I suspect the wires that power the locks in the front doors are faulty. I think
they run through the door jam , inside that protector rubber tube. You can pull
back this rubber tube and inspect for cracks in the wires.

Ken Madsen
87GL
87 Golf Diesel
95 Jetta GLX

"Penberthy, Thomas" wrote:

> Hi Volks,
>
> I'm about to declare red alert. Previously I stated that my van, Marlin, had
> electrical "gremlins."
>
> Well, Petunia, those cute little gremlins have grown up and become ugly ol'
> demons.
>
> When I bought Marlin, the power locks were a little funky. First the
> passenger door wouldn't react (lock or unlock) when I used the key on the
> driver's door. This was easy to ignore, as all the other doors were fine.
>
> Next I notice a v-e-r-y slow response time from the sliding door when I
> unlocked any door. As in up to 1 minute. Also easy to ignore, really. Just
> lock it first and the others would follow.
>
> Next whenever I locked the driver's door BEFORE the passenger door, it
> wouldn't stay locked. The little knob would just pop back up. Now that I was
> on a roll, I figured out that if I always lock the passenger door first,
> this was also easy to ignore.
>
> You might be getting the idea that I'm a procrastinator. You'd be right on
> that one.
>
> Now, though, the sliding door simply won't stay locked. I turn the key in
> the sliding door and it's like there's a spring action: I hear it click
> locked (and see the little lever slide down if I look) but when I turn the
> key back to take it out, it unlocks.
>
> My feeling now is that I should just buy new mechanisms for all three doors
> and be done with it.
>
> Any cheaper ideas?
>
> Thank you once again.
>
> Tom
>
> (Marlin - 89 Westy GL)