Repairing door lock module Part 1 of 3 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Time to pay it forward. Someone down the road might want to try fixing a door locking module. Due to site limitations to quantity of pics per post, I'll have to post three threads to show the whole story. Model year 2001 Canadian car. Option 535 alarm. Porsche part # 3B1-837-016-P. Any directions given relate to the passenger side (right) door. I had to take out the handle to have the door painted. The body guy lives a few km away so I thought I could just drive it there with the handle out but the door still latched, and then pull on the black latch connector on the lock module to open it when I got there. So I tried pulling on the black connector at home first. Unfortunately I pulled too hard and was rewarded with a "snap". Hmm. Not good. After that I could not get the door to latch. Really not good. When the car got home I tried a few things to make it work, all unsuccessful, so checking into the cost of a replacement module was next. The nearest dealer here north of the 49th had a list price of well over $700. Before taxes. Yikes. Apparently with the 535 alarm option the price was roughly double. Even with the employee discount it was still over $600 before taxes. The cheapest new on line was still around US$500 before taxes and shipping. LA Dismantlers had a used one from for a much better price, but by that time I'd decided I was going to try to fix mine. I thought it might be nothing more than an internal spring that had popped out of place. Follow online videos to get the door opened up. The handle doesn't have to be removed to re&re the lock module. Getting the lock module out is easy. First disconnect the black connector in the pic above from the screw on the handle, by sliding it towards the lock module to free up the screw, and then push up and down on it to pop out the threaded screw from the handle. Remove the 2 M8 triple square screws from the outside, and wiggle the whole thing out of the hole created by removing the brass plate (3 bolts, one of which is the bottom right airbag bolt). Hint: no need to remove the airbag for this job, and disconnecting it and re-connecting the battery without the airbag (as I did while checking things) will give you a nasty warning light. Fortunately I have a Durametric to cancel the fault. Once the module is out of the bowels of the door, remove the electrical connector. These pics show the module from various angles, including the inside latch release cable and its retainer. To remove the inside latch release cable, first remove the black "retainer" by squeezing the 3 clips with pliers so they pop thru their retaining holes. Then take a small flat screwdriver and pop out the cable. Turn the cable sideways to remove it from the narrow slot and set it aside. Now you have the two-part module: mechanical and electrical. The mechanical half has the latch, and the electrical part has the amber-coloured plastic. End of Part 1

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Adding part 2:

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And part 3:

Great description and pictures. I wish we had a way of 'stickying' the better DIYs on this forum.

Thank you! My only hope is that someone will find this handy...

Thanks for your thread! I am looking at replacing these on both of my doors. Specifically, when the handle is pulled the window drops, but as SOON as i let go the window shoots up. Based on the behavior, I assume the microswitch is in the "stuck up" position. Both doors act this way. Unfortunately, my boxster was well optioned two and a half decades ago and has the alarm option. I can try and disassemble to clean the switches (would appreciate help iding them in your photos), but are the switches the same between these and the cheap VW models? I would want them on hand to save the effort of disassembling, reassembling again.

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Seems strange that both microswitches would do this at the same time. I think there might be something else going on. I don't think the microswitches controlling the window have anything to do with what's inside the lock module. FWIW my Bentley manual says the "inside" door lock microswitch is located inside the door panel at the inner door lock release, and the "outside" door lock microswitch is located in the door on the outside door handle. I can't help you with VW gear compatibility.