The central locking only locks the passenger doors but not the boot .. leaving the car unlocked .. help ?

G Pattison, May 2008

It may not actually be the motor (solenoid) that is the problem. Sometimes the plastic gear and plastic lock slider that form part of the mechanism and are actuated by the motor fail. Small plastic bits from either the cog or slider (or both) break off due to fatigue and this seizes the lock/unlock slider mechanism driven by the motor.

waterworn, January 2011

Best to go to a scrap yard to get this 12v motor, I tried quiet a few garages & part places & none of them had any! Mapin Electronics had the motor, but it was the wrong size/smaller lower voltage one.

Pritesh Patel, October 2010

Ok this fault is really common on the Series II Clio (2001-2006). I was asked to look at the problem you describe on a car belonging to a family friend. I too thought the problem had been resolved after a prod and a poke only for it to be intermittent for a while before finally packing up.

In my case the problem was a faulty motor. This is referred to as an actuator or solinoid but there is no escaping the fact it is a 12V motor. The motor is made by mabuchi and getting hold of them is difficult as they are not available from Renault, who prefer to sell you the entire actuator assembly for £50+VAT. The good news is though that these motors are available on ebay and are easy to fit. Be careful though most motors, FC-280 for example (used on Toyota/Lexus) spin in a clockwise (CW) direction and you need a CCW motor unless you modify the wiring.

Search ebay (Clio tailgate central locking motor) and if they are available fitting is really easy. There is only one screw holding the boot panel in place. Undo this with a torx driver and pull the door card of its poppers. There is one torx screw holding the actuator in place. Undoing the actuator torx screw reveals the motor in question. Check for a 1 second burst of 12V at the actuator plug/socket when the central locking is activated to confirm the motor is faulty.

Before we proceed it may be worth mentioning that a failing motor can fail in the locked or unlocked position. If the boot is in the unlocked position, turn the motor by hand until the mechanism it drives is in the extended position. Reassembly at this point will leave the boot in a locked state until you can get access to parts. Similarly, if the boot is locked and you need to open it is possible to use a flat blade screwdriver on the top of the catch inside the boot to flip the lock open.

Back to the lock..... Removal of the motor is a piece of pie. Unclip the cable and remove the grey cable socket by pinching the retaining clips. Pull of the big 40-tooth cog and pull the motor out of the assembly.

Attached to the motor is a 10-tooth brass pinion. This can easily removed from the potor shaft using a pinion puller (who has one of those in their handbag?) or a hammer and centre punch. If you do get a motor off ebay use a socket in a vice or workmate to push the brass pinion onto the replacement motor. A dab of Locktite 638 may be a good insurance policy. Reassembly should take 2 minutes....its that easy.

LeggyUna, August 2010

I have a similar problem on my 54 plate diesel 3 door Clio. There is power going to the motor/ solenoid but it's not working. I took it all apart and pressed the plip and can feel the thing trying to work but it doesn't. I was just going to get a new assembly but thought it might be a bit pricey. And my drivers window hasn't been working for over a year, which is a pain. I think that may be the switch, if not I've been told It could be very expensive to fix. All in all, although it's a nice cheap little car to run, I think I will go back to ford again next time :-(

Andy, August 2010

Hi there,
i have similar problem in that the tailgate lock is not working. I have taken the panel off of the hatch and looked at the motor etc. It now works intermitently but with smoke coming out as though the motor burns out. Could anyone advise what the cause of this may be and a solution?

Thanks

Andy, March 2010

if you remove the plastic trim from the inside of the hatch( i would buy some more clips) to refit as they always break off, I use the citroen saxo ones cheaper & sold on ebay, the white part of the lock holds a small 12v electric motor made by mabuchi, these quite often give up, the grey plastic plug attached to the motor unclips then you just pull the motor out, Go to maplin or rs-trade counter & ask for a compatible motor i got one for £2.33p the only change is you will have to solder the wires to it (push them out the bottom). hey presto all done. ps- I would order the trim clip before hand so you can complete the job in one go

Terry Sim

Terry Sim, February 2009

Do you mean the rear panel boot trim or the tailgate trim panel?

Stephen, August 2008

you need to remove the boot trim and check to see if you are getting close to 12 volts at the connector on the boot solenoid when you press the plip key , press the plip afew times to read the voltage on the multimeter,first ,still have the connector still connected to the solenoid ,and if you are getting a good reading its the solenoid that is at fault ,then you should be able to move the solenoid across into the locked position so you can shut the boot till you fit or repair what is at fault .

mark, May 2008