Second row door won't unlock or open!

1995 300TDi Defender 110 CSW

Had a trawl but cannot find an answer.

I recently pulled a bit too hard on one of the second-row door handles on my 110 and it broke off so I replaced it OK but after I locked it and shut the door I can't unlock it or get it open.

The lock will not 'click' up; it just springs back to the bottom position and the internal handle will not open the door.

I also can't get the door card off fully with out knackering it completely so I was looking for a way to unlock or open the door from inside with the door card partially off, i.e. pulled back enough to get me arm in?!

Any help much appreciated!

Can you get, or have you got the inner handle off?
If you have, you should be able to reach inside to release the catch.
Once open, make sure thet all the little plastic clips are in the right way round and in the right place, as it's easy to not get it right!

Thanks @Oldseadog; yes, I can get everything off the door card, but not sure where the catch is or what I should be pulling to release it?

I've recently just had the same issue.
I messed around for ages trying to open the lock through a small gap created by easeing the card away.
My advice, don't spend too long at it, get a recip saw tool and cut through the striker pin spacer and screws to open the door, new ones are cheap.
My lock was stuffed so I had to buy another one.
If you need advice on getting the lock out once the door is open ask away, I'm a professional at it!
I'll post a pic up of my lock showing where the levers need to be to release the door in a bit.

This little flat edge lever connects to the internal pull, it needs to move towards the front of the vehicle to open.

This lever is for the internal lock button, it needs to be up to open.

This lever connects to your push button external handle. It needs to go down to open the door.
Dog, pic won't work!
Bear with.....

.

You may have put the rod in the external handle in the wrong hole.
On mine there are two holes on the push button handle internal lever. Being as you never had an issue before? The rod, on mine, is adjustable .
Try disconnecting the ex handle to latch rod and see if the door will open on the internal pull.
Mine was the drivers door jammed shut, imagine the pita that was for me until I sorted it!

Ps....the rod mentioned above and the long internal one too must not be under tension.

Also....when you get the door open.
When fiddling/adjusting/testing, close the latch with your finger rather than shutting the door, do this every time you check the latch operation, stuff won't work correctly if you don't.
The latch has two positions to close completely like the pic below.

Right, I'm off to lay some more blocks ,will check in later.

... And don't forget to put the little plakky or steel clips on the right way round - or better still, get a 2tw-year-old to put them on because the average hand is about three times too big to get into the space, and also make sure that the offsets on the rods are in the right place and the right way round

Very special thanks @Flossie, lots of useful data I can try later and thanks @Oldseadog , I will check those clips!

Flossie said:

You may have put the rod in the external handle in the wrong hole.
On mine there are two holes on the push button handle internal lever. Being as you never had an issue before? The rod, on mine, is adjustable .
Try disconnecting the ex handle to latch rod and see if the door will open on the internal pull.
Mine was the drivers door jammed shut, imagine the pita that was for me until I sorted it!

Click to expand...

Yes, I have 2 holes on the new handle. Is it the top or bottom one, the bottom one being closer to the pivot the lever is on?

You know....I can't remember
Think it was the bottom one, I tried both because I was still having issues with the replacement latch which turned out to be poor diesign(britpart) but I modded it and it's fine now.
It looks like you should use the upper most hole but mine worked better on the lower (of course, iirc)
On mine, only the clip holding the rod to that hole was a fiddle because it has to come completely off to free the rod.all the others stay attached to the latch.

Weirdly, mine done this yesterday. Not even attempted to get in it yet, I’ll wait until I’m out in my mucky gear, as I’ll end up doing something else too.

Well, managed to eventually get the door card off without breaking it and unclipped the new handle and it opened using the advice above!

It seems it was a combination of the rod being in the wrong hole (needs to be the top one) and an unoiled latch, so now all is good!

Thanks to all for the help!

Pleased to hear that you managed to get it all sorted!
And before I forget, get one of those telescopic magnet thingies as they make the job a lot easier both for picking up the little metal clips and for positioning them because normal hands are too big to manipulate them in the lack of space.

mojo247 said:

Well, managed to eventually get the door card off without breaking it and unclipped the new handle and it opened using the advice above!

It seems it was a combination of the rod being in the wrong hole (needs to be the top one) and an unoiled latch, so now all is good!

Thanks to all for the help!

Click to expand...

Was that rod adjustable on yours?
On mine I could screw it up or down where it attached to the latch end.
I could alter it's length to fit either handle hole which was lucky because the replacement latch wasn't exactly the same as the original and I had to play around with rod lengths.
Tried different holes and rod lengths until I was happy hence my confusion over what hole I eventually settled on...
It failed again a few days later
Look at my first pic (that's the old latch) the opposite end of that lever I'm pointing at, it narrows to a thin 'finger' which locates in a hole. As that lever moved up it would sometimes pop out of its hole and the door wouldn't open.
I traced the issue to slack internal to the latch that the original didn't have so basically the britpart latch wasn't fit for purpose.
Luckily I hadn't yet fitted the door card as I was waiting on new card clips so I could still get in and out.
I fixed the new latch by drilling a hole and using a split pin and washer to stop it popping out.