I recently fitted a new pump for my central locking and all was working fine for a few weeks.

However in the last few days the boot has started not locking and unlocking when it's set to do so with the central locking. What could be causing this? Is it likely to be a leak in the vacuum pipes or something different?

The boot will still lock and unlock as normal with the key. It's a late 6n.

Cheers

Matt

Edited 26 February, 201511 yr by mbusby993

I does sound like a vacuum related fault, but that would normally throw up main locking problems

It's only doing it intermittently at the moment, and so far it's only the boot lock that's affected. When I have a dry day off I'll pull the tailgate trim off and check the condition of the hoses.

When I unloaded the car after we got back today the boot was working fine again. Its very on/off at the moment.

From my distant memory, the key position has an effect on the boot c/locking, if it's removed in the upright position it will only lock/unlock by the key or if it's removed in the horizontal position then the C/locking works, or it might be the other way around, it's a few years since I had my 6N :(

It's the up position that sets it to work with the central locking and that's what it's been set in. But intermittently it decides that it you unlock the car, the boot will stay locked. Its strange and I can't work out why.

Every now and then when I lock or unlock the car the pump will make its usual noise, and then after a while make a kind of tapping noise for a few seconds.

Edited 26 February, 201511 yr by mbusby993

It could be the locking unit has failed internally but still holds a good vacuum, hence it doesn't show up as normal locking fault

The locking unit in the tailgate?

I'm not sure if the tailgate lock is the original one , as it looks like it's been taken from another car and badly repainted. Which is possible, but they have to have changed the barrel surely as my key still works?

Yep the unit in the boot lid, if you pop the cover off you'll see how the vacuum actuator works on the locking barrel, it's a nice bit of engineering :) it could be it's holding the vacuum but not actuating the locking mechanism

Okay, thank you. I'll pop that off and have a look when I have a free 5 minutes. :)

Sometimes the internals just need a bit of freeing up with WD40 (especially at this age). Lubricate liberally and wipe off any excess when you remove the trim panel to the tailgate.

PoloD.

Hi I'm new to the forum. But my boot lock completley went a month ago. I took the broken one off with a torx and replaced it with a new one. But then I had the same problem where my boot wouldn't lock or unlock. So I took the tailgate interior trim off and found that the solonoid had come loose. So there should be a white box which pushes the lock and that obviously opens it. So I searched it up myself what the best thing to do was. And I found that the bolts had come loose but they are abit of an arsE to put back in but if you go to b&q you can get replacement bolts but longer that you can put in from the more accessible side.

Hope that helps in some way

I find this website comes in handy sometimes too. More for the older polos but it's pretty similar

http://www.subcoman.com/volkswagen_polo-3.html

Good information, thanks mate. :)

Not sure if mine will be the same as yours is a 9n and mine is a 6n, but if it turns out to be similar at least I know that's something to try!

That's alright glad I could be of some help. I might have some photos so if I can dig them out I will upload them

The 9N onwards uses an electric motor for the locking whereas the 6N & 6N2's use a vacuum system, so the locking units are totally different

I had a feeling they might be! I'm gonna try getting the trim off, having a look to see if anything is immediately obvious and try to free up the internals

The vacuum actuator rod operates on to a cam unit so it might be that cam unit needs oil/greasing as its made of nasty mazac metal that suffered with white corrosion so you might need to spray it with some penetrating oil first to free it off

The tailgate trim is held with a single screw in the handle and then it just unclips from the bottom with a heafty pull:-)

I'll have a crack at it on Monday I think, when I've got a day off.

Cheers Nige :)

Just to add - a single bolt in each handle recess and so two To remove in total!

PoloD.

Just to add - a single bolt in each handle recess and so two To remove in total!

PoloD.

Only on the 6N2, 6N only has one grab handle recess