I have experienced the problem that I’ve heard a lot about in the past and dreaded happening to me.
Door closed and locked, press the key fob, or turn the key in the lock and the knob pops up but the door remains stubbornly shut. Unable to be opened from either the inside or the outside.
This is caused by an internal failure within the lock assembly and you are pretty much stuffed as you cannot remove the lock because two of the mounting screws are on the rear edge of the door.
If you are really lucky it may just be down to a build up of grime inside and a liberal soak with WD40 or similar may free it up. But I’m never that lucky!
A fellow forum member, who shall remain nameless, fixed this snag with the aid of a size 12 boot and a lot of swearing. Shortly after that I sold him a replacement door. Funnily enough I decided to try a ‘slightly’ calmer approach.
I tackled this task on my driver’s door by winding the window down, pushing the seat fully back and reclined to give clear access as I leaned in from the outside. In hindsight it may be even easier with the roof down.
Step one is removing the door card. This is a fairly straightforward process, described elsewhere across the forum. The only difference being you have to start by prising out the top clips and then pull the card backwards to clear the overlapping dash edge. This will snap at least one of the push-fit clips, so have spares ready.
Once the card is off you can see the lock assembly, or at least the small part of it you need to get at.
My photos are of the RH lock, so reverse the image if you have an issue with the left one.
I actually had an old lock to hand, so I ripped that apart first to see how it worked. I’ve used that, plus another complete one to show the steps needed.
The first photo shows the lock, looking outwards from the seat.
The green outline shows the part you can actually see; the rest is hidden behind the metal of the door. The red bit represents the rod with the black knob on the top. The blue bit is the cable from the inner door handle.
At this point you have to accept the fact that the lock is FUBAR, so what you do next is unavoidable.
Using an array of sharp instruments, small chisels, hammer, or even a drill, you need to remove the plastic outlined in green on the second photo. Do NOT lever against the metal of the door as it is very thin, and you will distort it. Having now done one I think I would probably go in with increasing large drill bits until I got enough access.
Once you have removed this area of the casing, look in the direction of the red arrow to see your target.
I apologise that the last photo could be clearer, but the green arrow is pointing to a white plastic tapering pin that points towards the rear of the lock. If you look in there closely you can see that this plastic pin ends between two joined metal rods.
All you need to do is place a large screwdriver or punch into the point where the plastic pin passes between the metal rods (shown by the red arrow) and give it a hefty whack. One hit was all it took, and the door sprang open!
Door closed and locked, press the key fob, or turn the key in the lock and the knob pops up but the door remains stubbornly shut. Unable to be opened from either the inside or the outside.
This is caused by an internal failure within the lock assembly and you are pretty much stuffed as you cannot remove the lock because two of the mounting screws are on the rear edge of the door.
If you are really lucky it may just be down to a build up of grime inside and a liberal soak with WD40 or similar may free it up. But I’m never that lucky!
A fellow forum member, who shall remain nameless, fixed this snag with the aid of a size 12 boot and a lot of swearing. Shortly after that I sold him a replacement door. Funnily enough I decided to try a ‘slightly’ calmer approach.
I tackled this task on my driver’s door by winding the window down, pushing the seat fully back and reclined to give clear access as I leaned in from the outside. In hindsight it may be even easier with the roof down.
Step one is removing the door card. This is a fairly straightforward process, described elsewhere across the forum. The only difference being you have to start by prising out the top clips and then pull the card backwards to clear the overlapping dash edge. This will snap at least one of the push-fit clips, so have spares ready.
Once the card is off you can see the lock assembly, or at least the small part of it you need to get at.
My photos are of the RH lock, so reverse the image if you have an issue with the left one.
I actually had an old lock to hand, so I ripped that apart first to see how it worked. I’ve used that, plus another complete one to show the steps needed.
The first photo shows the lock, looking outwards from the seat.
The green outline shows the part you can actually see; the rest is hidden behind the metal of the door. The red bit represents the rod with the black knob on the top. The blue bit is the cable from the inner door handle.
At this point you have to accept the fact that the lock is FUBAR, so what you do next is unavoidable.
Using an array of sharp instruments, small chisels, hammer, or even a drill, you need to remove the plastic outlined in green on the second photo. Do NOT lever against the metal of the door as it is very thin, and you will distort it. Having now done one I think I would probably go in with increasing large drill bits until I got enough access.
Once you have removed this area of the casing, look in the direction of the red arrow to see your target.
I apologise that the last photo could be clearer, but the green arrow is pointing to a white plastic tapering pin that points towards the rear of the lock. If you look in there closely you can see that this plastic pin ends between two joined metal rods.
All you need to do is place a large screwdriver or punch into the point where the plastic pin passes between the metal rods (shown by the red arrow) and give it a hefty whack. One hit was all it took, and the door sprang open!