Drivers door remains locked

[Charless]

This happened without warning a couple of days ago on a 75th Anniversary F - 1999 (so spare door cards not readily available).
The passenger door unlocks normally with the fob and the immobiliser works, the car can be driven. Pressing the fob lifts the drivers door sill button but it immediately locks down again without allowing the door to be opened. It is almost certainly caused by microswitch failure in the drivers door CDL unit.
I need to access the CDL motor but the door remains locked. I am sure this problem has been reported before but I have been through the archives without finding how to get the door to open again.
Can anybody advise how I might open the door to access the CDL?

[Geoff.F]

Snap.I have the same problem for the second time and now I cannot remember how I fixed it. At present it is too cold outside.
It maybe moisture as I still have new spares in the garage.
Watch this space.
Geoff.F

[Charless]

Hi Geoff, watching with interest, I am sure I have read about this before on here (maybe yours!) and have also forgotten how to recover it with or without damaging the card. I can't see how access without the door card would help if the door remains shut. Although you could then direct a hot air blower past the membrane onto the unit which might assist - plus a deluge of WD40!
I tried this archive first with lots of phrases but drew a blank; then BBS, .org and T-bar with similar outcomes.

[talkingcars]

This is just an idea but would disconnecting the battery and then using the key in the door lock work? As there is no power in the system then the central looking will not relock the door.

[Charless]

Thanks but sadly not, I have tried that. Still hoping that someone recalls a sequence that can undo it!

[mgtfnut]

It has slowly dawned on me that I think I can remember the same happening to me

I also can't remember what I did, as I have the same door card. Possibly, I grabbed the sill button as it popped up and waited for a fuse to blow or something. I can remember it happening, as the lock continues to function correctly still. Dousing in WD40 sort of made it work, but with a whirring/gear noise - I vowed to changed the lock mech but never got round to it as it still works fine.

Not much help, but worth a try?

[Charless]

Thanks Jerry. Strangely I walked past it today and noticed that both sill buttons were up - no idea when or why that happened - even under a carport the air temperature was still well below freezing. I had left it 'unlocked' but both were resolutely locked when I had last played with it.
JOY - no destruction needed!!!!
So I have left the door wedged open and will change out the CDL motor unit when the weather becomes more amenable.
Sorry its not much help for you Geoff; but maybe if you can leave it unlocked....
Anybody else remember how they got out of/around the issue?

[Reckless Rat]

If you leave the door wedged open don't forget that there'll be a battery drain...

[Charless]

Good point Bruce but I have a trickle charger!
I found that I had an early CDL off a scrapped car which has the door lock hoop in metal instead of plastic - very rare. After the customary amount of juggling it went in and the car is now is now useable. So I washed much of the recent road salt off the topsides, ready for return to normal use tomorrow....

[MGF74]

Hello,

I had the same problem yesterday, with the same symptoms. Mine is an LHD, but the door locks should be the same. The right hand side door would unlock when pressing the key fob, but the pin would immediately go down again.

Turns out that in my case, it was a corroded release cable pivot. And I've figured out a way to open the door without causing any damage at all to the door card.

I'll explain.

When you pull on your interior release cable, it actuates this pivot which the cable is hooked into, which then pushes up a lever that is connected to the inside of the lock. Which in turn unblocks the door catch so that you can pull the door open.

The pivot is riveted to the release cable bracket as you can make out in the picture, and as this rivet corrodes, it renders the pivot unable to snap back freely on its own after you've let go of the release cable. This then jams the other moving parts of the lock, which means your door stays shut despite your best efforts.

So how do you open your lock without ruining what at least in my case is a perfectly good MkII door card.

Take a metal rod, doesn't matter what kind, as long as it's straight and rigid enough so it won't bend. I had a 5mm stainless steel rod still lying around from another project. As you do.

Open the door locks with your fob. With the door release bezel and the two screws at the bottom of the door pull removed so the door card will have a little bit of give, pry the door card inward about half a centimetre, maybe a bit more. Insert the metal rod straight downward into the opening, and then with a bright torch, the idea is to look for the release pivot and push it down with the tip of your metal rod. It'll take a bit of rummaging, but that's what you will have to push down on.

The following picture shows you the exact point that you have to push down with your rod:

There should be an audible click, and if you then gently pull on the outside (!) door handle, your door should pop open.

Note that this does not solve the underlying problem. DO NOT shut the door again, because it'll only mean you'll have to start over again.

Instead, you'll need to remove the lock in its entirety, and then you'll have to douse the whole lock mechanism in WD-40 because there could also be issues with poor lubrication of the lock's other parts.

Apply WD-40 liberally and repeatedly to the pivot rivet in the first picture above and wiggle it back and forth for about 15 minutes until you notice that it frees up and becomes easy to move.

Leave the lock for a few hours so that much of the WD-40 will have evaporated, then apply a low-viscosity, resin free lubricant to all its moving parts. I swear by sewing machine oil for these things, which has a wide temperature range to boot.

Put everything back together, job done


- MGF74

[Geoff.F]

Thank you. Yours is a passengers whilst mine is the drivers. The passengers door opens on the fob if is opened before the drivers stops clicking and relocks - about one second.
I must do something about it as we now have only one of four cars on the road.
Geoff F

[MGF74]

The passengers door opens on the fob if is opened before the drivers stops clicking and relocks - about one second.

That's pretty much what happened on my passenger door as well.

It probably complicates things a little that yours is presumably RHD and mine is LHD, so my passenger door is your driver door, but I'm sure the basic lock mechanism is the same on both sides regardless.

I'll have a look around my left hand side lock soon because it too desperately needs some lubricant, it'll be interesting to examine the differences, if any.

[Geoff.F]

Decided to attack my drivers door today. Put the key in and it simply worked. Is it because the battery was disconnected for 6 weeks ??
It is easy to find the fault when you still have it but a pain when it is lost. Refurbish or replace???
Geoff.F

[Charless]

Glad to hear you escaped Geoff, I hadn't stopped wondering how to escape the locked door bind. I would be taking the CDL unit out and freeing it all up with the usual WD40 (for the solvents) and then a lubricant for future protection. I wonder if temperature change played a roll - ambient was sub zero outside during the week it first happened, though my battery remained connected during the few days mine was stuck locked.
Disconnecting the battery may be a good tip for the future if/when somebody else gets the dreaded problem. Although I don't suppose they will be able to leave it as long as you could! I would think getting it all as warm as possible couldn't hurt either.