Originally Posted by
Woolly
Took our 2-door Rangie out for a club run on Sunday, stopped for a while on the way and went to lock up with the key. Driver’s door lock didn’t feel right when I turned the key so I tried to unlock it, but it wouldn’t, even after several tries and some pleading. Decided not to lock the other side, so for the rest of the day, I had to scramble in from the passenger side. The inside lock and handles had no effect either.
Only way I could get the door open was to cut through the bolt-like bit on the B pillar that the lock catches on. Took half an hour with a new hacksaw blade. Luckily those bits are the same as on the spare parts D1 I have.
Pulled it all out today and the mechanism all seemed to work ok on the bench so I did some cleaning and lubricating and started reassembling, checking as I added each bit. It all worked until I connected the interior handle rods, then it jammed again. After a bit of trial and error it appeared the rod going to the lock was not returning fully, and interfering with other bits. Further investigation found a broken spring in the bellcrank thingy that connects the rods from the handles to the rod that goes to the lock, and this should have returned it fully. I did a bit of creative engineering with a spring from my bits and pieces collection and it seems to work ok now.
So far, each time I’ve taken it somewhere, it has done something to add to the unpredictability of the outing. Wonder what its next trick will be!
Cheers,
Woolly.
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