D2a rear door won’t open

**wardy1** · 10th August 2018, 09:09 AM

The other day the rear door decided not to open. Did all the normal things with CRC etc but no joy.
Climbed in the back to operate the internal handle and still nothing. Removed the interior panel to get a better look, pushed down on the lever, still no joy.
Ended up at the roadhouse (Birdsville) and the guy there spent about an hour trying to get things moving. He discovered that a small linkage had broken. He was unable to move the lever at the catch with his fingers.
Problem is, to replace the catch requires the bloody door to open!
Any ideas?

**Eevo** · 10th August 2018, 10:46 AM

check the child lock and cycle it a few times. it doesnt sound exactly like ur issue but it is a common fix.

**Chops** · 10th August 2018, 12:26 PM

Can’t you remove be the logo at the handle and get to it from there?? I vaguely remember something about that. If that’s not quite right, you may need to disassemble the whole handle mechanism or possibly the hinges at the other side maybe (??).

**wardy1** · 10th August 2018, 01:59 PM

I tried the logo but that’s not where the problem is, it’s right up in the corner above the central locking actuator.
No way you can access the hinges with the door closed..... this ain’t a defender LOL

**wardy1** · 10th August 2018, 02:01 PM

Looked at disassembly but removing the handle from outside there is still a sheet of metal.. no way of getting to the catch through there

**AK83** · 10th August 2018, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by wardy1

..... Removed the interior panel to get a better look, pushed down on the lever, still no joy.
....
Any ideas?

Sounds like it's locked and won't unlock.

You have the door card off and can see both levers.
Long one releases the latch(to open door) shorter lever is the locking mechanism.
Is the shorter mechanism in the upper or lower position all the time?

For clarity we'll call this lever the metal lever: If it's down, then it's locked, if it's up but doesn't stay up and drops down when released then the lock actuator is stuck in the locked position.
The metal lever acts on a few levers in the inner corner of the entire mechanism, one of those mechanisms is a plastic lever that operates the actual lock in the mechanism.
The so the metal lever(that connects to the door lock button via wire linkage) won't necessarily 'unlock' the door if the lock is uncooperative, it pushes downwards on the plastic lock lever that will unlock the mechanism.

I'll try to get a photo of the lock mechanism of the area you will need to triple check. This will help to feel the area for the plastic lever you need to confirm is in the downward position for the mechanism to be properly unlocked.

If you have the door trim off, you can wriggle a finger in behind the locking lever up into the top RH corner of the lock mechanism and 'feel' the plastic lever that the metal. You'll probably need to use your left hand. remove both wire linkages from their levers to release the lock button and the rear handle levers. You hand will need to go around and behind these up into the top RH corner. The part of the plastic lever you need to push downwards is pretty much inline with the door trim recess/hole that holds the trim clip in the top RH corner.
So if you can feel your finger to roughly that area of the door, feel for a lever oriented horizontally, use your middle finger to feel for this part of the plastic lever.
As you try to push it down, your hand will minimise the free travel of the short metal lock lever, so it's balance of stretching your hand enough and allowing free movement of the metal lock lever.
If you do this and successfully force the plastic lock lever down, you'll know this as the metal lock lever will now be in the downward position of it's travel.

If this is what your problem is, then once you have the lock unlocked, then push the longer handle lever downwards and push on the door. The catch mechanism should then release.

I'll try to get a photo ASAP to help visualise what may be the issue.

I can't see what other linkage, broken or not that will cause the door not to open.

**wardy1** · 11th August 2018, 10:37 AM

Thanks so much for this detailed answer

. Blake the mech at the roadhouse is working on it now. He was VERY impressed

.
This forum still amazes me even after all these years

**AK83** · 11th August 2018, 12:29 PM

Some pics(easy as I have mine out of my parts D2).
Note that we can only hope that LR haven't changed the mechanism from the D2 to the D2a tho!!

20180811_130029.jpg
This is the orientation that the lock is in, if you're inside the car and the door is closed.
Note that the small metal lever is in the unlocked up position, and note the posi of the small child lock tab in the upper right. The red arrow is a rough location of where the plastic lock lever will be as you 'feel it'.
unless you have a small enough mirror to get into behind the mechanism, whilst in the door, you just won't see it.

Hopefully the next two images of the actual possible issue will help:
20180811_130057.jpg
Lock from behind. this is now the locked posi, metal lever down, and the plastic lever extension where the red arrow is shown.
This will be the plastic lever that can lock the mechanism, even tho you pull the metal lever upwards to unlock it.
Note where the metal lever connects to the plastic section is a spring, this is a pivoting section, so if the plastic section is up(locked) pulling the metal lever upwards only pivots on the more important plastic section. it doesn't specifically pull the plastic section down.

20180811_130106.jpg
Same view in the now properly unlocked position. The grey arrow in both images is a reference to the grey metal link to the door lock button.
Note how with the metal lever up, the plastic lever is now down.
Like I said, manually moving the metal lever has no effect on the important plastic lever that does the actual locking! Only way I can get this mechanism in this position is to push the plastic lever(red arrow again) down.
This obviously releases the lock and the long lever now actually releases the door lock clamping arm.

if this helps you to open the door, I suspect that either the (integral) central lock motor thingie in the mechanism is shot, or maybe a BCU/wiring issue.
I don't know how it operates exactly, but in the car and connected to it's electrical plug, the lock works fine(to be used in another D2 one day).
But out of the car and not connected to its power plug now, the locking mechanism doesn't work .. I suspect it's operation is dependent on power/connection etc, to the BCU.

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