P38A Driver's door lock issues

Maat · Thursday at 20:08

Hello, hope you are all doing well

'99 2.5dse, automatic

The driver's door is locked in a semi-open position. Does not open from inside or the outside, the lock actuator doesn't really move inside or from the key, it's just stuck locked. Interestingly though, the central locking works from the actuator or with the key.

This has happened before, in the cold the driver's door would not open being frozen shut, sometimes it would open and then not close anymore. When it would not open, driving the car warm for ten minutes would unfreeze the mechanism and a click would announce that it is ready to work again.

Well, now I'm afraid the lock is actually broken and will need replacing. There are various threads online talking of rolling the window down and smashing it with a long chisel/screwdriver, however the driver's window has stopped working at the same time!

I'm not sure where to begin with this. I can't take the door card off with the door shut. I understand that locks fail in many ways, but I'm wondering why the actuator won't move up or down.

Many thanks for any insight.

pwood999 · Thursday at 20:59

The lock button only moves the small white lever to lock & unlock the latch. The cable for the inside handle and the outside handle both move the unlatching mechanism.

Best bet would be to get another latch & understand how it works first. Then remove the inside handle surround so you can access the cable. Assuming the latch is not superlocked, pull the cable inner to unlatch the door.

Then sort the door electrics & test the latch before re-fitting.

BTW, where is "international" ?? Never seen that on a map ?

Maat · Thursday at 21:22

Thanks for the reply,

Both the outside handle and the inside one seem to work as normal, it's just that the latch is locked. The door button is in a weird position between locked and unlocked. It only moves ever so much under force, but enough trigger the other doors to lock and unlock. I don't think pulling at the cable inside would yield any other result as such.

International - I move between countries a few times per year in Europe and find it tedious to update the profile! I suppose I should've rather changed it to blank.

Datatek · 2025-02-21T07:59:35+0000

Maat said:
Thanks for the reply,

Both the outside handle and the inside one seem to work as normal, it's just that the latch is locked. The door button is in a weird position between locked and unlocked. It only moves ever so much under force, but enough trigger the other doors to lock and unlock. I don't think pulling at the cable inside would yield any other result as such.

International - I move between countries a few times per year in Europe and find it tedious to update the profile! I suppose I should've rather changed it to blank.

Datatek · 2025-02-21T08:01:28+0000

Lack of lubrication of the hook that goes over the hasp to hold the door closed has caused problems on mine.
I believe it's possible to cut the hasp with the door closed in order to get it open as a last resort.

norseman · 2025-02-21T09:59:08+0000

You have my sympathy, the driver's door mechanism failed on my RRC two years ago & refused to open from either outside or inside.
The central locking worked ok but that was that. A much younger/slimmer indie. climbed in from the passenger side & took the car away for repair. It turned out the latch itself had partially disintegrated & being unable to remove the door card with the door shut he found a way to get the offending door open by gaining access via the B pillar after removing the rear door.

A new latch plus labour turned out to be an expensive job, but that's old car ownership for you

pwood999 · 2025-02-21T10:16:56+0000

If windows and locking is not working, then it sounds like you have an issue with power or communications to the outstation. Check fuses 9 & 22. Nanocom will show if the outstation is responding.

If the latch is stuck in the superlock position internally, then chance are that's why neither of the handles will work. Try using the Fob to make sure the doors are unlocked.

Failing that, you will have to remove the seat & force the door card off, so you can apply 9V to the latch motors & unlock it.

cornishboater · 2025-02-21T11:40:26+0000

pwood999 said:
If windows and locking is not working, then it sounds like you have an issue with power or communications to the outstation. Check fuses 9 & 22. Nanocom will show if the outstation is responding.

If the latch is stuck in the superlock position internally, then chance are that's why neither of the handles will work. Try using the Fob to make sure the doors are unlocked.

Failing that, you will have to remove the seat & force the door card off, so you can apply 9V to the latch motors & unlock it.

It has happened to me a couple of times over the years, usually using the fob a couple of times it did unlock on every occasion

Flossie · 2025-02-21T14:00:43+0000

Sorry....

P38A Driver's door lock issues

Maat

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pwood999

Well-Known Member

Maat

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Datatek

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Datatek

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norseman

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pwood999

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cornishboater

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Flossie

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