side door woes ... desperate!

[nicstrike]

why do things always go sh.. shaped when you least need it. stick with me on this one please.i picked the bongo up from a tidy up at the bodyshop today and we supposed to be going away tomorrow. we have never had a moments trouble with the side door but upon getting it home and having successfully open and closed it a couple of times the self closing mechanism has decided to go south! the rear edge of the door will not be persuaded to close in any shape or form. the age old law of sod meant this happened after the bodyshop had closed (so I couldn't enquire whether they had any issues) , it had come in dark (no third hand to hold torch) and I decided to walk away before I took a hammer to the interior handle! grrrrr.

i have done as much as i could in failing light. checked fuse no 17 , fine. cleaned contact pins on pillar and door. gave inside of door at front edge a bl00dy good thump but all to no avail.

it will be an early start to try and sort this out but does anyone have any suggestions as to what else i should be looking for? please don't link me to a fact sheet in the members area , i am not currently a member , though i have been previously and time is really not on my side with this one!

[helen&tony]

Hi
Probably no help at all...BUT, it did happen a couple of times to me....the rear edge of the door was open, and it neither opened or closed...the cure for me was to get my fingers under the rear edge, an pull the door handle as if to open it from the outside, while tugging hard at the rear
Sorry, It's the only times I've had such a problem
Good Luck
Cheers
Helen

[nicstrike]

not sure if its the same thing either? the front latch will just catch but i don't think the rear one is properly engaging. when the whole thing is working normally the door will close easily onto both catches the is just pulled in the last couple of mm by the motor. now it is not getting that far in the first place , so having sat and consumed a bowl of brain food (second day stew ... delicious) im wondering whether it is more mechanical than electrical as it is not actually reaching the "pull in" point? i'd be surprised if it was a seized latch as i tend to lube them all up on a fairly regular basis but wont rule it out until i can get in and see what what.

the day gets better ... the dishwasher has expired aswell ... what will disaster #3 be?

[ELZE]

Not wanting to add to your already orrible day but they say things always happen in threes

[Simon Jones]

It may depend what the body shop was doing. Were they doing anything near the door or wheelarch? Also, if the battery is disconnected, then can cause problems with the self closing mechanism.

[nicstrike]

whole side painted but it was working...or at least shutting more or less into the recess. i don't know about the battery as by the time the problem reared its ugly head they were closed and i couldnt pose the question. i have had the battery disconnected many times before without issue. what specific problem does this case?

good new though....i think i may have cured the dishwasher......wheres that "fingers crossed" smilie?!!

[Simon Jones]

Not sure why disconnecting the battery or having it go flat causes a problem, but several folk have experienced issues as a result.

[g8dhe]

Its normally if you have the battery disconnected and then open/close the side door it gets out of sync. and needs the thump in the middle trick, to release the microswitch and complete a full cycle.

[nicstrike]

that'll be first job in the morning then...give it a proper thrashing!!

ps. premature celebration over fixed dishwasher.....

[briwy]

You're in good company

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv0onXhyLlE

[nicstrike]

it came close to that briwy!!! I managed to get it working nicely in the end. not exactly sure how ... but it works now. when I get a bit more time i'll post up some piccies and tips. it is a bit of a faff to get in there but once you have done it once , its not tooooo bad. all the banging did nothing , in the end I played around with the ratchet mechanism on the leccy motor assembly itself and that got things going nicely. thanks for the suggestions guys.

[nicstrike]

as promised (would have been sooner but this is the second time typing as just as I finished the first draft I got thrown out ... grrrr!!) , a few pointers as to how I got into the side door but not exactly how I fixed it ....as i'm still not sure!

having tried all the previously suggested thumping manoeuvres , there was no option but to go in.

first job is to remove the top trim. i'm fortunate enough to have a proper tool ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sykes-Pickava ... 2a33babe0c ) but you could use an old chisel or screwdriver with a bit of tape around to save marking the paint. gently prise the trim off towards you and then lift it off the lock button. if the square trim clips have decided that they don't want to stay attached to the trim , the little tabs can be gently bent over to tighten them up for re-assembly.



next to come off is the interior handle. as described previously , the clip can be hooked off with a piece of bent wire but I also had one of these ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WINDOW-WINDER ... 43bd6b4ae4 ). it took me a while to realise that you need to look BETWEEN the rear of the handle and the backing washer to be able to see the clip. I simply pushed the tool up behind the handle (the clip was fitted at 12oclock) and then pulled the handle off the spindle.



the main panel is fairly straightforward to come off but you may need to work from the inside and the rear of the outside too. use a tool of some sort to lever beside the clips to avoid tearing the card backing of the trim around the clip. there is one clip in the middle of the panel but it all comes away easily enough.

finally the best bit .... the membrane ... or rather the minging black mastic that holds it on! good luck...its beastly!!

having finally got in to the innards , I pushed , pulled , thumped , twanged and twiddled everything I could see but all to no avail. finally I cycled the arm on the front of the motorised drive assembly a few times and this seemed to put everything back into "sync". this assembly is connected to the rear lock (which was the problem one) by a cable. while I was in there I threw a little lubricant around before re-assembly.



hopefully this will help you get in to the innards of the door if not help much with the diagnosis once in there.... as I still don't know what I did...but it its still all working well.

[NathM]

the bongo has 2 latches and sounds like you rear one wasnt open and if the auto close mechanism has died its possible to close the latch when you try n close the door and by cycling the mechanism you release or 'unlock' it.


Nath

[nicstrike]

a couple of months on , all is still good , so must have been a "glitch" following its trip to the bodyshop!

[Bob]

Thanks for the update, glad its ok.