Chosen Solution
I have sometimes, the problem that some doors dont open. The Central locking system doesn’t open the door, but all others do. Usually it is the driver’s door that doesn’t open.The door can be opened manually with the key. Do I have a problem with a broken cable or I have a problem with the Central locking control unit?
I’ve had the same era of golf as this and the Passat and they both started doing the same thing after about 100K miles, the only thing the doors should do is pressing the unlock button once on the key fob should open the drivers door and twice in quick succession should open all doors (if programmed for this otherwise just once should open all). If they all open at some point and lock then I would say all the door mech’s will be fine and is probably an issue with the central locking and/or wiring. high mileage VW’s of this era are terrible for seals going and water getting into places and causing havoc with electrics all over the place. I would get the central locking system checked and make sure all the other electrics work fine on the car, any other issues with the electrics may lead you to the issue.
VW door locks have a small motor inside and microswitches which allow the controller to know if the door is open, closed as well as locked or unlocked. On high mileage cars, the locks can give problems. I have issues sometimes with the back doors on my 2013 Amarok. I have posted an answer here to someone else’s question. Maybe it will help you too. How do I get back passenger door to lock? The other option is to scan the onboard diagnostics for errors. There should be fault codes logged for all the problems on all of the various controller modules. If you use a decent tool, the codes should be able to tell you if it is the locks or the controller at fault. If you don’t have access to a diagnostic tool, it might be worth asking for a dealership to do a scan for you.
