Central locking went bananas!

Hi all, I went out to my Rivage today ,that has been under a cover on my drive for a few months now, reconnected the battery and the central locking went nuts! Usually when I reconnect the battery it jumps up and down a few times and then all is good, but it won't stop going up and down like the clappers. I've had a look at the wiring in the passenger door and it looks fine, not had a chance to look at the drivers door as the weather looks suspect. I checked the fuses and they are all fine.

What should I check next?

Is a genuine VW air system or an electric solenoid one Bob ?

It's an electric kit linked to the alarm. After I disconnected the passenger solenoid the drivers one stopped gong balistic. I presumed that the passenger one was the master solenoid. The immobiliser worked fine and the car started. 

Oops double post

Sometimes they are master slave and other times master master.

Could you operate the central locking from either door with the key ? If so then it is master master.

The micro switches in the solenoids corrode and cause what you have seen. You can separate  them and replace the switches but the kits are so cheap it is not worth the time and effort.

Do you know where I can get a decent replacement from? I don't like the look of those "Universal" kits on eBay 

Only ever fitted the eBay universal ones mate

But always got the master master ones, they take a bit more finding though

rclik kits are the best quality aftermarket kits ive used, but they're all much of a muchness really no matter what kit you get. ive only had to replace one master in my mk2 after nearly 10 years of ownership so they not that great but also not too bad

New master arrived and fitted but exactly the same problem persists

Will have to take the drivers door apart next and have a look in there.

could be a chafed wire in the loom or you didnt quite get the wires right, it can happen if the locked and unlocked position wires/switches are duff or switched round

if you're still getting this issue it could be because there isn't enough travel on the solenoid and the five wire (master) unit is continually trying to open as it's not given itself the 'open' signal.

The five wire systems are really simple once explained. The motor basically drives open in one polarity, then the opposite when reversed. The additional three wires is basically a limit switch. A common, an 'open/up' closed when up, and a 'closed/down' closed when down signal. If the central locking system isn't getting this signal, it'll keep trying until something breaks or burns out.

To rectify, the connection to the operating link (often tied into the actual door button via very small grub screw connection) has become loose or moved.  I really disliked these connections to the push rods, so I started taking the solenoid connection direct into the door lock, using the lever that holds the door button.  it's a very reliable means to providing this type of locking. Then its the position of the solenoid that ensures the correct solenoid travel is achieved.

If you followed that then, well done. It is a very simple operation once shown and I've experienced your very issue as you describe. Moving the components to allow full 'up' and full 'down' is probably the key to resolving your issue.

just to add, if you want to hook it direct to the lever mk2 golf ones always have the extra hole for central locking and fit mk1 lock blocks

when fitting you need to remove the lock block from the door and slip it on the pin then refit, there is a flared out base that stops it falling off once fitted. if you put it on from inside the door the flare will be on the inside of the skin and so wont help. and they will fall off, from personal experience

I'm using those mk2 levers, they work very well.

I'm still waiting for 2nd 5 wire solenoid to arrive. The company I bought them off sent me 4 rolls of loom tape instead.

Is there any difference in the 2 original solenoids? The wires were a different colour combination? I've had to buy 2 of the same soleniods, hopeing that I could use them both.

they all work the same its just a case of decoding the wire colours as the old units dont match up to the new style wire colouring.

you have an earth, lock pulse, unlock pulse, lock position and unlock position.

the lock/unlock position are earthed when triggered, lock and unlock pulse pop the actuator when you put 12v to them. if you get the lock/unlock pulse and lock/unlock position mismatched the actuator will go mental as you have found!

the cl brain triggers the actuator to lock, then instead of lock position signal it sees an unlock signal from actuator and then sends unlock pulse, then instead of unlock position it sees lock position and so sends a lock pulse. repeat ad infinitum