Central Locking! Help!

[Katiewatie]

A few weeks ago my driver side stopped unlocking on the remote and I had to open it manually via the lock. The passenger and boot still opened. I assumed it was the Battery in the fob and was just being lazy to be honest! However, today the fob has stopped working all the doors and when I open manually it only opens the drivers door and sometimes the boot! I now can't open the passenger at all even with the switch in the car :-/! Any ideas? / ideas of how much Toyota will charge to fix if it's not the fob?

[MikeSh]

If in the first part of your description the passenger door and boot still opened from the remote fob then it wasn't the fob/battery at fault. There is not a separate receiver for each door.

So probably a problem with the driver door rather than the central unit.

Now you either have a second unrelated fault, or the problem with the driver door has 'spread'. I'd put my money on the latter.

The driver door when locked/unlocked with the key should signal the central system to operate the other locks, so a problem with it could be preventing the central system working at all, maybe by sending a permanent lock signal (this is just hypothesis). If that is the problem just fixing the driver lock would sort it all out, but it might not be that or there may be other damage caused by that fault.

However - start cheap and first change the fob Battery (you can't be sure until you do it). Then, if that doesn't work, you'll need to get professional help. Cost from Toyota - horrible I should think. Parts could be fairly minor but more likely a complete door lock module of some sort - maybe £100. Couple of hours labour and some sundries like diaphragm sealant will add another £100+. Could be less or (a lot) more, so definitely worth getting an estimate before committing,

[Katiewatie]

Thanks so much for your reply! Off to get a new fob Battery shortly and having my fingers crossed for that! I guessed as much from Toyota!

I need it sorting as soon as possible but in the meantime is it possible that my drivers door could also fail completely and not open manually or should the lock in the door continue to open it?

[MikeSh]

... in the meantime is it possible that my drivers door could also fail completely and not open manually or should the lock in the door continue to open it?

Yes

and

Yes

AFAIK the key in the door operates the lock mechanically (like before we had central/remote locking), so no reason it should stop now.

BUT with the system in this somewhat strange state it's possible the electrical locking could 'fight' the key and prevent it unlocking the latch (or relock it as soon as it is unlocked). That will depend on the design of the system - one would hope the engineers took account of that scenario but ... ??

If the car is essential to your life you certainly shouldn't spend longer than necessary with faults in critical systems. (Same with batteries - it amazes me the number of people who try to eke out 'one more' winter with a dodgy Battery when they religiously change their oil when it's due.)

Any way, keep us posted on what you find out. It does sound a bit strange.