Urgent HELP Doors wont lock

[Brianmoooore]

D-O T-H-E R-E-D/B-L-A-C-K W-I-R-E M-O-D-I-F-IC-A-T-I-O-N!

[Alex]

D-O T-H-E R-E-D/B-L-A-C-K W-I-R-E M-O-D-I-F-IC-A-T-I-O-N!

so i need to do the red wire mod now it works is it a faulty wire ?

[Bally]

Thanks Mr Mooooore
had problems suddeenly alarm fob would not operate door locks did the famous red black wire mod and it sorted it out, felt wierd as i cut the wires and i did not know what I was doing , soldered joint taped it up , and it all works , did it in 20 mins treated myselt to a large JD to celebrate thanks brian

[Brianmoooore]

D-O T-H-E R-E-D/B-L-A-C-K W-I-R-E M-O-D-I-F-IC-A-T-I-O-N!

so i need to do the red wire mod now it works is it a faulty wire ?

Chances are that the locking will fail again, with the cause probably being the red/black wires, and modifying the red/black wire arrangements greatly reduces the chances of corrosion occurring in the driver's door plug and socket, affecting other functions.

[tailoutcharlie]

D-O T-H-E R-E-D/B-L-A-C-K W-I-R-E M-O-D-I-F-IC-A-T-I-O-N!

so i need to do the red wire mod now it works is it a faulty wire ?

i have two locking ecus here mate but for gods sake do the red black thing first!

[Alex]

so im looking for a red and a black wire going throught the drivers door and i just cut them and join them

[Brianmoooore]

You are looking for two identical wires, both red with black stripes, that go to the back of the door pillar socket that you can see through the speaker hole.
Apparently, some E30s also have a third, thinner red/black wire, which is normally red/brown. Don't cut this one!

[Alex]

cheers

[tailoutcharlie]

the reason if you wanna know is apparently, BMW for reasons know only to them routed this wire into the door and straight back out again without doing anything. as it has a constant current going through it it corrodes over time.

thats how i understand it, prepare to be corrected by brian

[bigbird76]

Glad you didnt pull out the connector on the door i did and my connector is SH*GG*D !!

So dont pull out unless its vital!!

All my pins look like this






And connector notice rotten green that brianmoooore is on about



Zimmer is hopefully going to help me

so far i need new connector which is about £5 + 21 female pins and 21 Male pins

Total cost is £Â£Ã‚£Ã‚£

[Brianmoooore]

You only need to fit around twelve pins to the average E30, to work the windows, central locking and mirrors.

[bigbird76]

You only need to fit around twelve pins to the average E30, to work the windows, central locking and mirrors.

19 wires in myne i dont know what they are for though if you only need 12

The round connector above i ripped out i think it was part of original bmw alarm i have 2 locks on drivers side these wires were running to that.

Leigh

[flugel]

I did the red/black wire mod, and was feeling confident as I heard a nice "click" from under the dash as the 2 wires were connected. No joy, if I re-connect the door servo into its slots (even loose), the key will not lock the doors, there is a click from the dash as if the c/l is trying to work, but no action at the locks. So everything is fine with the servo loose, but no c/l, maybe will have to live without?

[Brianmoooore]

The red/black wire mod. is the first thing to do with any central locking fault. In a large number of cases, it will provide a complete and permanent cure, but in a minority of cases it's only part of the cure.
Whatever is wrong with your central locking, we can sort it! Absolutely, definitely - no ifs or buts!
Next point is; this appears to be your first post in this thread. I have absolutely no idea what your locking problems are, other than you seem to have a lock that is dead locked.
It gets very confusing when people join an existing thread with what they consider to be similar problems, as I totaly loose track of whose symptoms are what, and who has performed certain tests or replaced relevant parts.
If you have a similar problem (and by you, I mean ALL of you out there!) read through threads that appear to be relevant and try what is suggested, but if you get stuck, please start a new thread of your own!

[flugel]

Sorry about the confusion, not yet used to forums so I'm sure I have caused the problem.
I actually starded this thread re a lock problem but things seem to have been sidetracked as you say.My problem was a drivers door that wouldn't lock with the key. Have solved things by disconnecting the servo from the door slots, so the key works fine now, but no c/l. If I reconnect the servo to the door, there is a "click" from behind the steering wheel when the locks are operated manually, but the key is fighting against the servo and won't lock the doors.

[tailoutcharlie]

Sorry about the confusion, not yet used to forums so I'm sure I have caused the problem.
I actually starded this thread re a lock problem but things seem to have been sidetracked as you say.My problem was a drivers door that wouldn't lock with the key. Have solved things by disconnecting the servo from the door slots, so the key works fine now, but no c/l. If I reconnect the servo to the door, there is a "click" from behind the steering wheel when the locks are operated manually, but the key is fighting against the servo and won't lock the doors.

sounds like a mullered servo to me, but like Brian said, click on search in top left and put in 'central locking'. you should find LOTS of threads about it. try some of those ideas first. its a really common prob and just about every different way of fixing it has been done before

[teatime39]

sorry to be a div but how do i do the red/black wire modification, I've looked in the forums and cant find it ( I'm very green on this site) plus when i plugged my central locking control unit in it got really hot(i think its the thermal fuse ) . i bridged the blue with the red and black ,nothing , did the same with the white nothing , also when im told to bride to ground does that mean to any part of metal of the body ,,,

[teatime39]

in the photo above you have a grey cable with a 14 pin female plg on it as do i however you also have the male side to plug together ,what is that for as i do not have the male plug side ,,,, thanks

[tailoutcharlie]

sorry to be a div but how do i do the red/black wire modification, I've looked in the forums and cant find it ( I'm very green on this site) plus when i plugged my central locking control unit in it got really hot(i think its the thermal fuse ) . i bridged the blue with the red and black ,nothing , did the same with the white nothing , also when im told to bride to ground does that mean to any part of metal of the body ,,,

1-click on the word search, top right, inbetween usergroups and forum faq.

2-where it says 'search for keywords' write EXACTLEY this...
'red AND black wire'

3-where its says 'author' put in Brianmoooores name, with the correct amount of 'o's.

4-click 'search'.

5-read as many of the threads as you can and in one of them you will find the procedure.

[Brianmoooore]

If I reconnect the servo to the door, there is a "click" from behind the steering wheel when the locks are operated manually, but the key is fighting against the servo and won't lock the doors.

Can you pull the locking motor up and down by hand (when it's not connected to anything) ?

[martletE30]

Glad you didnt pull out the connector on the door i did and my connector is SH*GG*D !!

So dont pull out unless its vital!!

All my pins look like this






And connector notice rotten green that brianmoooore is on about



Zimmer is hopefully going to help me

so far i need new connector which is about £5 + 21 female pins and 21 Male pins

Total cost is £Â£Ã‚£Ã‚£

So, do you have any progress to report on this? Did you completely replace both parts of the plastic connector, and all the pins?

I have some bad connections through the connector, and have completed the Red & Black mod, which partially solves some of my central locking problems, but I know I have a poor connection for the pin (I think #1) for the Mirrors. Is it possible to replace just the male and female pin for this wire?