HELP! Door lock big problem

[Drogo]

Hi folks,

I have a problem with my 5s drivers door lock, basically its locked and I can't get it open with the key or from inside.

Have just spent 4 hours trying to get it open, got the internal door card half off to get to the back of the lock but can't work out how to flip the lock open. Nothing I pull, push or poke will release the thing.

Have searched MX5 forums, Miata.net and such with no joy so......... do any of you have any ideas?
Cheers
Dave

[DennisTheMenace]

The little spring at the top of the catch in the door has snapped , if you fish around the bottom of the door you might find it .

[Drogo]

Yea, I did find the broken spring and have taken it out but still can't get the lock open.

[DennisTheMenace]

Ive found this image and highlighted where the spring as popped out of , the catch needs flicking , its come to rest as it has no spring , so its not engaging the door handle move it either left of right and try the handle , it will work , but then to reopen you will need to do it again

[NiceCupOfTea]

Just fixed mine the other day - I was lucky enough to be able to get the door open though!

You will be able to see the lock through the inner door skin on the trailing edge of the door. At the top of it there are two metal loops and the spring should go between - hook it back on there and with luck it should be OK! Try moving the metal loops and it might open the door. Failing that, 10 mins of wiggling of the key in th lock should get it opened.

There's quite a few threads on it on mx50c.co.uk

[DennisTheMenace]

Mine went in the co-op car park in the summer , luckily roof was down so dukes of hazzarded it

[Drogo]

Thanks for the replies, off to the garage for another go.

[Drogo]

Right just got it open.
Tried the spring fix, no good. Managed to get a screwdriver in there and twisted somewhere and it popped open.

See pic (sorry phone cam). Is it broke?, (this is how it looked before my screwdriver did the trick).

[NiceCupOfTea]

Which way is up there?

I'm not sure that metal rod on the left should be like that. The metal ring is where one end of the spring should be, and the bit where the other end goes should be close by, further towards away from the door skin (if that makes sense).

[Drogo]

Picture is right way up but Mirrored.

My college has just found a pic a the lock internals and it looks like it's not busted, so going to have a go at taking it out and giving it a clean. I've got an idea the broken bit of spring is in the mechanism somewhere.

Thanks for all your replies.

Edited by Drogo on Friday 18th January 17:43

[Drogo]

Its sorted

It just needed LOTS of WD40 and the spring put back, work a treat now.

Lots of fiddling to remove and put back, now all I have to do is repair the door card.

Many Thanks for the replies
Dave

[GHW]

My passenger door has just done this too.. Can't turn the key fully on the outside, and can't push the lock across fully on the inside. It's going to be fun taking the door card off with the door locked shut :-(

[Drogo]

Sorry to hear it.

You just might be able to open the door. Try a combination of turning the key and moving the internal lock slider, just a thought.

With mine, getting the card open enough to get to the lock was painful, most of the clips busted and the holes in the card busted open.

[DennisTheMenace]

remove the armrest and other bits and unclip the door card from the back towards the dash , rotate it a bit and it will slide off the rmaining clips that you can pop out once the doors open

[NiceCupOfTea]

The passenger side outside handle has gone all floppy like the driver's side used to be before I fixed it... lock hasn't stuck yet, but who reckons the bloody spring has snapped that side now?

Where can you get a spring without paying 5 quid plus p&p from MX5parts like I did last time?

[cpas]

Mine did this too and it turned out to be the spring has just fallen out - was hiding nicely at the bottom of the door! I got the door open by fiddling with the internal lock and internal handle and by turning the key in the lock with the outside handle pulled. A combination of these eventually confused the locking bit to slide out of the way and allowed the handle to open he door. Good luck!

[GHW]

Mine's working again for now.. a bit of wiggling freed whatever it was that was stuck, now it locks and unlocks, opens and closes as before. The handle on the outside doesn't always spring back into place though, so I guess something is a little gummed up in the inside..

[NiceCupOfTea]

That's how mine is (pass side). I think the spring has gone but it seems to work without the spring sometimes.

The spring had gone AWOL in my driver's side door but it always unlocked from the outside, just the inside lock that, if used, would jam it.

[bicycleshorts]

DennisTheMenace said:

Ive found this image and highlighted where the spring as popped out of , the catch needs flicking , its come to rest as it has no spring , so its not engaging the door handle move it either left of right and try the handle , it will work , but then to reopen you will need to do it again

Massive thread bump, but Dennis, just to say this pic was a massive help to me last weekend!

[Drek]

I did mine last weekend and my top tip is find some locking medical forceps if you can, took me all of two minutes to fix!