Duetto - next problem

Two door problems:  the sliding door will not open from inside or out - the lock seems to have jammed (I've tried it with inside lock on and off and it still won't open).  The area behind the outside handle is very rusty, so I am hoping it is just the lock that needs to be repaired and that it can be repaired, for if it is the handle part it might mean a whole new door!?  Has anyone had a similar problem and how did you deal with it?  

The driver's door handle has been a bit stiff to the extent that I sometimes think the door is locked, but it  isn't.  Today I put Three-in-one oil on the small springs within the handle, and grease on the catch.  So far with no effect, although it might need time to soak in, but I am wondering if the bit that is sticking is something between the handle and the catch that can't be seen.  Any thoughts on this?

Found this  might be of help

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David

Heanorboy wrote:Found this  might be of help

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Thats a very good find David. 

YouTube is excellent for these sort of things and given English wasn't the uploaders first language, he explained it very well. The first comment on that video may well be macvanessa's problem too....hope it solves it for him!

Thank you David - that video is excellent.  My van has manual central locking but in theory that remedy should work so I will try it later on today - the yard where the van is kept is not far away.

No further on with the door - I tried the various permutations of locked/unlocked/open etc first to see if anything would work without taking off the inside panel, but it didn't.  However, there is now a problem getting the panel off - the screw at the other end of the door - i.e. not the latch end - is inaccessible without either taking the door off or removing the rear passenger seat.  I think the panel could be held sufficiently far away from the door even with that screw staying in place to at least see what's behind it, but the second screw along on the bottom of the door has seized up and won't budge.  I will try to get some WD40 into it without getting it onto the fabric covering, but  I have my doubts about that.  The other problem is the door stop which appears to  be screwed right into the door and holds the panel in place.  I need a star screwdriver for that so will have to acquire one from somebody/where.  That is the plan, but does anyone have any hints about tackling this?

Hi

macvanessa wrote: However, there is now a problem getting the panel off - the screw at the other end of the door - i.e. not the latch end - is inaccessible without either taking the door off or removing the rear passenger seat.

I took my door panel off a few years ago when it door wouldn't open from the inside. I “traced” the fault to the child lock that I had inadvertently knocked on (fool or what?) . Sadly it won’t be quite that simple if the door doesn’t open from the outside either.

I remember the left hand screws were a bit awkward but I certainly didn’t take the seat out. Problem is I can’t remember exactly how I did it but it was either a dumpy screwdriver of one of those small 1/4” socket sets with a screwdriver bit fitted.

Inside you’ll find a cable arrangement like that in the video – nothing complicated - so it should be fairly easy to see what’s wrong.

Brod

Also a crank screwdriver I have used

Thanks Heanorboy and Brodco.  I will see what I can find in B&Q or Halfords.

Not much help to Macvanessa but his problem reminded me of the only door lock problem i've had (much to my huge embarrassment!) was a few years ago 'prepping' the van before leaving a site in Luxembourg to drive back to Dunkerque.

Closed the side door then heard the central locking activate and thought, "hmm that's odd, doesn't usually do that"......only to find the keys were on the front seat and all windows fully up! Oh brother!! 

I had to get a local 'key man' out pronto who used one of those fancy airbag kits to get an opening at the driver door, then slid a metal hooked cable to flick the door opener!

That's so easily done - too easily in fact.  You would think manufacturers could ensure vehicles don't self-lock.  My last car was capable of doing that so with it and with the current one, if the keys are left in the car e.g. when I get out to open the garage I always make sure the window is open far enough to get my arm in!  As for the van...the central locking system goes through such a song and dance sometimes that I never leave the van without having the keys with me, just in case.

A certain member of our family locked us out of the van once - just as the heavens opened and it absolutely bucketed down.

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She jumped up and put her paws on the dash to see what we were doing, and pressed the locking switch. The keys were still in the ignition, and we were outside getting soaked.

Since then I've got a spare hab door key hidden in a place where I can get at it fairly easily.

Bulletguy wrote:Not much help to Macvanessa but his problem reminded me of the only door lock problem i've had (much to my huge embarrassment!) was a few years ago 'prepping' the van before leaving a site in Luxembourg to drive back to Dunkerque.

Closed the side door then heard the central locking activate and thought, "hmm that's odd, doesn't usually do that"......only to find the keys were on the front seat and all windows fully up! Oh brother!! 

I had to get a local 'key man' out pronto who used one of those fancy airbag kits to get an opening at the driver door, then slid a metal hooked cable to flick the door opener!

Yes my Honda 2005 vintage had that "feature" you would press to unlock realise you forgot something and 10 secs later the doors all locked again
Treated myself to a Lexus last year and found it has a different feature, pulled into services bags loaded for weekend away tried to lock with touching handle and key fob dam thing wouldn't play ball. Lucky for me after about 20 mins another Lexus owner wandered over to ask if he could have a look at mine I told him my problem, What it was Maureen had packed spare keys in a bag in Handbag which was buried in boot, the vehicle will not lock with keys in unless start button press, simple, lesson learnt, good feature though.

macvanessa wrote:That's so easily done - too easily in fact.  You would think manufacturers could ensure vehicles don't self-lock.  My last car was capable of doing that so with it and with the current one, if the keys are left in the car e.g. when I get out to open the garage I always make sure the window is open far enough to get my arm in!  As for the van...the central locking system goes through such a song and dance sometimes that I never leave the van without having the keys with me, just in case.

Just as embarrassing, i had a spare set.....but they were locked away in the van safe! Only reason i take the spare set away is i don't like them left in the house when i'm off on tour...yet even if someone broke in my house, there'd be no van to pinch! It's just one of those 'odd things' old farts like me seem to do!

Possibly the best safety device i came across, i only heard of a few weeks back watching an episode of "999 Whats Your Emergency". An elderly chap was involved in a pretty serious head on collision on a small country road in a remote area. Airbags deployed in both vehicles and when he 'came to', emergency services were already on scene. 

His car was a relatively new BMW fitted with a device which 'auto dials' emergency services in event of a serious collision. Not only that, it also sends out the exact gps co-ordinates where the vehicle is.

"His car was a relatively new BMW fitted with a device which 'auto dials' emergency services in event of a serious collision. Not only that, it also sends out the exact gps co-ordinates where the vehicle is."

Now that is impressive - if a bit Big-brotherish!

  Re my original van problem - I managed to get the fabric door panel sufficiently loosened to access the opening mechanism today.  It is different from the set-up in the van in the Youtube clip so there was nothing I could do - I tried pulling on the rod which goes from the lock/latch to the other end of the door but it made no difference - it is as if there is something not releasing at that end.  I can't see anything amiss with the lock/latch bit.  I was going to remove the fabric panel at other end, but it looked as if the panel above has to come off first, and in turn another bit above that has to come off first etc etc................I the am taking the van up to the  M/home Repair centre tomorrow.  

macvanessa wrote:"His car was a relatively new BMW fitted with a device which 'auto dials' emergency services in event of a serious collision. Not only that, it also sends out the exact gps co-ordinates where the vehicle is."

Now that is impressive - if a bit Big-brotherish!

  Re my original van problem - I managed to get the fabric door panel sufficiently loosened to access the opening mechanism today.  It is different from the set-up in the van in the Youtube clip so there was nothing I could do - I tried pulling on the rod which goes from the lock/latch to the other end of the door but it made no difference - it is as if there is something not releasing at that end.  I can't see anything amiss with the lock/latch bit.  I was going to remove the fabric panel at other end, but it looked as if the panel above has to come off first, and in turn another bit above that has to come off first etc etc................I the am taking the van up to the  M/home Repair centre tomorrow.  

Probably a good idea as you've tried everything else. Let the forum know if they get it resolved for you and what the problem was.

Re. the BMW guy...indeed it is and it saved his life. Ironically he never knew such an item was fitted until after the accident. Apart from cost i can't see any reason why all car manufacturers, particularly new models, shouldn't fit this as standard equipment as it's not as though the technology is complex and it's been around for years, also the advantages are obvious. The more that fit it the cheaper it would become.

Can I join in the "embarrassing lock out" sub thread?

A few years ago we were camping in our Transit at the Austrian GP track. I slammed the slide door as I often did. Something was different this time though and the lock stayed and of course the keys were on the hook beside the door.

I did have one small window left open but I am the wrong person to even try getting in that way. The next 20 minutes were spent walking around the field asking in very poor German if we can borrow your child. Unsurprisingly none came forward. We did eventually find a boy old enough to understand what we wanted and his dad could speak more English than I could speak German. Unfortunately it was now dark and the boy didn't want to be put in a stranger's van. Somehow, and I'll never know how the dad did manage to squeeze through the small window.

€20 and a bottle of wine well spent.

Latest on the sliding door problem - it opens.   But how it opens now and why it didn't open for nearly two weeks I do not know.  I changed plan and didn't take the van to the M'home Repair place but asked at the yard where I keep the van if they would look at it as they do bodywork repairs on buses etc.  They looked at it yesterday - checked latch and lock, inside lock on/off etc and couldn't find anything wrong there - and the door had opened quite normally - there was nothing wrong with it either  The man there suggested it might have been frozen but there hasn't been any frost since before the last trip to Beadnell a fortnight ago, and as the door was fine when I set off from the yard, and when I was halfway there, but not when I arrived in Beadnell, it can't have been frost.  The only thing I can think of is that when I tried pulling the rod that runs from the lock/latch to the other end of the door it has possibly loosened up whatever it was that was stuck but it didn't take effect immediately.  I reckon I should put oil or grease onto the runners and any other moving parts on that door - I have 3-in-one oil and all purpose grease - can anyone tell me please is either of these suitable and which one should I use on which parts?

Although I owned mine for a long time, it's now 5 years since I sold it and I'm starting to forget how it was put together! I'm fairly sure that the sliding door runners are plastic rollers in a metal guide - if that's right you need to oil the part that allows the roller(s) to spin freely. You can also lightly grease the guide channel that it runs in, but that's always a bit of a compromise, as the grease tends to attract and retain grit and other crud - especially the lower one. So probably a good way to deal with that is to wipe the grease out of the guide channel and re-apply it every now and then.

For the other lock/latch parts, oil any pivots and lightly grease any parts where metal is meant to slide over metal. Do not oil or grease the parts where the key goes in - if that part of the lock needs lubricating inside, graphite powder is best.

If you have any lock/latch parts that have surface rust, the Tectane protective wax that Toolstation sells is pretty good - a bit like Waxoyl but a lot cheaper than their aerosols:

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Mine was 15 years old when I sold it and in that time I found all of the locks/latches to be very reliable - it sounds like you've just been a bit unlucky with it. The only one I had a problem with was the factory locking petrol cap, which seized solid and I had to use a sliding hammer on it so I could put some diesel in. But the replacement part was dirt cheap, all the way from Poland!

Thanks Mojo - I will oil and grease the various bits as you suggest.

I was away in the van on Thursday and Friday last week and the door was fine.  Stopped halfway back and still no problem, however, when I arrived back at the yard the door wouldn't open again.  I went back over on Sunday and took the door trim panel off again, tried moving anything moveable in the mechanism but nothing made any difference.  Finally, before I left I had one more try from outside.  I locked and unlocked the passenger side about half a dozen times, then opened the passenger door, then tried the sliding door and....lo and behold it opened quite the thing.  I do not know if it was the repeated locking/unlocking or having the passenger door open or neither of them that made the difference - it might just be coincidence.  However - now I come to think of it - I believe the driver's door may have been open throughout this operation.  Choirmaster - it might be worth trying that process,   This is something that may well happen again and I wouldn't be surprised if it is the  condition of the roads that's causing it.  I will monitor it and report back if it does happen and if either of the possible remedies works again.