hey,

I'm looking to upgrade my 1999 skoda felicia estate to a newer model some time soon but need to do some work on it in order to sell it. It has the common passenger side rear door problem where it simply doesn't open from the outside without a lot of brute force and a lot of patience. I tried taking the door panel off and having a look at it but i'm really not sure what it needs doing to it. The door has been broken for 5 months now and it has recently stopped locking/unlocking with the central locking as well which isn't too big a deal as it just remains locked.

The boot doesn't open at all without being opened by hand from inside the car. The boot release cable has snapped so that can't be used. I attempted to convert to electric boot release but unfortunately the lock appears to have been damaged by carrying large heavy items (fruit machines) in the back for hundreds of miles (it is bent and i'm sure there is something missing or soemthing that jsut isnt suppsoed to be doing what it is as it is really stiff. I have tried wd-40 with no luck. The msot annoying thing is that the key suddenly stopepd going in the lock, it goes in about 1cm then gets completly stuck, I can't work out why this is happening at all - it seems very odd as it was working one day then broken the next.

Apart from this the car is in pretty good condition, has done about 78,000 miles and is taxed and MOT'd. The headliner is missing though unfortunately but i have scouted one out from a scrap yard so will slip that in when i get a minute.

Oh yes, there is one more thing wrong with the car which happened yesterday and is quite a pain. I took the dashboard out to replace a bulb in the side light switch and when I put the dashboard back on I must have dislodged a wire somewhere as the speedometer and the mileage counter have stopped working, I don't really want to take it back off as it wasn't very much fun and I dont want to damage anything else but if Ianybody knows exaclty what needs doing to it I suppsoe i could give it a g.o I guess i'll have to get it fixed before I drive it really as i should imagine that is pretty illegal and not particualrly safe.

So yeah, any advice on how to fix any of these issues wold be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Jim

Edited 18 October, 201015 yr by feliciajim

Oh yes, there is one more thing wrong with the car which happened yesterday and is quite a pain. I took the dashboard out to replace a bulb in the side light switch and when I put the dashboard back on I must have dislodged a wire somewhere as the speedometer and the mileage counter have stopped working, I don't really want to take it back off as it wasn't very much fun and I dont want to damage anything else but if Ianybody knows exaclty what needs doing to it I suppsoe i could give it a g.o I guess i'll have to get it fixed before I drive it really as i should imagine that is pretty illegal and not particualrly safe.

The car is very illegal to drive with a non-functioning speedo (it's a stop and tow-away offence), however the big pain in the butt is you'll need to take the instrument cluster back out, undo the speedo cable from the gearbox, feed a few inches through the dashboard and re-connect it to the back of the speedo, then reassable the cluster, then put the speedo cable back in the gearbox. When I did mine on the (currently broken) Fun it didn't take long (10 mins or so). The cable is held in by a small plate, which is in turn held in by a 9mm (on mine) bolt. Bolt off, plate off, cable out in about 1 minute.

Is much quicker and easier than trying to get a hand up the back of the instrument cluster ;-)

Alex

you dont have to take the plate off to get the speedo cable out, just unscrew the knurled ring and it pulls out

... although if you have freakishly long thin arms like me it's far quicker and easier to reach up round the left-hand side of the steering column

I've never removed the cable from the gearbox to put the panel back in - I've found that if you pull the instrument panel out just enough to get a hand down the back of it, you can guide the tip of the cable to the speedo drive hole, and it should reconnect itself fully when you push the panel back in. That said, I'd probably recommend doing it the 'proper' way, plus I'd go further than Tom and actively advise against taking the retaining plate off - if you do that the speedo drive gear will almost certainly come out with the cable and it can be fiddly to put back in right.

p.s. be glad you don't have ABS and aircon, cause then it is impossible to access the gearbox speedo drive except from underneath the car. Makes topping up the oil fun...

For the rear door, try 'shutting' the lock with the door open (stick a big screwdriver in where the striker plate latch goes) - if it'll 'open' easily again then the striker plate/lock mechanism/door hinge positions may need adjusting so it all lines up properly. If not (I suspect the more likely case) then it's probably the internal lock mechanism needing a clean and lubrication - if the locking mechanism's a bit stiff then that's probably caused the central locking motor to overwork itself and burn out. You'll need a 2-pin (no switch) one if you want to replace it (any Felicia rear door motor is fine - they're not handed).

Edit: Favorit motors have the same part number too, so presumably would also suit.

If you dig up your old thread, I did post some boot lock pics there to compare with. Hopefully you can pinch the striker plate/internal release part and/or lock mechanism from that scrap donor too if necessary. The lock cylinder is fortunately an unrelated issue - sounds to me like it's either gunged up or got something jammed in it - I'd have an investigative poking with a cocktail stick.

Edited 19 October, 201015 yr by RobinSLXi

you dont have to take the plate off to get the speedo cable out, just unscrew the knurled ring and it pulls out

Ooooo, did on mine. Speedo cable has 2 "flats" in it, the plate stops them from turning. The knurled nut on mine just went round and round. Took the cable out by taking the plate off and just pulling the end of the cable out. :-S

Did it on both the V and X regs, although the ends of the cables look different. Did the trucks have different gear-boxes to the cars?

In a slight difference to what Robin and Tom have said though, if you take the whole thing out, you can check the fluid level while you've got your hands down there ;-)

Alex

Edited 18 October, 201015 yr by RainbowFore

Did the trucks have different gear-boxes to the cars?

no they are the same, if yours is just spinning round then it's probably fooked.. i've never had to remove the speedo cable before to remove the instrument cluster, and also regardless of what the haynes book of lies tells you, you also don't need to remove the steering wheel either.. as said above, just guide the speedo cable in when you put the cluster back in

Actually, if you have a driver's airbag, you do need to remove the wheel to be able to remove the top cover from the steering column (it's different to the 3-part cover on non-airbag models) - it's nigh on impossible to get the instrument panel out with that cover in place. I managed it once with plenty of brute force (and some resulting scuffs and scrapes to the plastics), but it wouldn't go back in again without resorting to the proper method.

Done it loads of times, mainly to change bulbs, you do not have to remove the steering wheel (with airbag)

Well then, I for one am certainly keen to know what the trick is for getting the panel past the steering column cowl without bending and scraping everything, for when I change my speedo cable soon

little bit of force at the right angle