Hi guys. So I'm going to give a bit of context for this.

 

My car does NOT have a remote at all. It has central locking, and it only works from the front passenger door. The driver's side door works to lock/unlock the car only like 10% of the time WITH central locking (the red light thing), the lock works fine.

 

A few weeks ago, I tried unlocking the car from the front passenger door, and my key got stuck in the doorlock. Like, it didn't want to get out at all. I fiddled with it for a good 10 minutes with some silicone spray before I got it out. After this, the door could only be locked, but not unlocked, as it simply won't rotate. You'll see in the video what I mean. The key also struggled to get in and out.

 

Now, today, my front passenger door won't unlock at all. The lock thingy doesn't go up no matter what (from the inside button, from unlocking the car with the key, nothing), only when I try opening it from the inside but the door STILL won't open at all, even when holding the little pin thing up with my hand. It just doesn't want to open. From the inside, outside, whatever. I tried banging the door with my palm, but nothing worked. The key gets into the front passenger door fine, but doesn't do anything at all. Doesn't open or close the car. Nothing.

 

Now I have to lock-unlock the car from the front driver door, and it's quite a struggle since it doesn't work well. Not sure how long that lock will work either.
Unrelated, my trunk only opens sometimes from the outside, electronically. And the light inside doesn't always turn on.

 

Anyway, could you guys please help me? This is very embarassing because I have a long roadtrip soon with a few friends soon. My girlfriend also has to sit in the back now.

Here is a video demonstrating what's happening. If you need more footage I can film more.

I can tear down the door myself, but what do I need to look out for? Maybe something is misaligned or it's a simple fix?

 

Video: 

 

Nothing so far? I know there's some very talented people here who could give me some advice what to look for when disassembling the door. In a day or two I'll be finished with my exams and I'll be able to look into it, but if I don't know how the door works then it's a waste of time. I'm worried even more because the MOT is in April and it won't pass like that. I have a muffler to change as well, and a coolant leak that leads nowhere. I'd rather fix it myself because everyone knows students are broke af  

 

Okay, I'm stuck. How do I take the bottom bolts out if I can't open the door? I can't take the door card off.

1 hour ago, xyzal said:

Okay, I'm stuck. How do I take the bottom bolts out if I can't open the door? I can't take the door card off.

 

You'll have to get the door card off, you have no choice.

If you cannot work out how to take the doorcard off!  You haven't got a hope in hell doing the job!!

4 minutes ago, w.t100 said:

If you cannot work out how to take the doorcard off!  You haven't got a hope in hell doing the job!!

 

Mean. How would you take it off if you can't open the door?

 

The only way I can see is destructively, so maybe buy a matching spare first?

The door card should come off OK, the door seals sit against the door frame not the card, remove all the screws then pull it really hard in the bottom corner to get the clips to release, make sure the window is down, work your way round and lift the card to clear the window sill.

I was under the impression that the 3 screws at the bottom edge of the card were completely inaccessible with door shut, but a quick feel suggests they can be got at. Problem will be freeing the front quarter of the card as it overlaps the end of the dash quite a bit, with very little clearance. Destruction of some of the trim clips and fittings that hold them on the card seems likely.

4 minutes ago, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

I was under the impression that the 3 screws at the bottom edge of the card were completely inaccessible with door shut, but a quick feel suggests they can be got at. Problem will be freeing the front quarter of the card as it overlaps the end of the dash quite a bit, with very little clearance. Destruction of some of the trim clips and fittings that hold them on the card seems likely.

 

There aren't any screws at the bottom, only in the arm rest.

There are on ours!

Item 35 here: door trim panels - Fabia(FAB) [EUROPA 2005 year] (7zap.com)

Mine has them too. Albeit I'm missing two on my driver's door.

Isnt there a rocker switch on the centre console to lock/unlock all doors? Does that do anything? Or wasn't that fitted on the Mk1?

35 minutes ago, xman said:

Isnt there a rocker switch on the centre console to lock/unlock all doors? Does that do anything? Or wasn't that fitted on the Mk1?

 

There is one. It was fitted on the Mk1.

1 hour ago, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

There are on ours!

Item 35 here: door trim panels - Fabia(FAB) [EUROPA 2005 year] (7zap.com)

 

Ok, I took the panel off a week ago, it's still in the back of the car, I must have forgotten about them, my bad. It was my intention to refit it all this weekend but strong winds and heavy rain put the kibosh on that.

Yeah, the screws go into plastic inserts...

 

Edited 6 February, 20224 yr by TMB

Blimey, you've taken the lock off but left the loom in situ, it's very easy to remove the loom from the door and it's a good opportunity to inspect and repair any damage hidden in the rubber bellows.

30 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Blimey, you've taken the lock off but left the loom in situ, it's very easy to remove the loom from the door and it's a good opportunity to inspect and repair any damage hidden in the rubber bellows.

 

That's not my door. It's just a random pic off the internet.

Edited 6 February, 20224 yr by TMB

Thanks guys, but I have figured it out. 

I pulled the upper door card from inside with quick and small movements. Nothing broke, and I lifted the door lock thing really hard and tried opening the door at the same time. It worked.

Then I tried taking out the key lock with the 2 Torx screws from the side of the door and THAT was the problem.

The lock broke on the inside and couldn't spin the flathead end to rotate the locking system in the car. It was stuck in the CLOSED position, so it deadlocked the door from inside and outside.

With a flathead screwdriver, I rotated the inner door lock to OPEN, and sawed off the tip of the key lock temporarily until I bought a new one (If I will even bother).
Doing this has 2 consequences: You will not be able to use the key on that side as it won't work, but the door will open and close normally, yes even with central locking. It's just that the key won't do anything on that side.

Put everything back together, and it's good as new  I guess.

Here's some pics & videos.
In the second picture you can see how I pulled half the door card to un-deadlock the door.
First picture is how the key lock looks like now. No longer has the flathead tip. Thing was so brittle I sawed a quarter through it and the rest broke by hand. Terrible quality...

 

 

 

Edited 7 February, 20224 yr by xyzal

ALSO! If your speaker is rattling and makes a terrible noise, especially with bassy music, it probably looks like this. You need new speakers.

 

1 hour ago, xyzal said:

ALSO! If your speaker is rattling and makes a terrible noise, especially with bassy music, it probably looks like this. You need new speakers.

 

 

Mine looked like that. Just threw a set of 17cm Pioneers in, didn't cost much. Sound excellent too!

You can buy the repair kits for the lock. Like this....

 

On 07/02/2022 at 13:50, TMB said:

You can buy the repair kits for the lock. Like this....

 

Nice! Care to send a link or something?

22 minutes ago, xyzal said:

Nice! Care to send a link or something?

 

If you go on ebay and enter 'Skoda Fabia Door Lock Cylinder Repair Kit' you will see lots of them.

49 minutes ago, TMB said:

 

If you go on ebay and enter 'Skoda Fabia Door Lock Cylinder Repair Kit' you will see lots of them.

 

Can you type it for him, he can't be arsed.