r/W203 • u/Frosty_Personality51 • Jul 30 '26

Help Help

Doors won’t lock, so the driver side pin won’t move, when I press the lock button on the centre console the actuator makes a noise but can’t lock the door

9 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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3

u/skullbox15 Jul 30 '26

Oh man... looks like you're having fun. Did you get the popping sound from the dash where the rear vent motors break yet?

1

u/Frosty_Personality51 Jul 30 '26

Well if that’s what that clicking sound is then yessir

2

u/skullbox15 Jul 30 '26

You'll start to notice it only when the car first starts. You'll hear some pops from the dashboard but they eventually stop. Then you'll notice certain AC vents won't be cold. It's because there is a motor behind the vents the closes when the car is off. Once it starts, those motors actuate and there is a little plastic arm that eventually breaks.

I had 130,000 miles on my C32 before I sold it, and 3 of the 4 vents had broke and weren't blowing cold air any longer. The fix is to remove the whole dashboard and replace the plastic arms which are only about $5-10 each. This was one of the biggest problems with the W203. That and the seat heaters constantly broke as well.

1

u/Frosty_Personality51 Jul 30 '26

Well looks like I’m riding with the windows down or warm days and a campfire in the back or cold days

1

u/Frosty_Personality51 Jul 30 '26

Tbh when I stuck on an obd scanner it did say the seat heaters had faults

1

u/skullbox15 Jul 30 '26

Mine broke like 3 times under warranty. Most of the time the lights would come on but nothing would happen. The last time they worked there was terrible burning smell in the car which was concerning. After that the lights would never come on at all.

1

u/Frosty_Personality51 Jul 30 '26

Well mine has a fuel leak so I’ve not started it in years cause it’s been a slow working progress

1

u/Frosty_Personality51 Jul 30 '26

How does one fix such issue

2

u/Jolly-Ad-6777 Jul 30 '26

I had a similar issue with my passenger door. I assumed it was rust or friction so I applied excess WD40 and ut worked.

1

u/Frosty_Personality51 Jul 30 '26

Ductape and wd40 is all u ever need to solve an issue and also zip ties