to play with.

See below - this is the hab door with its grey trim removed.

20180924_141624.jpg


2. This next pic shows the amount of extra available wire (green, white, brown and red) which supplies the four spring loaded door contacts - as you can see it is wound-up tightly and this is what creates the tension on the green and white wires at the contact side.

20180924_141611.jpg


3. Unravel the wire and then pull it through (very easy) from the contact-side.

20180924_142003.jpg


4. The extra length of wire produced from this procedure can be seen below:

20180924_142107.jpg


5. Note: The green and white wires break when the door contacts are continually pressed during the opening and closing of the door; I.e. they become worn and snap at the point where they are attached to the spring loaded door contacts.

I hope this will be of use to someone.

Cheers,

Andrew
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
K
Jun 12, 2014
39
45
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Low profile
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Since1982
Nice one Andrew. I''ve found that Pilote seem to have plenty of cabling, but it is coiled up under cabinets and in the back of stuff, rather than leaving a decent amount showing at connections. Same with pipework, you only need to look under fridge where pump is to see a lot of spare pipe, but at the tap end of the bathhroom sink eg, nothing to come and go with.
 

DuxDeluxe

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Jul 10, 2008
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A common problem, normally sheared wires in the cable at the base of the door, linking the door to the frame. On my Hartal door it was the green and white wires that operated the central locking actuator. If you can check the continuity from the cable at the frame to the actuator it may help.
Cheers
Ed
Yes, I noticed the sheathing becoming worn on my last Pilote and resheathed it with self amalgamating tape before it became an issue. A poor bit of Hartal design

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DuxDeluxe

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Chaps, if like me you find that the white and green wires have come undone behind the lower two silver door contacts then strip the door panel back and you'll find an extra 200mm of wire to play with.

See below - this is the hab door with its grey trim removed.

View attachment 257675

2. This next pic shows the amount of extra available wire (green, white, brown and red) which supplies the four spring loaded door contacts - as you can see it is wound-up tightly and this is what creates the tension on the green and white wires at the contact side.

View attachment 257676

3. Unravel the wire and then pull it through (very easy) from the contact-side.

View attachment 257677

4. The extra length of wire produced from this procedure can be seen below:

View attachment 257678

5. Note: The green and white wires break when the door contacts are continually pressed during the opening and closing of the door; I.e. they become worn and snap at the point where they are attached to the spring loaded door contacts.

I hope this will be of use to someone.

Cheers,

Andrew
Very informative. Thanks for posting (y)
 

Blue Knight

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Aug 7, 2017
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Nice one Andrew. I''ve found that Pilote seem to have plenty of cabling, but it is coiled up under cabinets and in the back of stuff, rather than leaving a decent amount showing at connections. Same with pipework, you only need to look under fridge where pump is to see a lot of spare pipe, but at the tap end of the bathhroom sink eg, nothing to come and go with.

That's a really good point you make. I've not thought of that until you mentioned it - the water piping lengths under the fridge seem quite excessive but I suppose it's best to have too much than too little.:D
 
OP
OP
K
Jun 12, 2014
39
45
Fife
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Low profile
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Since1982
That's a really good point you make. I've not thought of that until you mentioned it - the water piping lengths under the fridge seem quite excessive but I suppose it's best to have too much than too little.:D
Definitely, but remember there is no such thing as the perfect motor home!!

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Jan 19, 2014
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Glad ours hasn't got it. Seems the weak point is the contacts. I wonder if you could remove them and replace them with a loop of wire, after all car manufacturers feed power to the electric windows this way and there are no problems. Just a thought (y)
 

Abacist

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Oct 15, 2013
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Ours had a dodgy door lock before we collected it by all accounts. The dealer had to have the door re-wired and we were shown that the wire had been getting pinched in the door when it was closed and eventually one of the wires broke.
 
Aug 6, 2013
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Glad ours hasn't got it. Seems the weak point is the contacts. I wonder if you could remove them and replace them with a loop of wire, after all car manufacturers feed power to the electric windows this way and there are no problems. Just a thought (y)
You could do that but there's less space in the hinge recess for a cable loop than there is on a car. Using very flexible cable for the last few inches to the contact plungers would work too - say 3" of coax shield in heatshrink or perhaps a similar length of heavy speaker cable. Whatever the connection support for the cable as it leaves the contact plunger would also help - maybe a couple of inches of plastic tube over the rear of the plunger & the first inch or two of wiring. Vaseline will prevent corrosion of the door contacts.

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Justamil

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Aug 20, 2017
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Low line Coachbuilt
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Hi Andrew,

I’m another satisfied recipient of your information. Another Pilote Hartel door, two years old. I was a bit tardy in fixing it as it failed after 18 months.

Thanks again.

Paul
 

Blue Knight

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Aug 7, 2017
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Hi Andrew,

I’m another satisfied recipient of your information. Another Pilote Hartel door, two years old. I was a bit tardy in fixing it as it failed after 18 months.

Thanks again.

Paul

That's great news Paul - I'm just pleased that my pics were of some use sir.

All the best,

Andrew
 
Aug 6, 2013
11,941
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That's great news Paul - I'm just pleased that my pics were of some use sir.

All the best,

Andrew
An addition to @Blue Knight s excellent info: fit heatshrink over the end of the plunger and the first couple of inches of wire to stop the bending from occuring next to the connection.

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Jun 17, 2015
265
434
Portsmouth
Funster No
36,836
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Pilote G740
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July 2015 plus 20 years of camping
Thanks for this thread. I had this issue on my first trip away in the new van. Was able to fix it in France with a few basic tools thanks to the pics.👍
 

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