Cars hate me

[JamezF]

With that much exposed I would be very tempted to drill some holes near the mechanism and soak with oil then power the lock again.

The deadlock mechanism is a plastic bolt (which blocks the release mechanism) driven by an electric motor with microswitches acting as limit sensors at either end. Given that I have found no sign of corrosion anywhere, I suspect that either the motor or the associated electronics have failed.

I already have a replacement lock mechanism winging its way to me (a whole £21 from ebay) so I'm not really inclined to expend much more effort on it, especially if it involves drilling even more holes in the door.

James

 

[Penninetrader]

Not the door just the lock unit itself, the reason I am suggesting this was because having had the same problem it turned out it was just a small amount of resistance that prevented the solonoid from throwing the bolt, they simply dry out or wear unevenly.. If you had the door open at some point just the one time during this problem it would be the lubrication that I am sure you would have jumped at.. Reminder to oneself, grease door locks regularly.. Nontheless I feel your pain, some people have no necessitry to undertake any of these types of jobs. My current one is a heat pump dryer that doesn't, dry that is. I am obviously becoming an "expert" on such things :}

 

[JamezF]

We have re-entry!

James

 

[Penninetrader]

We have re-entry!

James

Well done, big pat on the back for that. Have we Sussex the cause ?

 

[pargyle]

Not the door just the lock unit itself, the reason I am suggesting this was because having had the same problem it turned out it was just a small amount of resistance that prevented the solonoid from throwing the bolt, they simply dry out or wear unevenly.. If you had the door open at some point just the one time during this problem it would be the lubrication that I am sure you would have jumped at.. Reminder to oneself, grease door locks regularly.. Nontheless I feel your pain, some people have no necessitry to undertake any of these types of jobs. My current one is a heat pump dryer that doesn't, dry that is. I am obviously becoming an "expert" on such things :}

It's often simple lack of general maintenance that causes problems. Either through ignorance, complacency or inability. Our heat pump dryer was not drying ... we do the usual things that the 'care program' dictates but in the small print in the manual there's a paragraph that states 'clean the condenser'.. When I finally discovered where the condenser was it was absolutely full of fluff ...an hour with an old toothbrush and a bit of patience ... cleared all the fluff out and - miracle - worked perfectly. Dread to think what a man in to fix it would cost.

The washing machine shut down .. the error code said 'no water'. Actually, it was not 'No water' ... checked all the water inlets - no problem. Checked the exhaust hose - absolutely blocked solid with limescale and gunge (despite regulay use of Calgon). Cleaned and unblocked the hose ... worked a treat.

The trouble is that not all these 'problems' are always noted in the instruction manual... if you don't have the sort of enquiring mind and some basic DIY ability ... you are in the hands of the 'experts'...at whatever rate they choose to charge you - because you don't know enough to challenge them.. I had an 'expert' charge me £80 to tell me the dishwasher had a small leak and he considered it uneconomic to try and find where it was leaking and repair it ... I already KNEW the first bit and suspected the latter ... Could have saved myself £80 if I had followed my instincts !

 

[roche]

It's often simple lack of general maintenance that causes problems. Either through ignorance, complacency or inability. Our heat pump dryer was not drying ... we do the usual things that the 'care program' dictates but in the small print in the manual there's a paragraph that states 'clean the condenser'.. When I finally discovered where the condenser was it was absolutely full of fluff ...an hour with an old toothbrush and a bit of patience ... cleared all the fluff out and - miracle - worked perfectly. Dread to think what a man in to fix it would cost.

The washing machine shut down .. the error code said 'no water'. Actually, it was not 'No water' ... checked all the water inlets - no problem. Checked the exhaust hose - absolutely blocked solid with limescale and gunge (despite regulay use of Calgon). Cleaned and unblocked the hose ... worked a treat.

The trouble is that not all these 'problems' are always noted in the instruction manual... if you don't have the sort of enquiring mind and some basic DIY ability ... you are in the hands of the 'experts'...at whatever rate they choose to charge you - because you don't know enough to challenge them.. I had an 'expert' charge me £80 to tell me the dishwasher had a small leak and he considered it uneconomic to try and find where it was leaking and repair it ... I already KNEW the first bit and suspected the latter ... Could have saved myself £80 if I had followed my instincts !

I tend to think that sort of thing comes under the category of "basic life skills" along with using a saw or hammer...

 

[JamezF]

Well done, big pat on the back for that. Have we Sussex the cause ?

Nope. I plugged the replacement lock into the wiring loom and it failed to operate, so I guess that means there's an issue with the electrics for the central locking somewhere. I've checked the driver's side door (where the central locking controller lives) and can see no issues there, so the next obvious possibility is damage/wear to the cabling where it goes between the body and the passenger door and flexes whenever the door is opened or closed, but without being able to open the door there is no practical way to check that.

So, this morning I resorted to "operating" the existing lock with a lump hammer and cold chisel.

At this point I can replace the lock and reassemble the door sufficiently to get the car through an MOT without fixing the underlying problem. The door just won't lock. For the time being I'm relatively unstressed about that as it's quite rare that I'll be using the car anywhere that being able to lock it is an issue. Especially as once it has an MOT I will add little signs in the windows that say "May contain bees"

James