Thread: Defender door stuck closed

Originally Posted by barney

I'll chime in.

On a recent trip, I had three defenders, my td5 90, a Puma 90 and a puma 110, all our back doors would not unlock. it was due to dust in the mechanism. I climbed through on mine and flicked the lock up - fixed, i did the same on the 110, but the other 90 had a cargo barrier, used an Umbrella to flick it up. I was briefly nicknamed "the Back-door Man"
Once I got them open, I sprayed the crap out of them with WD40.

But this doesn't sound like what your problem is.

A problem I get sometimes on my 90 is that the 2 stage latch on the rear door doesn't engage properly. The release handle on the outside has more movement than normal, it will travel about half way up before it engages. Normally it engages quite low in the recess.
I fix this by placing my hand on the outside of the door, as close to the locking mechanism as I can and give it a quick, hard shove and then you hear the latch click shut. You should then be able to unlock it as normal.
Don't know if this is your problem, but I hope it helps.

It's not the locking part of the mechanism - it's the unlatching bit.

However I do agree - I reckon if you sprayed a heap of brake cleaner into the lock and then a silicone or something like that I reckon it would be ok.

The problem is the way it failed. It just stopped working with no notice. It didn't play up for a while - it just locked solid and wouldn't release. I'm concerned that if we go away and this happens again I'll be in a real pickle. We have a cargo barrier, so if it did lock closed I reckon I'd have to remove the back seats, and then fold the cargo barrier down and unload the car through there. Even then I'd have to remove the back shelf as I wouldn't be able to get the door trim off with that in place. I reckon it would take half a day of swearing at least and I'm just not willing to risk it.

So the latest is the striker on the new lock is ever so slightly different and I can't close the door.

So - the answer is the new lock is fitted and the door is closing much better. I had to relieve the screws just slightly to allow it to move away from the latch a poofteenth but it's now closing like a new one.

We also now realise that the old one probably was giving out signs that it was on the way out. It required a big haul to open that the new one doesn't. I guess it sneaks up on you.