Slow Door CL Motor (Solved and partially fixed)

[Wychall]

When I activate the unlocking cycle on my central locking system all doors, bar 1, unlock immediately. The front passenger door however takes ages as the button inside slowly creeps up. OK only about 5 seconds delay but time is precious!
I have stripped and lubed the mechanism and the mechanical part of the motor. Also spun the motor irself whilst spraying with electrical cleaner. Bench testing (before and after clean) proved this to be the problem which cleaning solved.
However, a couple of weeks later, and back to slow operation. Any ideas?

[Mr Soft]

These posh folk with CL & big engines. Surely the big engine can make up the precious time!! ;-P
I presume that the mechanism is all straight, secure & true?
Earthing? But I guess you'll have checked this already, along with cable continuity?
Unless the motor is breaking down under load.

Probably very little use, but that would be what I would check.

Catch you soon.

Bob

[Wychall]

Thanks Bob. Another tear-down required I think. Last time it was still slow even on bench testing so the problem, whatever it is, must be internal to the actuator. Not sure whether you can lubricate electric motors?

[Mr Soft]

If they have no screws/bolts, then probably not. Will probably be sealed to prevent any water that may creep in from the 'electric' windows. Are all washers/spacers present in mechanism? May be causing a binding if they are missing. Good luck!

Bob

[Mr Soft]

Has a look in the Bentley manual & there only looks to be the motor, the mechanism & 3 cable sets (white, red, brown) Brown is earthed at earthing crown, red is live from fuse 23, so I guess white is your signal line. All of these go through various connectors within the door, so possibly a high resistance in one of the connections. But if still slow on the bench, looks more like a dodgy motor/mechanism.
All above is based on wiring for watercooled 1990 on models, not sure how different the SA buses are when it comes to the wiring!!

Bob

[tonytech]

http://www.pbase.com/tonytech/central_locking_images" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These images of the STD cl may help.
Once the motor gets a signal on one of the leads, power is applied to the motor through the rotating cog,
Make sure the contacts and the brass side of the cog are clean.

T

[Wychall]

Thanks, Both, for your comments.

I have had the CL unit totally dismantled (as per the pics) and cleaned all brass tracks within the body. The problem seems to be with the electric motor itself as it was spraying that with electrical cleaner that kicked it into action last time. As it has now reverted to snail mode I was wondering if some sort of lasting lubricant (WD40? Silicon?) could be used to keep it running better.

What are the views on that?

[Mr Soft]

From experience the silicon will leave a better/dryer finish for movement, but may attract dust & dirt. I find that WD40 seems to evapoate relatively quickly, thus losing the longer term lubrication. I would recommend GT85 as this seems to be in between a silicon & WD40, so will disperse moisture, but will leave a longer lasting coating than the WD. Also cheaper than WD40 & widely used in many industries, including Print, to combat high levels of dust where a build up would be detremental to the operation of moving parts. Have seen it for sale in Aldi & Halfwits. Will keep an eye open at work too!! ;-D

Bob

[Wychall]

Dismantled and located problem. It was full of water!

Now dried out, lubricated, and sealed so will hopefully stay dry. Operation is first rate now.
Perhaps need new scraper on the window to stop the water getting to the actuator in the first place.

[Mr Soft]