Power-Latching sliding-door problems

[Jayjmac]

Not sure you call it auto latching.. or soft close! Either way my van has decided to soft close when it feels like it! Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. Has anyone else had issues like this?
The door and van have had 3 stage sound proofing and insulation. Would that cause it due to weight? I wouldn’t have thought it was faulty only being a year old.

any help would be much appreciated

 

[The Bear78]

Are we talking a power latching issue or manual closing that sometimes seems to bounce on a cushion of air?...

 

[Jayjmac]

Power latching turning up when it fancies it...

 

[Wills]

Is it factory or aftermarket fitted?
When it doesn’t latch can you hear the motor engage?

 

[Jayjmac]

It’s factory. When I close it sometimes nothing just sits half open then I have to properly shut it by slamming it there is no noise at all. I’ll do that the gentle close a few times and nothing. Then other times I just gently shut it and it will latch and pull tight with all the right noises...

 

[Wills]

Is the van still under warrantee?
The motor should activate when opening and closing the door.
If the motor activates when opening and not when closing, then you’ll not be able to slam the door shut as the strike plate will still be in the open position .
if the motor fails to operate on opening the door then you’ll be able to slam it shut as the strike plate will be in the close position.
It could be the door contacts playing up? Door may need adjusting?

 

[Jayjmac]

Yes it’s still go two years left on warranty.

I’ll have a closer look at the contacts. They may be dirty. It opens and closes fine it’s literally just that last bit when you close it and the motor kicks in to do the last bit for you. It’s a bit intermittent, kind of works when it wants.

thanks for the help.

 

[Lord Mfwic]

I have soft close on mine and it does the same thing. Took it to VW when it was in warranty and they changed the mechanism but it still works when it feels like it, which to be fair, is more often than not.
Mines out of warranty now so if you do find a fix, please let me know.

 

[Jayjmac]

I’ll be sure to let you know. I’m going to have a play with it at some point this weekend.

 

[Jayjmac]

Just had a quick look.. obviously it’s working fine now. @Wills i see what you mean when you pull the handle to open the motor kicks in and you close it works. I will try and listen out every time I open it.. As you said if the motor doesn’t make the noise I’m guessing it won’t when you close.

 

[Wills]

Correct. You can double check when the door is open by seeing where the position of the strike plate is. if it’s on the extreme outside then it’s worked and ready to receive the door and pull it to. if it’s in the inside position then it’s failed.

 

[Pauly]

If it’s a highline clean the contacts on the front edge of the door, if it’s a trend line or startline check the door pin at the back edge of the door and make sure it’s out far enough to fully engage/disengage when the door presses against it, sometimes bringing it out a mil or two can help make/break a more positive contact

 

[moomin-j]

Not sure you call it auto latching.. or soft close! Either way my van has decided to soft close when it feels like it! Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. Has anyone else had issues like this?
The door and van have had 3 stage sound proofing and insulation. Would that cause it due to weight? I wouldn’t have thought it was faulty only being a year old.

any help would be much appreciated

@Jayjmac @Deaky

Mine is having exactly the same issue.
It's a LWB Highline @ just over 15 months old, and never had the problem previously.
Just over the last 6 weeks or so, most of the time it works fine, then just when you think it has fixed itself, you pull the handle (hearing nothing) and it fails to operate the motor for the power latching when opening / closing, and you have to help it to shut, try it again and then it starts working again.
I have parked it on uneven ground - still the same
I have parked it on level ground - still the same.
Checked, both the male & female side of the contacts, all look good.
No apparent broken bits.
Mine has also had sound proofing and insulation, which was installed from the conversion company, when the T6 was a week old, so I can't imagine that the problem was due to this or it would have been like this, since then.

It's very frustrating, as if I took it to the dealers, I know it would work ok!!
I did manage to video it, but I don't think the dealers will accept this, it has to "not work" when they try it.

I wonder if the door contacts need a little grease on them, or should they be dry?

 

[Jayjmac]

I’m glad it’s a “thing” and not just mine.

 

[Higgidav]

Mine did exactly the same. They changed the door control module and it sorted the problem.

 

[Jayjmac]

Where is that located??

 

[Higgidav]

It’s inside the door panel and apparently it’s a fairly common fault. Mine was swapped under warranty.

 

[moomin-j]

Looks like a trip to the dealers then...

 

[moomin-j]

Let's get stripping...

 

[Jayjmac]

Did you find anything...

Obviously now I’ve started this it hasn’t done it once!