Cannot open rear door!

I went to pick six kids up from cubs last night and found.....My rear (tailgate) door wouldn't open.
The door has always worked in the past, but it was shut solid.
When I put my hand on the lever to pull it towards me, it seems as though it has already moved there (only a couple of mills movement).
I tried locking and unlocking the door but no good.
In the end, the kids had to climb in through the back passenger door and climb over the seat!
Has anyone experienced this before and can anyone offer advice as to how to open it and stop it happening again?

One other (quick) question, I need to slightly top up my brake fluid, is it Dot4? and what grade engine oil should I use?

Car is a 1996 300TDi auto.

I tried pickin 6 kids up from cubs once, but the cops dint take too kindly to it

First its the pickys.... Now the confession

There is a small spring in the handle that is prone to breaking.

OK, so how do I open the door if the spring has broken?

Get a small knife with a sharp point and pick out the oval LandRover badge that is on the door handle cover.

Now you have an oval hole.

Reach in and push poke the door latch forwards. It may feel a bit stiff.

Now pull it back and the door should open.

Spray the innards with WD40.

Put the badge on UpsideDown (or DownsideUp) to signify you're a fully fledged Disco-Door-Fixer.

CharlesY

the old fave eh,

pop the badge out, prod the lever back wiv a screwy then spray the wd40, werks every time

its only bin posted on ere about a hundred times

yella said:

the old fave eh,

pop the badge out, prod the lever back wiv a screwy then spray the wd40, werks every time

its only bin posted on ere about a hundred times

Click to expand...

DAMN!
I thought I had invented a new fix .... ahem ....


CharlesY

Thanks for that. Sorry I didn't find the other zillion posts!

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/me-rear-handles-stuck-40536.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/rear-door-wont-open-38047.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/rear-door-not-unlocking-30458.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/tailgate-wont-open-29988.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/dicovery-back-door-lever-30094.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/discovery-boot-wont-open-42088.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/another-tailgate-problem-wont-lock-35531.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/spurious-advice-request-24249.html

I have a similar problem.

For months now, the back door wont open using the lever alone. I have to use the key to lift the lock then pull the lever. A classic symptom of the broken spring I hear you cry.

I've checked the spring and it was there in an unbroken state. Whilst all the gubbins was apart, I replaced it anyway. Ripped out the landy badge and sprayed loads of WD in there too but still the problem persists.

Anyone got any ideas? Could it be that the replacement spring was a bit weak? Are there any stronger ones around?

Cheers for any help.

Thank God for this site, just popped the badge off and did the squirt fix, howver it seems the actuator is stiff so disconnected it and will just use the key