Power Sliding Door Issues

[callikev27]

Hi there, I recently joined the forum in the hope I'd be able for solve a bit of a head scratcher that I’m having trouble figuring out. It may be something simple I’m missing but I’m struggling at the moment and I've yet to find a post with a similar fault. Hoping that there's an electrical genius on here who could help.

So, I have a California with an electric sliding door that's not working but there is some background to this story - I’ve just come back from a trip to Wales. On the trip I crossed a ford to get a campsite one night, it was pretty shallow and I had no dramas crossing. The following morning I crossed again with no dramas but later noticed the charging system for the camper electrics wasn’t registering any current going in when driving. With some online research I managed to locate the 80amp fuse under the seat which had blown. Replacing it made no difference so bit more digging found that this was supplied from a fuse under the battery. Sure enough the 100amp fuse under the battery had also blown. I replaced this and all was good in the world! Everything was working and charging as it should be until I noticed the electric sliding door wasn’t working!

The door no longer works from the key fob or internal buttons and the internal buttons no longer light up either. I've had a chance to look at problem a little more now I'm home and these are my findings so far..... Research shows it might have be the controller but after stripping the rear panel off to look it at it appears all good. I checked the voltage to the controller and it’s 1.5v! It should be battery voltage. I then checked the 40A fuse that powers the sliding door (all good) located under the seat and it’s the same there only 1.5v and its the same if the vehicle is running or not. My understanding is this is fed off the 100amp fuse 3 under the battery which I know is good as all the split charge system, which runs off the same fuse, is working fine so my question to any gurus out there is why don’t I have a battery voltage to the 40amp fuse under the passenger seat? Is there’s something in between the two I’m missing?

Just to prove my theory I connected a 12v battery directly to the 40amp fuse feed for the door and the door worked fine so it’s 100% a supply voltage issue but for the life of me I can’t work it out.

Any help on this issue would be greatly received as it’s driving me up the wall

Just to note it’s a 2011 California SE (posted here as all sliding doors seem to be wired the same) and up until a few days ago had been faultless.

Cheers

Kev

 

[Pauly]

Just follow it logically and you should find the issue, if you have full voltage at one end of a cable and only partial voltage at the other end then there has to be a breakdown or high resistance in the cable somewhere, the fun bit is finding out where

Personally i would double check which fuse feeds to that point under the seat by removing the battery and starting from the ebox double check all voltages and fuses etc, if you can access both ends of the cable than you can measure the resistance down it, i would assume its either a loose fuse, bad connector or just some form of corrosion in/on the cable

 

[callikev27]

Hey Pauly

Thanks for the quick reply I think you are right its going to 'fun' tracking it down. Looking at the wiring diagram they seem to be fed off fuse three under the battery but then seem to go through a distribution block in the main wiring harness, this is where I suspect the fault lies, somehow I need to find second battery charging circuit relay -J713- B310 Positive connection 14 (30), in main wiring harness B311 Positive connection 15 (30), in main wiring harness but not having much luck with locations at the minute short of tearing the dash out.

 

[Pauly]

you wont find them they are buried inside the taped loom

 

[Pauly]

what wiring diagram are you looking at ?

 

[callikev27]

Electric sliding door with power latching system one off this site, I know its dated 2015 but its the same as others I've seen. I don't think the wiring has changed much on that side of things.

 

[callikev27]

As you can see here I've crossed out the ones that don't relate. Green from the fuse down to '99 (door control unit) is known to be good after I tested with battery voltage and the door worked. Likewise I know SA3 is good as this is the 100amp feed under the bonnet, I'm also getting battery voltage at J713 and J7 so its just a case of tracing that wire back and seeing where this B311 link is (note it also drops wire gauge size here) and find out what's going on with it.

 

[Pauly]

Everything i put in the downloads is for T6, is your 2011 T5 or 5.1 as thats quite close to change over ?

I have all wiring diagrams for all years/models so happy to dig through and find the ones for your model if it may help

 

[Pauly]

Just had a check of the 5.1 wiring diagrams and its identical to the one above

Im pretty sure that J7 is under the passenger seat and the main join B311 is right next to it, all vans have a join under there where the main feed from the ebox splits off to other kit (or is just blanked if not in use)
just to note you wont have B310 as you have a second battery, its one or the other not both

@Loz is our resident cali guru and may be able to confirm/add more info

 

[Loz]

Hi there, I recently joined the forum in the hope I'd be able for solve a bit of a head scratcher that I’m having trouble figuring out. It may be something simple I’m missing but I’m struggling at the moment and I've yet to find a post with a similar fault. Hoping that there's an electrical genius on here who could help.

So, I have a California with an electric sliding door that's not working but there is some background to this story - I’ve just come back from a trip to Wales. On the trip I crossed a ford to get a campsite one night, it was pretty shallow and I had no dramas crossing. The following morning I crossed again with no dramas but later noticed the charging system for the camper electrics wasn’t registering any current going in when driving. With some online research I managed to locate the 80amp fuse under the seat which had blown. Replacing it made no difference so bit more digging found that this was supplied from a fuse under the battery. Sure enough the 100amp fuse under the battery had also blown. I replaced this and all was good in the world! Everything was working and charging as it should be until I noticed the electric sliding door wasn’t working!

The door no longer works from the key fob or internal buttons and the internal buttons no longer light up either. I've had a chance to look at problem a little more now I'm home and these are my findings so far..... Research shows it might have be the controller but after stripping the rear panel off to look it at it appears all good. I checked the voltage to the controller and it’s 1.5v! It should be battery voltage. I then checked the 40A fuse that powers the sliding door (all good) located under the seat and it’s the same there only 1.5v and its the same if the vehicle is running or not. My understanding is this is fed off the 100amp fuse 3 under the battery which I know is good as all the split charge system, which runs off the same fuse, is working fine so my question to any gurus out there is why don’t I have a battery voltage to the 40amp fuse under the passenger seat? Is there’s something in between the two I’m missing?

Just to prove my theory I connected a 12v battery directly to the 40amp fuse feed for the door and the door worked fine so it’s 100% a supply voltage issue but for the life of me I can’t work it out.

Any help on this issue would be greatly received as it’s driving me up the wall

Just to note it’s a 2011 California SE (posted here as all sliding doors seem to be wired the same) and up until a few days ago had been faultless.

Cheers

Kev

Pretty much as @Pauly says, if you slide out the fuse carriers under the seat, you can see the separate Red feed wires from the fuse carriers, follow them back the the loom and remove loom tape until you find the joint.
if you have access to sewing kit, you can use an unstitching tool to hook under and slit the loom tape without damaging the cables.

 

[callikev27]

Cheers Chaps,

Pauly, its a T5.1 but like you say no difference in diagrams.

I've got some time free today so I'll continue the search and see how I get on. Thanks for the help.

 

[callikev27]

I found it and its not pretty!

I appear to have some water ingress into the van and it looks like its been going on for some time judging by the state of the wiring connection on B311. I think it was just a coincidence that the fault came when it did and after replacing the fuses I feel pretty lucky not to have toasted the van I'm actually surprised the split charge system didn't blow its fuse again given the state of the wiring.

As you can see once the leisure battery and seat base were out there was evidence of something amiss. I'm not sure how the sliding door was actually receiving any voltage to it as the cable fell off when removing the tape. I'm not sure how to proceed here, clean up and solder or cut out and solder in a new section whilst reattaching the feed for the sliding door. Either way I need to dry out the carpet which is soaking wet in the highlighted area and try find out how the waters been getting in.

Don't you just love these VW's

 

[Paul-J1971]

Hi There,
New member here, I have exhausted all search options online, but I have come across this thread and wondered if someone might be able to help me with a problem I have encountered with my electric sliding door. A bit of background.....I left my van with a garage to have some engine work completed and when I collected it I noticed that they must have left the sliding door open in heavy rain as the bench seat and all the passenger side of the van was soaking wet, it did appear that it had all gone towards the back of the van and seemed dry under the passenger seat. I need to remove the swivel base and sub which is there to check more thoroughly.
The fault I have is strange!! my electric sliding door works when operating from the inside handle, key fob and dash button, it does not work when pulling the exterior door handle! it does howerver activate the soft close, just not the motor?
I would really appreciate any help with this, wiring diagrams or input as to where to start!! I am not electrically minded, but have a friend that is willing to help me so I am just trying to get any information I can to help! My van is a 2005 VW T5 with factory electric sliding door (1 owner!)

Thanks all in advance
Best Paul

 

[Lambethcali]

Hi there, I recently joined the forum in the hope I'd be able for solve a bit of a head scratcher that I’m having trouble figuring out. It may be something simple I’m missing but I’m struggling at the moment and I've yet to find a post with a similar fault. Hoping that there's an electrical genius on here who could help.

So, I have a California with an electric sliding door that's not working but there is some background to this story - I’ve just come back from a trip to Wales. On the trip I crossed a ford to get a campsite one night, it was pretty shallow and I had no dramas crossing. The following morning I crossed again with no dramas but later noticed the charging system for the camper electrics wasn’t registering any current going in when driving. With some online research I managed to locate the 80amp fuse under the seat which had blown. Replacing it made no difference so bit more digging found that this was supplied from a fuse under the battery. Sure enough the 100amp fuse under the battery had also blown. I replaced this and all was good in the world! Everything was working and charging as it should be until I noticed the electric sliding door wasn’t working!

The door no longer works from the key fob or internal buttons and the internal buttons no longer light up either. I've had a chance to look at problem a little more now I'm home and these are my findings so far..... Research shows it might have be the controller but after stripping the rear panel off to look it at it appears all good. I checked the voltage to the controller and it’s 1.5v! It should be battery voltage. I then checked the 40A fuse that powers the sliding door (all good) located under the seat and it’s the same there only 1.5v and its the same if the vehicle is running or not. My understanding is this is fed off the 100amp fuse 3 under the battery which I know is good as all the split charge system, which runs off the same fuse, is working fine so my question to any gurus out there is why don’t I have a battery voltage to the 40amp fuse under the passenger seat? Is there’s something in between the two I’m missing?

Just to prove my theory I connected a 12v battery directly to the 40amp fuse feed for the door and the door worked fine so it’s 100% a supply voltage issue but for the life of me I can’t work it out.

Any help on this issue would be greatly received as it’s driving me up the wall

Just to note it’s a 2011 California SE (posted here as all sliding doors seem to be wired the same) and up until a few days ago had been faultless.

Cheers

Kev

Hi
Can I ask how you did this?

“Just to prove my theory I connected a 12v battery directly to the 40amp fuse feed for the door and the door worked fine so it’s 100% a supply voltage issue but for the life of me I can’t work it out.“

My door and soft close are both dead and I can’t currently close the door. If I could do what you did I could at least get the door closed!

What 12v battery did you use? You connect across the fuse? I have at least found the fuse.

 

[callikev27]

Hi Paul/Lambethcali

Apologies for not replying sooner I've been out of the country quite a bit with work and had pretty limited WIFI, I've only just by chance come across the email in my junk folder saying people had replied on my thread

Paul, I'm not sure where I'd start with you fault but a good guess would be the exterior hand/latch and work from there. I've not really had a look at mine so not sure what sensors there are in there, sorry i couldn't be of more help.

Lambethcali, I used the aux battery under the seat and basically run a cable from the positive terminal into the feed of the fuse briefly, it gave me enough time to prove my theory. Before you do that though pop the fuse out and see if you have any voltage on either side of the fuse if not then I'd be looking at the fuse box under the bonnet and seeing if the fuse had blown under there. If that's all ok then you need to be breaking out the multimeter for further testing!

Hope that helps

Cheers

Kev

 

[Lambethcali]

Thanks for reply

With me it was the door module. I have a T5 California and I couldn’t find this! It’s wasn’t on the inside of wheel arch. I took it to and excellent auto electrician called Electrum in Wimbledon who found it buried behind the rear heater. He cannibalised some old bits of Golf’s to fix the module rather than get a new one. A great service and I’m just happy it’s fixed as am due to drive 900 miles in it soon.