This doesn’t look like it’s going to be much fun. When I bought the car four years ago it came with a bunch of minor problems one of which was that one of the rear doors wouldn’t open from either side. This is an MoT failure here in the UK. This fault self cleared before I got to deal with it and being a bit of a lazy baggage, I never got around to investigating the cause of the problem. The central locking has never worked on this door and if I needed to lock it, I did it manually.
Today, with absolute precision timing as the current MoT just expired, the problem has returned. Both handles operate but neither opens the door.
I know I have to remove the door card which is easy to do if you can open the door. Looks next to impossible to do without causing damage with the door closed.
Anyone else had this problem and if so, any tips on getting at the lock?
if you have a dodgy neighbor maybe he can unlock it with a slimjim Really the best thing to do is get a locksmith to open it and then do your repairs. Will be much cheaper than than if you damage it trying to open it. Good luck.
I checked the archives and there have been several instances of people with a similar problem.
I suggested trying to hot wire the electric lock, but I don’t know if anybody tried it.
I’m thinking you can remove the rear seat cushion, then it will be easier to get the door trim panel off.
First thing is the trim ring around the inside handle.
This is the hard part because as with most things on these cars it is designed to be easy to snap in place but not designed to be easily removed. Notice I had to slice away a little bit to get it off.
You can get to the inside latch bolt here, which may or may not help.
Under the rubber cover in the hand pull hole are two screws, and if you get those out the inside door panel will now come off. It is held by a bunch of plastic tree plugs, pulls straight off.
Well, I got lucky. I fully charged the battery and with the charger still connected, I started thumping the door and working the buttons on the remote and suddenly the lock came back to life and unlocked.
We have bad weather here at the moment but when the snow and rain stop I’ll strip the door and find out what the problem is with the lock. Thank you for the photos, Rob. I’ve repaired a front door lock but at least now I know what’s involved in getting at the rear one.
The thumping solution suggests that a liberal application of WD40 or your favorite thin oil spray might free it up.
Or it may be a corroded electrical connection in there.
Yes, as soon as I can work on it outside I’ll get at the lock and check it. There really isn’t much access to the lock without removing it but I have squirted WD40 at what part of it that does show in the hope that some of it finds its way inside. It could also be a faulty microswitch in the lock. I had to replace one of the little Cherry ones in the front passenger door lock.
I have had the same problem on both my s type rear doors at different times. In both cases I replaced the door latch assemblies, which although fiddley to do fixed the problem/ With so many s types being broken for spares you can get a good unit for approx £30 from ebay.Sqirting wd40 did not work for me.
Really the best thing to do is get a locksmith to open it and then do your repairs. Will be much cheaper than than if you damage it trying to open it. Good luck.
