Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Hi Guys,

I have recently had a new passenger door fitted to my 3 door 93 216GTi, and the bodyshop that fitted it used my original door handle and lock mechanism. Since it has come back from the bodyshop, everytime i unlock the passenger door or the boot with the key the alarm goes off. The drivers door is unaffected and unlocks on the key without the alarm sounding, and the central locking all works fine, its just i cant unlock the passenger door or the boot with the key without the alarm going off now.

I have heard of a microswitch that is fitted to the handle/door lock mechanism and was wondering whether this has anything to do with it, or is the microswitch purely for the central locking?

Any help on the matter would be most appreciated, as i dont want to take it back to the bodyshop to get it looked at as this isnt the only thing they have messed up on my car...

Cheers
Phil

If you lock the drivers door with the key does the central locking work?

I don't understand why you are locking the car with the alarm and then unlocking the passenger door and the boot with the key?

I think that the problem lies with the drivers door that doesn't sound the alarm. After all if you lock the vehicle using the fob, arm the alarm, should a thief turn up and try to pick the door locks, surely you would expect the alarm to go off?

There is a microswitch fitted to the side of each lock barrel and it detects the speed at which the barrel turns. Its purpose is to sound the alarm if the lock is picked or forced.

If this has been fitted incorrectly, the system is sensing that the door has been unlocked and opened without correct use of the key.

I don't have a circuit diagram to hand, but I would suspect that the switches are all 'daisy chained' (connected in series) which is why the tailgate lock is causing the same problem.

Regarding Tim (Teddy Bear)'s question, the system was designed to allow the tailgate to be opened using the key without the need for disarming the immobiliser. Probably for convenience.

Thanks for the replies chaps, much appreciated.

That makes sense with the microswitch then because the garage had the door handle and lock mechanism out when they changed the door, plus it was all working fine before they messed around with it. I cant seem to find much info on this microswitch in the Haynes manual or my genuine Rover repair manual, but hopefully it will be obvious when i see it.

To make matters worse the central locking on the same door now no longer works, coupled with a loud knocking noise when you close the door as though something is loose in the door skin. I can hear the locking motor working when i lock it from inside, but the interior lock button doesnt activate/drop. Im going to take the door card off soon and have a look at the door lock mechanism and connecting rods. The "garage" also kindly managed to break the speaker in the same door aswell, so i may aswell tackle the lot when the doorcard is off.

Teddy Bear, to answer you question on why i want to unlock the passenger door or tailgate when the car is locked is because my car hasnt got a key fob activated locking system, so when the car is centrally locked, in certain situations i have to use the key on the passenger door and the tailgate to get in to that particular door individually. Before i had the new door fitted i never had a problem doing this. This alarm problem only came to light when i unlocked the boot with the key as usual to put my little girls pushchair in one day and the alarm went off. I didnt think anything of it until the following week when i unlocked the passenger door with the key to get something off the passenger seat and the alarm went off again. Once the alarm goes off, it can be disarmed by unlocking then locking the drivers door lock as usual. The only time the alarm never goes off is when i use the drivers door lock luckily.

I'll try and whip the door card off in the next week or so and let you know what mess i find in there!

Cheers lads.

Had some spare time today, so i took the door card off to investigate the alarm issue, and 220GSI turbo hit the nail on the head as the microswitch was just hanging there in thin air not connected to anything. After popping it back on the mounting pegs next to the lock barrel the alarm is now all working properly, cheers mate!

The central locking issue appears to be a faulty actuator, as the actuator motor is working but its not pulling the lock rod up and down. Probably something snapped inside perhaps. Not going to tackle this as access is virtually impossible and it says in the manual that the window has to come out to change it, and im not confident in doing that!

As for the knocking noise in the door, that turned out to be a philips screwdriver and a 12mm socket floating about in the bottom of the door that the garage who fixed it kindly left me in there.

Thanks again for your help on the matter, it is much appreciated and makes it easier trying to keep an old Rover on the road when theres a forum like this.

Rover GTi wrote: The central locking issue appears to be a faulty actuator, as the actuator motor is working but its not pulling the lock rod up and down. Probably something snapped inside perhaps. Not going to tackle this as access is virtually impossible and it says in the manual that the window has to come out to change it, and im not confident in doing that!

Just this job myself and you don't have to do anything with the window mechanism, you just have to peel back the water-shedder and peer inside.

The actuator is fixed to the lock with 3 screws. Just needs a bit a careful reassembly.

Protect your forearm from 'self harm'

Cheers GTiJohn, its nice to know it can be tackled without having the window out as i have decided i can't continue without central locking for much longer

I see what you mean about 'self harm' as its a bit tight in there! Once ive sourced another actuator i'll have a bash at swapping it then. Once again, many thanks for your help.

Is this what you're after ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-200-19 ... 43c82797dd

NB. check the connector type

Hi John, many thanks for the tip off. That one looks slightly different to mine, and after searching through Rimmer Bros website it appears theres quite a few variants.

However, i might have a gamble on this one as it looks the same as mine:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281308574020? ... 1423.l2649

If the worst comes to the worst i'll try and take my original one out and see if i can repair it somehow.

That looks like the same connector as mine which is an M-reg.

Tenner? - go for it !