I have owned my 2002 Octavia vRS for almost 2 years now, and it has always had a problem with the central locking, in that by remote the drivers door does not lock or unlock, but the rest of the car does. It hasn't been a problem up until now, as the door opened on the key (as well as the rest of the car), just struck me as a minor annoyance. I did look into it when I first bought the car, and was pretty sure it was water ingress into the drivers door.

On Saturday, I went to unlock the drivers door and the key just turned, it was as if it has slipped the lock, it just turns and turns and turns. As a result, I can't unlock the drivers door, let alone get it open to see what is going on! I've looked at a couple of threads about re-attaching the bowden cable, but I'm not sure that is the problem.

Anybody had a similar sort of trouble? I'm not sure where to start in opening the door!

Go in through another door and pull interior handle should unlock it

Pulling the interior door handle doesn't unlock the door. It lifts the lock pin as I pull it, but as soon as I let go, the pin drops back down.

sounds like its deadlocked closed, you may need to take the card off from the inside and access the motor to replace...not fun!

How do I go about taking the door card off without being able to open the door? Is there a guide anywhere?

you need to take off the handle, and the supporting bits ie speaker tweeter cover then literally break the card away from the door, hopefully you break the clips that hold it and not the door, you then have to get the motor out to replace.

Is it the actuator that is likely to be broken, or could it just be something has dislodged?

Is it the actuator that is likely to be broken, or could it just be something has dislodged?

by the sound of it the motor mech has deadloked closed.if you pull the handle from the outside do you get resistance?

It feels just as if the door is opening when you pull the handle.

Edited 20 June, 201313 yr by cypr12

then its deadlocked.

pull card off undeadlock/break out motor and replace with new.

Ok, I've finally got round to having a go at this, struggling to get the door card off, but can see part of the locking mechanism. How do I go about undeadlocking the lock? Breaking it out looks tricky, The key turns through 360 degrees still, does this still sound like a deadlocking issue?

Forgot about this thread, sorted long ago, shaft between lock and lock tumbler had sheared, bought a repair kit, all sorted now. Hardest bit was getting the door open!!