Side door stuck closed- mechanism working.

[root-n-5th]

Hello all, again.

It seems my Bongo has to have at least one fault. It seems to be starting again now, which is a relief, but after a heavy downpour the other night, with the window slightly open, the side door will not open. It is not the child lock as it doesn't open from the outside either.

I have searched the forum and tried all of the suggestions but I'm stuck. I can't get the door handle off - have tried removing the horseshoe clip and after an hour have given up - impossible. so, I'm pulling the panel back and trying to poke around in the mechanism to the rear of the door. All the rods and rockers seem to do what they need to do. When the door closed, the occupant said that the auto-close mechanism kicked in without warning, so maybe this is locked on?

I can see the microswitch and it is in the closed position, but I can't open it as the white plastic cam above it is locking it in place. I have disconnected the battery, reconnected, worked the lock, hit it, kicked it and sworn a lot but it still won't budge.

Any ideas?

Many thanks,
Sam

[g8dhe]

You really need to get the clip off, normally long nose pliers or a length of wire with a hook turned on the end will extract it, but watch out that it doesn't ping-off and fly off somewhere never to be seen again!

[root-n-5th]

Panic over! Thanks for the reply. Turns out I had almost got the clip off - looked on other side and there was a loop that I could grab. So, handle off, bits of collar plastic everywhere so it probably won’t stay on, it that’s another issue.

The problem was the mechanism at the bottom of the door - it had not quite got to the furthest point of its arc from where it clicks back and releases the cable, that in turn moves the cam, that presses the micro switch. I pushed it to the right a millimeter and it swung back and released the cable. These fancy electronics are great until they go wrong.

The lining had come adrift so it may have let in some water. Will attach properly. Took the opportunity to put some sound deadening on the inside of the panel. Also noticed bottom of door is rusty so that needs treating. Lovely.

Thanks!

[g8dhe]

Sounds more like a mechanical problem! or has the door been opened whilst you had a flat or disconnected battery as that's the normal cause of these problems.

[root-n-5th]

I isolate the battery when parked. It normally doesn’t do the soft-close thing - I don’t want it to. Maybe I should remove the fuse too?

[g8dhe]

NO! That has the same affect! Can I ask why you don't want it to work ? The door when equipped with the soft close mech. is designed to work that way.

[root-n-5th]

After a power drain issue I now disconnect the battery when it is parked. I’m not bothered about the soft close mechanism working as I can close the door normally.

Sometimes though the soft close attempts to do its thing, and fails, even when the battery is disconnected. Where is it getting it’s power?

If I remove the fuse will it disable soft close?

[teenmal]

If you disconnect the BATTERY ( POWER) to the vehicle whilst the side door is open, once you close it you will not be able to open it when you reinstate the POWER. I think this is what Geoff is trying to tell you.

This might be useful information for other peeps.

Take care.

[g8dhe]

Yes its actually the closing of the door that fails, if power is disconnected for any reason, you open it once, works ok, then when it shuts the mechanism inside doesn't turn fully especially if the grease is a bit old and then it jams until manually released as you have found out ....