Got home earlier, and went to lock my door with the key. It was stiffer than usual, and perhaps somewhat foolishly, I forced it as hard as i could, and it looked... No problem i thought. Went out again just now to find myself unable to unlock the drivers door at all - it turns but nothing happens. My only option is to embark on some amateur gymnastics and enter the car via the passenger side, as it won't even unlock from the inside - either via the button or by pulling the lever.... anybody encountered this before?

the cable that pulls the door handle inside the door card may have snapped? think this is the case on my bosses fiat panda, hes perfected the art of diving in through the passengerside. lol.

the cable that pulls the door handle inside the door card may have snapped? think this is the case on my bosses fiat panda, hes perfected the art of diving in through the passengerside. lol.

The difficulty is getting the door card off as I can't open the door!

I had a problem like this the other day, My drivers door froze open a few week back, But i was in and the door closed as normal but when i was getting out the door wouldnt open again the Gymanstics were needed to climb out of the passengers side.....Not cool

However it did fix its self later that day and started working normal.

All sorted! Called my insurance company and they sent out a local recovery firm who managed to get the door open by wiggling the door pin and the handle.

After he left I removed the door card and fiddled about to see what i could see - after an hour or so, we realised we were barking up the wrong tree - we accessed the lock by an entrance on the outer edge of the door, unscrewed the star shaped screw and out popped the lock! It was then a case of swapping with the one on the passenger side, which now works fine - i won't be attempting to use the key in the passenger door now though!

If anyone else has this problem it may be a good option to do this rather than go to the hassle of replacing the lock barrel!

Only problem is the MOT states that the front doors must open inside and outside. If the locks were never lubricated with white lithium grease as specified in the service schedule I wonder if having done this would have prevented the problem.

The door barrells do fail, they break internally, not to expensive to get a new one, a dealer can order one to your key from the chassis number.

Same happened to mine.

Good to know for future reference..... I was thinking as they needed to be coded to the key they would be pricey.

Both doors do now open inside and out, just not sure about locking/unlocking from the passenger door?

Locking or unlocking by key does not matter for MOT, so long as it can be opened - same applies to driver's door as I had a knackered lock barrel on my previous car so installed a cheapie central locking kit and remote control unit.. MOT tester was happy with it.

Edited 28 December, 201015 yr by anewman