Electric sliding door not closing after a short period

[TallPaul_S]

My passenger side, full electric sliding door (Caravelle) has a quirk - after being open for a minute or so, it "whirrs" - same noise as the soft close motor makes if I turn off the electric part and close the door by hand - and then it won't close by pulling either the inside or outside handle, until press unlock on the key fob, when I closes electrically, as normal. If the electric function is turned off, the soft close motor also doesn't work, the only way to close it without unlocking again is to slam it manually, which is tricky with the electric doors.

Only the passenger side does this, drivers side can be open for ages and still closes normally.

Any ideas? It's not a massive issue but as I'm using the passenger side door as the main rear door now, it can be a bit irritating to have to re-unlock the van to get the door to close.

There's nothing flashing on the dash when you're happens either.

 

[roadtripper]

It sounds like the soft close is activating.

The soft close is really just the normal latch held out a bit, the door or tailgate closes and locks on it and then the servo pulls the latch fully in.

So I think your latch is doing that final bit without the door locking on to it, in which case it will behave like a manual close. Unlocking will reset it into the out unlocked position.

I'd be looking at the switch that detects that something has locked on to the latch as that may be failing?

 

[TallPaul_S]

It sounds like the soft close is activating.

The soft close is really just the normal latch held out a bit, the door or tailgate closes and locks on it and then the service pulls the latch fully in.

So I think your latch is doing that final bit without the door lock on to it, in which case it will behave like a manual close.

I'd be looking at the switch that detects that something has locked on to the latch as that may be failing?

Yeah after a bit of reading up and waiting for it to happen, it's the latch that's rotating when the door is open.

Funnily enough, it's still doing it but when I go to close the door the latch rotates back into the 'open' position and the door closes normally, I haven't been able to get it to not close after a few attempts!!

Some threads suggest it might be a battery charge issue, mine is getting a little low as it's been sat for a few days, 12.1v as of this morning.

I'll keep an eye on it, after starting and running the engine for 5 minutes it's not done it since (the not closing, the latch still closes when the door is open). Also the MFD etc all show correct with the door open so it doesn't seem as though it thinks the door is closed.