How to open rear door?

[wigitt]

I drive on dusty gravel roads all day long and intermittently the rear door has been jamming up so it can not be opened.
Now it has jammed solid and no amount of persuasion has succeeded. I have removed the internal door lining, broke every securing stud, brilliant, and still can not see away to open this thing. I have removed the back logo and bolt inside, but this did nothing or provided no access to anything. I have sprayed everything I can reach with compressed air, electrical contact cleaner and then CRC, including between the seal about where the door catch would be.

Any help appreciated.

I have had my D1 for 8 years without missing a beat, this D2 thing is a never ending money and problem pit. It will be going for trade in in the New Year, but still need to get into it for now.

Help, thanks.

[Blknight.aus]

cycle the central locking a few times then while maintaining a slight rearwards pressure on the door yank at the handle on the outside. IF you can get to the inside resting your foot up against the door while you repeatedly open the internal handle is the most effective method.

Once you have it open wash in hot running water dry with compressed air and then lube with powdered graphite or a dry set lube. If you use the dry set lube be sure to keep operating the mechanism while it dries. you can heat it to about 50 degrees C to accelerate the drying process

Dont use a liquid lube on it, that just attracts more dust and exasperates the problem.

[Nanna Truck]

Have the same problem, have removed all components and cleaned / serviced and checked. Works for a few months then locks again.Best method so far is to lightly pound the outside door handle with a rubber mallet whilst holding the lock release handle up. Last time sprayed all components with Lanotech, let it dry and so far no further problems.

[wigitt]

Thanks for the advise, bought some graphite powder and dry lube stick from Repco, so I guess I will carry some tools and surface cleaner around until it decides it will open so I can do something about it.

[alien]

From my reading on this minor issue it appears the child lock lever drops slightly.
This causes the handle to not conect.
The dust stiffens up the workings.

To open try...
Cycling the door locks while driving on rougher roads,
Gently hitting the door handle suround on the badge,

These 2 methods have worked for me twice.

[BigJon]

When I worked at a Dealer the technique was to carefully hook the door seal out from the inside of the car and operate the child lock lever a few times. They always opened after that.

[Slunnie]

I find that the outside handle gets stuck in the open position. I cycle the locking and try to force the handle back out - you may also try banging the handle cover with your fist too.

To prevent the the problem - but not solve it, whenever you open the boot door, push forward on it and while still pushing then squeeze the boot handle lever to release it before pulling back to open the door. Never have problems opening the door when I do it this way.

[wigitt]

Thanks for all the advise. Got it open today. Every time I pulled up I would get out and give it a yank. It opened today, so I spent the time to clean it all up with electrical contact cleaner, reassembled and applied lots of graphite powder to the mechanism and dry lube to the catch bar.
Tried opening and closing it at least 50 times with no problems, so I applied more graphite powder.
This will become a weekly event from now on.
Thanks again.

[alien]

Thanks for all the advise. Got it open today. Every time I pulled up I would get out and give it a yank. It opened today, so I spent the time to clean it all up with electrical contact cleaner, reassembled and applied lots of graphite powder to the mechanism and dry lube to the catch bar.
Tried opening and closing it at least 50 times with no problems, so I applied more graphite powder.
This will become a weekly event from now on.
Thanks again.
Good to hear you have it sorted:)

And thanks for the reminder, only been 12 months since I powdered mine.

[jwb]

Hi, the lock mechanism can and does also fail and need replacing. This happened to me at the start of a remote trip - was replaced under warranty at the time. Don't know what the failure mode is though, it's been fine since with the cleaning regime noted above.

I also found that if the door is pulled in overly tightly on the adjustment it can fail to open - hence Slunnies method of pushing on the door when opening works.

[John W]

I too have done a lot of time in the dirt. I find that if I throw my body at the rear door to make sure that it is shut properly then throw my body a second time and pull on the latch handle at max compression it will open. Next is to hose out all the fittings with water and then remember to keep repeating the wash outs as long as you drive in dusty conditions there will be no trouble. Frequently use a cycling water bottle to squirt water if out bush.

[rusty05]

I too have had similiar problems when doing large holiday K's on dirt.
Problem is I have rear cargo barrier, so cannot get in the back at all if its stuck. Major problem when the food and beer are in there.

WD40, no difference at all.
Also noticed as well if push the door a little inwards as mentioned helps alot!

I havent played with the kiddy lock and will also keep this in mind.
A few weeks after being back in civilisation, it returns back to normal.

Thanks guys.

[BMKal]

It's not just a Disco issue either.

The minesite I'm on at the moment (Nullagine) has about a dozen Playdo's. Almost every one of them suffers the problem of rear door lock sticking. Great when you've got a flat tyre (regular thing out here) and your jack and tools are in the back - and they've all got cargo barriers.

Back on Disco's - I've only ever had the problem described by Simon - and a regular dose of graphite powder seems to keep this at bay.

[rusty05]

What about silicon spray?

Do you think this would help here.