Skoda Octavia Estate 2004 Diesel Rear Door Lock Not Working

This is an offering, not a question.

My car is a 2004 Diesel Octavia Ambiente Estate. The symptoms started as intermittent working when trying to lock and unlock the car. The door in question was the the right hand rear or offside passenger door. It then turned into not being able to open the door from the inside of the car, regardless of the door being locked or not.

The problem is the locking mechanism and/or the motor. You do not need to determine which is at fault because they are integral units and can be replaced brand new for about £20-£25 for spares off of ebay. The whole job is about 2 hours and the only specialist tools you will need are a Torx T15 bit for the screws around the panel and to remove the cable from the door handle (come back to that later) and a M8 spline bit. I got mine as part of a set from Laser (Spline Bit Set 6 piece with 3/8 adaptor)

I tried working from the Haynes manual but it is not as clear or helpful as it could be. The bit that got me stuck for a bit was removing the mechanism once the two main screws in the end of the door were undone. Inbetween the two screws or within a few cm of them there is a blanking plug. Pry this off with a screwdriver. In the whole there is a screw that can be undone with the T15 Torx bit but you will either need an extra long bit or a thin extension as normal extensions are too fat. I guess you could drill it bigger! Also, the screw is not parallel to the door so you will be putting your screwdriver in at a slight angle. To give you an idea, put the screwdriver in parallel to the door then move the back end of your screwdriver a little towards the back of the car, that is the orientation the screw is in. If you have a torch and look in the hole you will see what I mean. Once that screw is undone a few turns ..........DO NOT TAKE IT OUT........the blanking plate to the left of the outside door handle will come away. This will reveal the cable end and you can pick it out the handle assembly with a screwdriver or long nose pliers. Removing the bars, cables and other attachments are quite self explanatory but then I can say that having done the job!

The replacement will not come with spare cables so do not throw the old one away until you have removed two cables, one long, one short from the old one and fitted to the new one.

Top tip, do not secure the new mechanism until you have fitted the small cable to the door handle as it can get stuck or folded away while inserting and impossible to find later.

Overall a reasonably simple job but happy to help with information for those that are stuck. Email me alan.....at....icam....ltd---co---uk