Freelander 1 locked out

help!!...my 2001 td4 wont let me in.
its been standing for a few weeks since i gave up on its starting problem and bought a suzuki vitara. however ive bought a couple of bits to try and see if i can get it running.i think the battery has gone flat and cant get the central locking to open and i cant unlock either the door or tailgate (the tailgate i can understand because the window wont drop?)but the door aswell?i have 2 keys and both will turn into the LOCK position but neither will UNLOCK the door? any ideas other than the large hammer and crowbar thats already on standby?
is it having a hissy fit because i parked it up and got a car that runs and drives?

Sounds like the mechanical door lock has been changed to one that doesn't match your keys - the one on the tailgate isn't actually a lock, it just allows you to raise and lower the window and that's it...

The good news is that the alternator on the TD4 is quite low iirc? If you take the skid tray off you should be able to reach up and get a battery charger onto the + terminal on the back of the alternator.
Otherwise you're going to have to break the window to release the bonnet.

I'm paranoid about door locks on cars, I'll always check that the keys work long before I hit trouble...

ok,i will try the battery charger thing,the undertray has already been removed so it should be easy.
both keys turn the door lock easily "backwards" into the lock position but not "forwards" into the unlock position?

Have you tried turning the front door key right twice ? Thats to the right back to middle and then to right again
If it doesnt work then probably the link from key to latch has been broken (not unusual) during a latch swap, as it should work as it does not require lecky unlike all the other doors .

well i managed to get in by putting my battery charger on the altenator,many thanks for that tip. i will leave it on charge for a while then try to get the thing running.

If it's a charger that pulses the voltage up/down then it's best to charge the battery when the negative connection is disconnected from the car.

Did you never watch The Love Bug? In that movie Herbie's owner bought another car and Herbie threw the mother of all strops and trashed it.
Think yourself lucky the Suzuki is still in one piece.

For reference, it might be that the cylinder works like the ford ones do - any key will lock any door with the old ford hex shaped keys!
No idea though, haven't tried it, might be talking out of my arse.
The lock barrels are usually pretty easy to strip down and regrease if necessary though.

tacr2man said:

Have you tried turning the front door key right twice ? Thats to the right back to middle and then to right again
If it doesnt work then probably the link from key to latch has been broken (not unusual) during a latch swap, as it should work as it does not require lecky unlike all the other doors .

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the lock will not turn right...only left.

Hippo said:

If it's a charger that pulses the voltage up/down then it's best to charge the battery when the negative connection is disconnected from the car.

Click to expand...

good idea but i had to charge it from underneath to get the door open to open the bonnet to get at the battery.

so you are in now?

yes,im in and the battery is on charge in my garage.