Looking for opinions on what the problem is…

Driver’s door – soft close stopped working a few months ago. It had been working fine to that point, and soft close works fine on all other doors. Locking also works fine on all doors. But now, when I open the driver’s door, after a second or two I can hear the lock mechanism "activate" and do something…almost like it’s trying to lock or soft close. Then a pause, and another mechanical sound. There are two distinct mechanical noises, one after the other, that sound like a motor is trying to do something. Like I said it sounds like it’s trying to lock, or unlock, or soft close.

As you will see the fault codes were not consistent - first they were there, then they went away for a couple of months, and now they are back.

Here is the VCDS readout for 42 - Driver’s Door – all other controller codes are fault-free (amazingly enough):

June 18:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 42: Door Elect, Driver Labels: 4E1-910-802-42.lbl
Part No SW: 4E1 910 802 B HW: 4E1 959 801 B
Component: Türsteuer.FS BRMH01 0060
Coding: 0032364
Shop #: WSC 02311 785 00200
VCID: 204F9F8AF36D443E5E-8074

1 Fault Found:
01332 - Door Control Module; Passenger Side (J387)
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100100
Fault Priority: 4
Fault Frequency: 0
Reset counter: 104
Mileage: 160352 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2016.06.18
Time: 11:57:52

August 5:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 42: Door Elect, Driver Labels: 4E1-910-802-42.lbl
Part No SW: 4E1 910 802 B HW: 4E1 959 801 B
Component: Türsteuer.FS BRMH01 0060
Coding: 0032364
Shop #: WSC 02311 785 00200
VCID: 204F9F8AF36D444280-8074

1 Fault Found:
01332 - Door Control Module; Passenger Side (J387)
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100100
Fault Priority: 4
Fault Frequency: 2
Reset counter: 155
Mileage: 161392 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2016.08.05
Time: 17:49:48

Sept. 2, Sept 9, Oct 4:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 42: Door Elect, Driver Labels: 4E1-910-802-42.lbl
Part No SW: 4E1 910 802 B HW: 4E1 959 801 B
Component: Türsteuer.FS BRMH01 0060
Coding: 0032364
Shop #: WSC 02311 785 00200
VCID: 204F9F8AF36D444280-8074

No fault code found.


Oct 30:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 42: Door Elect, Driver Labels: 4E1-910-802-42.lbl
Part No SW: 4E1 910 802 B HW: 4E1 959 801 B
Component: Türsteuer.FS BRMH01 0060
Coding: 0032364
Shop #: WSC 02311 785 00200
VCID: 204F9F8AF36D44429C-8074

1 Fault Found:
02126 - Central Locking Button; Exterior Door Handle
008 - Implausible Signal
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01101000
Fault Priority: 3
Fault Frequency: 0
Reset counter: 188
Mileage: 163792 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2016.10.30
Time: 15:17:30
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The central door locking button has always worked fine on both doors, as far as I know...and I just now checked it again.

One other thing – I vaguely remember hearing something happen inside the driver's door around the time this started – like something fell to the bottom inside the door. I am wondering if part of the soft close micro switch in the door latch mechanism might have broken? Before I dig into the door I thought I would poll the group for opinions on this. Thanks in advance.

 

I had a similiar problem. did not hear anything drop like you, but soft close stopped working and I would hear noises.

I used Vag-com to turn off the soft close on my drivers door and the sound has stopped. May not be the same for you but try that.

I decided to not fix the soft close

 

I couldn't diagnose w/ precision, especially over Internet and also only having to fix it myself once. Dealer dealt with it otherwise under 4/50 snd then CPO.

But, punchline is there is basically one part assembly in there as far as what you can do. The microswitch is part of the latch assembly, which is one of the common failure points. The function either works or it doesn't, and if not you replace as an assembly. Then you either try used route (I'm too old for that now...) or get one from dealer. In my case, audiusaparts.com, discounted and then also confirmed by VIN to avoid getting burned w/ door open and wrong part nightmares.

 

Just replace the door latch and all will be fine again.

A year ago the soft close stopped working on the drivers door so I replaced the latch. All was good after that. 3 months ago the passenger door soft close stopped working. Did the same thing.

 

Finally got around to replacing the door latch yesterday. Soft close works again. Re-ran VCDS and the door is error-free. The door latch even has a different, newer feel to it - hard to describe. Bottom line great results. In the meantime I have started getting similar VCDS errors with the passenger door. So I think I will replace the passenger door latch (Jim Ellis is having a sale, 25% off - why not).

 

Where did you see the 25% off sale.?


I think ellis audi parts are always 25% off list.

 

I got an email from them earlier this week - spring clearance sale. All parts in stock "up to" 25% off. Maybe I fell for the oldest trick in the sales book - advertise your regular prices as sale prices?

You may be right though, because I ordered the passenger latch, at 25% off, but they were out of stock and had to expedite from Germany....still got 25% off even though they didn't actually have it in stock. And it was still cheaper than anywhere else I looked.

 

(read time consuming and aggravating) was the R&R ? And what is the cost of a hew latch ?

 

New driver's latch was about $220. I just ordered a new passenger side latch, for $250. Not exactly cheap but I don't see the point in putting in a used one since these seem problematic after 10 years or so.

The R&R took me about 5 hours first time through. A lot of that was learning curve with the inner aluminum "bulkhead,", detaching the window and then figuring out how the latch is physically attached to the handle. Then, it turned out I had left the little red shipping pin in the latch...so after reassembly, the door handle would not work. So apart it all came again. Second time through, I had the latch out in under an hour. Ended up doing the job twice in one day. But that gave me the confidence to plan to replace passenger side.

If you've never opened up the door before, I would say allow at least half a day.

 

Just replaced the passenger side latch. With the learning curve from the driver's side behind me, it took about 2-3 hours start to finish, taking my time and allowing for the unexpected like door clips breaking etc. Like the drivers door, now soft close works on the passenger door again.