Hello,
I'm having some weird problems with my 98 s40 that I'm hoping someone can help me with. The first symptom is that when click the lock button on the remote, the doors lock and then instantly lock again. I saw this behavior before when I accidently had a door open, the car wouldn't let me lock the doors (which kind of makes sense). Now the doors are definitely closed, but I'm getting the same result: all the doors lock and then immediately unlock.

The second symptom is that my battery dies after two days of no driving (even though it is new). The third symptom is that I have a headlight out (but the bulb is currently in the mail).

I'm assuming that the headlight has nothing to do with anything. However the dead battery and the door locking issue seem like they may be related.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Sid

 

The drivers door button or lock assembly might be bad.
Making the car think the door is always open.

 

How old is the battery. Take it to Autozone, etc. and have them load test it. That will tell you whether it is going bad or not. If it is the original battery I would say you need a new one.

 

Hi,

I just changed the battery, it is literally one week old.

One thing that it is bothering me about the locking mechanism theory is that when the car is running (which it does just fine), you'd think that the "open door" light would be illuminated.

Sid

 

Sometimes when it goes bad it will keep the light on other times it won't.

 

Hi,

A couple of more questions are coming up. If we assume it is the lock assembly:

1. I'm afraid I don't understand why it would need to be the driver door. Couldn't it be any door?
2. Since I can say for sure that there were no headlights on etc. would a locking malfunction be enough to kill a battery in two days?

Sid

 

The drivers door is and main controlling lock of the car.

 

If one of the switches or locking solenoids are sticking, it could drain the battery that fast. In other words, when you lock it and release the fob, the stuck switch/solenoid reverts back to the unlock position. This would continually draw current. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your help thus far; I think I'm starting to see. My next question is: do you guys know a way to test this?

Sid

 

Understand that I am NOT an electrical expert, maybe someone else can chime in. But in my PA hillbilly way of doing things, you are looking for possible current draw. You would need to put a meter on the locking circuit and find the point at which current draws to where current stops flowing. This will change with key in 'on' position versus 'off' position. It will be time consuming, but you will find the point that is shorted/stuck. Maybe someone will write in and say the dealer has a do-hickey they can hook up and say right away, "Yeah, it's right here." You may want to start at the driver door, since tech says that is where it is controlled. Then work forward or backward, depending what you find. Good luck.