Vauxhall Zafira central locking and electric window problem and fix

Hi,

Quick note to say I had a zafira with an almost identical problem -
and a solution.

It's an X reg vauxhall zafira with central locking and electric
windows:

The symptoms were the electric windows in the back didn't work, the
central locking in the back didn't work, the central locking on both
front doors was intermittant at best (the lock indicators would try to
move and then "give up". The fuel filler and boot locks always
worked, as did the indicators. Read this post if you have any of
these problems, as they're all related.

The problem was found to be three things:
Both the left and right back doors had broken conductors. To find out
if yours are broken, unplug the plug going into the door, and fully
detach and disassemble the black rubber hosing and plug. If the wires
are broken, it should be obvious - pull the conductors and see if you
find a broken end. They break about 50mm away from the plug. Mine
had 3 different wires broken in each door. To repair the wire you may
need to get more wire length by taking the cover off at foot level
next to each front seat. you can then un-tape some wires to get a
decent length to allow you to repair it.

The ends of the broken wires had then touched, which had caused a
large current to flow, which in my case caused a faliure in part of
the central locking / immobiliser / alarm control box. One of the
large current carrying conductors in there had got so hot it had
oxidised and was a high resistance - that was the cause of the locks
being intermittant and not having enough "oomph" to fully lock or
unlock. That control box is located under the cover just to the right
of the bonnet pull on the drivers side of the car. (on the right
hand drive model). The box had two connectors on which need to be
undone with a small screwdriver, and then the two halves of the box
can be unclipped. Check inside for any signs of anything getting
hot. In my case one circuit board track had flaked off the pcb.
Repair can be done by bridging the track with solder, or replacing it
with a wire. If you find this problem, make sure you also find
another short somewhere else in the car, or otherwise when you fix it
it'll last for a while till you next open the back door, the wires
short again, and it burns out again.

Obviously, if another combination of wires had shorted, something else
would break (you'd hope the fuse - but it could also be the window
switches, or maybe even the window winder motor if it's shorted "on")

For refrence (on the right hand drive model), the wires to the front
right door head down in a duct next to the driver seat, joining the
wires from the back right door, which then both go across the car, in
a double-skinned section of floor under the rear seat footwells, and
then comes forward again joining wires from the back left door, and
finally the front left door. then they disappear into some fairly big
multiplugs (~50 pins) to the left of\behind the glovebox and all go
seperate ways.

The conductors in the door connectors are two big power lines at the
bottom - brown is ground and red is permantly on 12V. The top row of
conductors on the plug seem to be todo with windows (up, down, enable
switches). The middle row is in general todo with locking the
locking.


I suspect this issue must affect a lot of people, because with the
wires on both doors of this particular car having broken, a lot of
others must have the same issue. If this post helps you, please reply
so others can benefit from the knowledge and so I know someone reads
these posts...

 

great post
well done!

 

Yep, thanks for the post, I had exactly the same problem on my wife's
X plate Zafira this week, checked the loom going into the door, ground
wire completely broken, 3 others nearly gone. Bit of a bugger
soldering the earth wire back together without taking the door
off :-/. I might try adding a seperate earth continuity strap between
the body & the door methinks.

 

Good to know it's helpful me posting info about things I've fixed - it
saves the next person finding out the same stuff the hard way.

It's possible to get a lot more wire length to allow easier repair by
taking off the internal cover inside the car in front of the pillar
and next to the front seat, and then removing the tape around the wire
bundle. There's enough spare length to be fairly easy to repair even
if you have to cut some wire out to repair it - you'll still need to
get the soldering iron on an extension lead though.

 

Top post again - I hadn't thought of trying that. I think I'll get
myself one of those little gas powered soldering irons before tackling
the offside loom on wifey's Zafira, saves messing about with a long
extension lead.