T

Toad

Active Member
I have a 1995 300Tdi Discovery and have a rear passenger door that won't open. I live in a place where the car is constantly subject to a salty atmosphere and in bad weather gets sprayed with sea water. A couple of months ago I managed to take the inside panel off the same door when I recognised the door seemed to be getting more difficult to open. I sprayed the entire lock mechanism with WD40 and it did the job. The door was easy to open and apparently back to normal. However I am once again facing the same problem only this time I got no prior warning that it was going to give up. The door catches won't open the door either from the in or outside so in effect I'm unable to get the door open.

I have managed to get the panel off the inside of the door again and given it a good spray with the WD again, but so far its done no good.

Has anyone got any ideas on how to put this right.
 
my jag was like that and when i got the panel orf i found there was some adjustment in the linkage. so i adjusted it and all is fine. i then went round all the doors and found a lot of play in the handles so i adjusted the lot. folk now coment on how much easier the doors open. i wasn't even aware there was a problem as i only use the drivers door.

so have a good look at the workings and see if there are any threads visable on the linkage and shorten them abit
 
Thanks for the reply Slob. I'll try and take a gander at the workings, but as I'm sure you know the space in which to work is a nightmare and when you have hands like 5lb of pork sausage its even worse. Of course I also can't get at any of the bolts that hold the mechanism in place because they are all concealed by the door being shut.

It maybe a better idea to just drive it off the end of the pier!
 
if you get the panel off you should be able to open it using a screwdriver or summin to work the lock from the inside.
 
I did try the screwdriver ploy and managed to get the mechanism to operate to what appeared to be its limit, but the door is still shut. The thing that really concerns me is if I manage to get it open, am I going to be able to shut the swine again. I'll take a look at my Rave manual and see if that shines any light on the matter. Ta Slob.
 
Well you are bang on Slob regarding the adjustment that can be made. According to the Rave manual you disconnect one of the rods and turn it either clockwise or anti-clockwise to lengthen or shorten its operating span. The handle should open the door long before it reaches its limit.

Now I'll see if I can do it with such a tight space to work in.
 
was you working the catch or the lock wiff yer screwdriver? you could have unlocked it but the door would still be closed. you need to operate the catch when the locking button is up
 
Interesting point about WD40. It's made from fish oil and some other chemicals that after a time form a residue. This residue becomes a sticky solid deposit. Unfortunately it's pretty insoluble to most things and when in locks now lock smiths are starting to charge extra for removing WD40 residue. I am wondering my friend, if you may have a WD40 issue... Try cleaning the bits and using 3-in-1... ;)
 
I was operating the catch rather than the lock with the screwdriver. I did after a few minutes spot that it was easy to confuse the two.

As far as WD40 is concerned I'm sure your right about it clogging up eventually. As far as silicon spray opposed to 3 in 1 oil, I don't know. I assume silicon spray is a lubricant?
 
Motorcycle chain grease was the cure for my stcky mechanisms. The climate here is hot most of the year and I too live by the coast with the salt ect and found that doors that are not often used started to be hard to open and in some cases once open would then not latch closed. I am unsure if the chain grease would be to heavy/sticky in a colder climate, anyone else tried this amazing stuff?

regards
Dave
 
Motorcycle grease is a new one on me. If I can get the door open then I will try anything to prevent it happening again.

The weather here is rarely what I would call hot, and the winters I would say can be quite harsh to say the least. The whole car is slowly being eaten away by the often salty atmosphere up here and this saltiness is I'm sure one of the main contributors to my stuck door.


Thanks to all who have given me ideas.
 
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