Technical Door lock problems.

[bris]

I have a 2011 Panda Active 1.2. The door central locking doesn't work properly.

When you turn the key it opens the doors ok but it doesn't spring back to the upright position so when I take the key out the door won't close and the central locking activates again and locks the other doors. To close the drivers door I have to use the internal handle before it catches on the latch.

I just got the car and was aware of the problem but looking for advice on how to fix it. Is it right that the key should spring back when you turn it? And is so I suspect the spring has broken but when I dismantled it all there is no sign of a broken spring. Is it in the actual barrel? Where is the spring located.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[irc]

Are you sure it is the keyhole causing the problem and not the pull-up handle?
Just tried my doors, and you can't take the key out unless it is reasonably central.
On the other hand, 2 of my doors don't shut properly unless I push the outside handles down.

If your handles are OK, I suspect that either one or more of the internal mechanism rods is misplaced or the lock mechanism itself is damaged or faulty. Or you have some grit in the lock barrel, but I have not had grit problems on a drivers door lock. Yet...

(Yes, I know the handles are an easy fix but this is Norfolk and theres loads of c**p on the roads at the moment...)

 

[bris]

Handles are fine and internal rods are fine. I have to manually turn the key back to the central position to take it out but then the latch doesn't engage.

I am wondering why the key doesn't automatically spring back to the central position and how to fix it. thanks for the reply.

 

[ArthurM]

Re: Door lock problems

Hi bris, you could always try a good quirt of WD 40, you never know

 

[irc]

Has the door had accident damage?
Just remembered that our Active Eco had problems with central locking when we bought it. It had a "light scrape" on the drivers door which turned out to have bent the door internally (pulled the frame a couple of millimetres towards the front). I replaced the door (as it was always part of the plan) so I had forgotten about it, but I remember it being a pain as there was no remote control so key was the only option, and I think it did similar things to yours. Sorry about being a bit vague but it was only like that for a couple of days so didn't really stick in the mind.

 

[BigAdam]

This might be a 4 year old post, but its the only one I could find on it.


So this is whats up.


In the door handle mech, at the end of the key barrel, is a torsion spring. This little spring is inside the end cap of the lock were the key goes.


Its either snapped (which mine did) or worked its way through the plastic cap so it won't spring back (it might also feel very crunchy and weird).


The solution, for those who need it, is to buy a new handle with an intact torsion spring. The lock will still work perfectly find without the spring, but it feels ... cheap?