Problems with door locks?

[RobbW]

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this question, but I could not find any place more appropriate. Please relocate if necessary.

So, I am having some issues with the front doors and locks on my new i. The driver door, about once every 5-10 open/close cycles, seems to get stuck in "lock" position when it is opened. Then, when you shut the door, it does not latch and just bounces off the door frame leaving the door open about 3" or so. I noticed this had happened one day late last week when I came out to my car at the end of the work day and found the door slightly open. It had rained while I was working, and the inside driver side was soaked! I hadn't noticed that it didn't close as I'm in the habit of closing the door as I'm turning and starting to walk away, as I'm sure most people are. I now stay next to my car when closing the door and will not turn away until I have verified the door closed completely. When this happens, the issue is quickly and easily corrected by pressing the unlock button inside the car. Then it closes properly.

The passenger door, about once every 3-4 open/close cycles, seems to auto-lock itself. I have not locked the car, and all other doors open properly. But the passenger door will be locked and cannot be opened from the inside or outside. Again, this is easily corrected by pressing the unlock button.

As far as I can tell, this did not start happening until early last week when I had removed both the driver and passenger door panels to try and correct a speaker rattling problem that is driving me nuts. I had read up online (a couple threads on this forum even) on how to correctly remove the door panels. I followed the instructions correctly and thought I had re-installed the door panels properly when I was done. I'm guessing I didn't as I am now having these lock/unlock open/close issues. I plan to take the door panels off again this weekend to see if I can figure out what is going on. However, I figured I'd post my issue here to see if anyone else has had or is having similar problems.

 

[JoeS]

RobbW, so far I hadn't heard of anyone having any problems with door locks. Perhaps you broked it? :roll: Do let us know what you find and how you fix it.

 

[RobertC]

Maybe the cables for the door lock and handle are not seated properly.
Or a loose connection.
When you take the door panels off again, check the cables and check to see if the wire connectors are all the way in, and that none of the wires has pulled out of the connector.
I've had the door panels off many times.
Good luck.

 

[RobbW]

Maybe the cables for the door lock and handle are not seated properly.
Or a loose connection.
When you take the door panels off again, check the cables and check to see if the wire connectors are all the way in, and that none of the wires has pulled out of the connector.
I've had the door panels off many times.
Good luck.

Yep, I'll check on them this weekend sometime. My only issue now is that I do not have a "control" to verify the correct placement/seating of the cables. Since I fully removed the panels from both front doors, I can't use either one to compare to the other to make sure the cables are seated properly. I suppose I could remove one of the rear door panels to see how they compare. I would hope they are configured exactly the same as the front doors. However, given my current door lock experience after having removed/replaced the front panels, I'm hesitant to remove the rear door panels for fear of screwing them up, too!

 

[RobertC]

Yep, I'll check on them this weekend sometime. My only issue now is that I do not have a "control" to verify the correct placement/seating of the cables. Since I fully removed the panels from both front doors, I can't use either one to compare to the other to make sure the cables are seated properly. I suppose I could remove one of the rear door panels to see how they compare. I would hope they are configured exactly the same as the front doors. However, given my current door lock experience after having removed/replaced the front panels, I'm hesitant to remove the rear door panels for fear of screwing them up, too!

Control

Good Luck!

 

[RobbW]

Thank you very much for the control pic, Robert! Should prevent me from having to dissect the rear doors and potentially mess them up, too. I assume the pic is of the door in the unlocked, unlatched, and open position. I just want to make sure that I replicate the conditions with my doors so I can get the cables to match as they appear in your photo. Thanks again.

 

[RobertC]

I assume the pic is of the door in the unlocked, unlatched, and open position.

The door was open and I think unlocked, but it shouldn't matter as long as the cable ends (those cylindrical things at the end of the cable) and ferrules (the things at the end of the tube that the cable is in) are where they are supposed to be.

 

[siai47]

Yep, you have the cable in the wrong place---I messed it up when I was looking for the same rattles in the speaker on my cars. Pull the lock cable back a little bit--about a 1/4" from where you have it and before you re-assemble the door panel try to manually work the lock at the door handle. If it moves properly, the cable is in the correct place. The electric lock gets bound up by the cable. On my car you could also see some grooves in the plastic retainer for the cable that look like they might be some indication of where they should go.

 

[RobbW]

Okay, I'm pretty sure I got the driver door corrected. Actually, it turned out it was the latch cable the was getting bound up. With the door panel off and held slightly away from the frame, I played with both the lock and the door pull. When I would pull the handle to open the door, too much of the cable was getting pulled out of the plastic sleeve and the couldn't retract back into the sleeve. So I played around the the positioning of the end of the plastic sleeve until the cable properly retracted after releasing the door pull.

The front passenger door is still vexing me though. Everything inside the door appears to be working the same as the driver door. However, when the doors are locked, you cannot open the front passenger door from the inside. You CAN open the driver door from the inside even when the doors are locked. Is the passenger door designed to not open from the inside when the doors are locked? Or should it operate the same as the driver door?

 

[alohart]

s the passenger door designed to not open from the inside when the doors are locked? Or should it operate the same as the driver door?

I believe there is a switch that makes the passenger door "child-proof" so that it cannot be opened from the inside. I'm traveling, so I can't go look for the switch, but I'm sure someone will describe where it is.

 

[siai47]

Your I-MiEV is working correctly. Many cars do not allow any door except the driver's door to be opened from the inside when the doors are locked. The childproof locks on the rear doors (when set to function) prevent the inside handles from working regardless of the lock position. BTW---did you get your original speaker problem fixed? Mine still buzzes.

 

[RobbW]

Your I-MiEV is working correctly. Many cars do not allow any door except the driver's door to be opened from the inside when the doors are locked. The childproof locks on the rear doors (when set to function) prevent the inside handles from working regardless of the lock position. BTW---did you get your original speaker problem fixed? Mine still buzzes.

Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. Previous cars had allowed me to open the front passenger door from the inside when then doors were locked. Didn't know if my MiEV was different or defective.

As for the speaker rattle, no, I still have not corrected that issue. However, I now think it is something I couldn't correct even if I wanted to do so. Also, I have a sneaky suspicion the rattle will mostly go away in the winter. From playing around and experimenting, it seems the rattle occurs most prominently when the windows are rolled down. When the windows are up, the rattle is barely there or gone altogether. I think it might be the windows that are rattling in the door. Can anyone else confirm this? If this is the cast, is there any way to isolate the windows so they don't rattle?

 

[RobbW]

So far, the fiddling around I did with the door and lock cables seems to have worked. I haven't had any more issues with the doors since then.

 

[peterdambier]

I did get into trouble when isolating the doors after remounting the trim. The door was shut and would not reopen. It was locked. I could not open from inside nor outside.

Dont know how I convinced our little i-MiEV but it would open finally and I removed the trim immediately. I used a knife to cut a slit from the hole I cut for the two bowden cables to a point further to their beginning. I got the cables out and sealed the slit again with tape. Now the cables were long enough to easily connect them to the handles and remount the trim.

Lesson learned: never close the door when the handles dont feel the way they should. Try lock and handle before closing. You can open and close and lock the doors from outside even without the bowden cables. But when locked in the wrong position you are in real trouble.

I never crocked how the door lock was working. Know I do know it good enough to reinvent it.

 

[siai47]

Isolating the doors? Are you working on fixing the "buzzing" door panels? If that's what you're up to and you come up with something, inquiring minds would like to know what solved it.

 

[PV1]

I traced the vibration down to the door pocket. Don't know if something inside is rattling against the panel, but the outer lip of the pocket has two pieces of plastic that meet together. Squeeze the lip, the rattle goes away.

 

[Don]

Isolating the doors? Are you working on fixing the "buzzing" door panels?

I think Peter is talking about insulating the inside of the doors so the car stays warmer in the winter

Don

 

[peterdambier]

Yes, Don got it.

I stumbled here as I stumbled over the doorlocks after isolating our doors against the cold and against noise from the road and outside. I did four doors and different mistakes in each of them. The bowden cables getting in my way was the final one.

Dont worry the result is worth the trouble and looking here might help you finding how to solve it. I did one door a day with lots of breaks and test driving, Karin and me. The result after isolating you have got a new car that feels 10 thousand dollars more expensive.

For the curious the speaker sounds much better now, almost like in a real car. :mrgreen:

It might be a good idea to remove the isolation once a year, check for hidden water and redo the same mistakes again.

Cheers
Peter and Karin

 

[RobbW]

It might be a good idea to remove the isolation once a year, check for hidden water and redo the same mistakes again.

Hidden water? Where would that come from? Condensation?

 

[peterdambier]

I have seen rust in the co-drivers door on the ankle fixing the armrest to the door.

I always thought it was Karin, my hot wife, because her side the windows were always foggy. And of coarse it could have been rain coming in through the open window and finding a way inside the door as long as the window was open. Yesterday I found a plastic raincoat hidden inside the hatch that is the inside of the J1772 charge port. It was blocking the airflow on the left side of the car. My fault and a lesson learned keep the airflow in whatever you isolate and keep looking what goes on inside hidden places.

And I have seen water in the plastic trim of the drivers door. That's been my wet legs from sweating or from rain. All doors have been dry inside. I'll treat the ankles with a rust converter nevertheless.

I am sure the cold doors do provoke condensation but that is what the holes in the bottom of the doors are for.

Cheers
Peter and Karin