Hello,

When arriving at work, the passenger tried to open the door and somehow pulled the handle while the small, locking part of the handle stayed in position.
So now the door won't open from the inside or the outside. The door handle stays permanently in a 'pulled' angle. I can't push it back so that it's in the same line as the small part, and I'm afraid that if I push it harder, something will break.
Often when I open the doors with the keys, it'll start locking-unlocking the doors for a couple of times.

Anyone had this problem before?

 

The interior handle is connected to the lock by a wire cable and it sounds as if the cable has become detached from the lock.

If the door is unlocked you should still be able to open it from the outside.

Can you hear the lock moving when you press unlock eg with the button on the dash?

Do you double lock your doors?

 

When I fiddle with the door handle and small lock button from the inside, and my brother does the same with the handle on the outside, we could open it after a while, but I didn't have time to remove the door panel and start working on it.

Opening the door from the outside or inside alone does nothing. I can lock/unlock the doors but it keeps unlocking/locking itself for about 5-6 times every time.

I have always had an x308 and just have my x350 for about a week. My handbooks etc are in German, unfortunately. That's the fourth language I can speak, but the car specific terms are quite difficult. I have seen something about double locking, but I don't really know what that's all about.

What I find strange is that the passenger door didn't automatically open when the handle was pulled from the inside. In the attachment you can see a photo of the door handle's current, permanent position.

 

You can download a copy of the owners manual (in English!) from the sticky at the top of

the x350 page.

You are lucky that you are able to open the door.

You will need to remove door card then moisture barrier to gain access to the

actuator to replace cable on the actuator but it may be that the plastic body

has broken in which case you will need to replace actuator.

I have photos which I will post if you need them.

Do not use double locking in case the actuator fails in that position.

 

Yes, photos would help. Where can I find an actuator or cable? And is this going to be costly? I will try to do it myself..

 

Used actuators are available on E bay uk but you have to get the right one.

Door locks are stamped FORD so that helps and I know that a 2006 Mondeo lock fits- you can get these for as little as 10 GBP.

Will post photos when time permits.

 

Door lock actuator images

 

Hello,

it is a common problem. I had it twice on both doors. You may open the door if you use the remote key and another person pulls from inside the handle meanwhile.

As the door is open it is a minute job to remove the door panel. The cable is hanging out from the handle and you have to reconnect it. To prevent further deconnections I recommend to bent the cable a little bit towards the handle connector (upwards or downwards, I can't remember). So the problem is cured.

Sorry for my bad English.

Tom

 

Hi,


I have a similar problem to that originally posted by Levyn Leenen.


My passenger pulled the internal door handle on the offside rear door. The door would not open and the handle remained sticking out, as in the photograph in Levyn Leenen's original thread.


I have tried various combinations of holding/not holding the internal and external door handles while operating the remote, but I cannot get the door to open at all.


The internal door handle and the little chrome locking part both move when I operate the remote key.


From the original thread it appears that Levyn Leenen was able to get his door open and therefore get into the lock mechanism, but I cannot get my door open.


The car is a 2003 XJ6 V6 X350.


Has any one had the same problem; and if so how did they resolve it.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

"The internal door handle and the little chrome locking part both move when I operate the remote key."

That sounds as if the actuator is trying to unlock but can't because the cable is out

of position.

What does the exterior handle feel like? Does it feel like a locked door?

Have you tried operating the remote, pulling the exterior handle and waggling the interior handle all at

the same time? Need 3 hands!

BTW are you in NZ?

I have never had this problem fortunately but have had doors and actuators to bits.

 

Thanks meirion1 for your reply and information - it is very much appreciated. BTW I'm in the UK.


I've included some photos and information to help anyone else, who encounters this problem.


I managed to get the door open using the technique you suggested. It was a bit fiddly at first, but once you get the knack, it is quite straightforward.


I removed the door trim card following the information in the workshop manual from the X350 sticky. I had difficulty removing the bottom nylon fastener (underneath the trim card) and ended up carefully cutting the head off with a sharp wood chisel. I found it easiest to first pull the top corner (nearest the internal door handle) of the door card away from the door. It needs a good firm pull to get started, but once the first couple of fixings are out of their sockets it comes off quite easily. The fixings are quite robust and none of them broke during removal. Once all the trim card fasteners are out of their sockets, there is one electrical connector, which needs disconnecting; and the lock cable needs disengaging from the handle, to fully remove the trim card.


With the door trim card fully removed, it could be seen that the problem was a mechanical one; and the smaller of the two chrome levers (the one that connects to the lock cable) appeared to be out of position.


The door handle assembly is secured to the back of the trim card with two screws and has an electrical connector for the integrated audio tweeter. Once the two screws are removed, and the audio connector disengaged, the door handle assembly (Photo 1) can be completely removed.


Photo 1 shows the door handle assembly and the relative positions of the large and small door handles, as it came off the car. Point A in Photo 1 is where the lock cable nipple gets inserted.


Photo 2 shows the door handle levers from the back, as it came off the car. The part marked A should sit inside the cavity marked B. There was no signs of damage to the mechanism, but I could not readily get part A back into the part B cavity, without some gentle levering with a screwdriver. It was not obvious how the two levers got dislocated.


Photo 3 shows part A correctly re-located within the cavity at the back of the larger of the two handle levers.


After reassembling everything, the door locking system worked perfectly.


Thanks again.

 

Thanks for the follow-up. That's good information to have.

 

Thank you, for posting this. Happened to me, had to crawl out the other door, I am a big bloke so not fun. It worked a treat, but I don't know why it happened. Could not see how it could jump the groove.

 

This is the second time this has happened to me on the front passenger door.
Interior handle stuck out the outside handle not operating anything.
Yes you have to keep jiggling the locking buttons on the key flop and operating the door handles until the door pops open, with much relief.
Once opened the problem was the same as before and as described earlier the small locking and unlocking lever and the door opening lever have jumped over one another not allowing the opening lever to fully return.
The first time I did as everybody else's, used a screwdriver to prise it back over.
As this was the second time this has happened I decided to look deeper, and the cause of the problem is the hinge pin for the opening lever had worked its way out of its lower register allowing too much lateral movement on the door opening lever.
It's only retaining method is a mild interference fit in the top register which is in plastic and gravity.
So now I have replaced the hinge pin and used a little bearing fit in the top register, not certain how well that will work with plastic, so I've also cap the top of the hinge pin and the plastic register with some Araldite. Though you cannot use to much as you will see the locking lever passes partly over it.
I did look at other ways of doing this and the only way I can see other than buying a new handle case is to make up a longer hinge pin that passes below lower register to allow a small split pin or piece of wire to be passed through to stop the hinge pain sliding up.
Bill.

 

Hello, first of all thanks for the excellent explanations how to fix this annoying door-issue, that has just today also caught up with me.

Has one of you observed if the stuck locking mechanism will allow the locked car to properly shut down all it‘s electronics?
Background is I won‘t be able to fix this before next weekend, and if any signal from the door would keep all the gizmos in the car from properly falling asleep that would mean the battery is dead by then. But when I disconnect the battery now I have to adjust all the radio stations and windows again after a week, somtrying to avoid that.

 

I am guessing it will not be a problem but leave the car unlocked.

 

Well, exactly that seems not possible
The car is jumping back to locked immediately after pushing the unlock button. I can only access it with the driver-door key at the moment.

I'll just take my chances and hope that no funny contact tells the whole machine to stay awake at the price of a constant 1A flow out of the battery

 

"The car is jumping back to locked immediately after pushing the unlock button"

That is most probably because the cable is too tight/out of position/jammed.

 

When I bought my car, one of the problems was that the driver's inside door handle didn't retract back flush with the door, but stayed sticking out. The problem was that the handle is retracted by a torsion spring, a bit like a hairpin or clothes peg. My spring had fractured. I was able to disassemble the mechanism and make a spring out of a compression spring I had in my oddments box. It's been fine since.

 

Re alligned.

Plus its inportant to know which way door strip comes off is to slide it Forward so its L shaped pegs can be released off the door card. First take off the latches innder back torx screw under its black cap. Then lever off the chrome surround and then the strip by prising the front and sliding it forwards. See pic of its rear.



To complete taking door card off door, simply inscrew the cross jead screws on door handle and the plastic one on bottom of door card and prise off the card using a long screw driver being careful near the door dpeaker. Card just un clicks off ots grumets and you have access to the tear of the latch.

Learning points is to only use central consol or fob unlock buttons to unlock any door that has not unlocked when drivers door was opened with its key,
and not to use inner small chrome lever at all. Then use doors inmer chrome lever to open the door as usual. Hope that helps others with this issue.